N&P No 2412 29/1/20 Public Inquiry A2B Travel

[John Wakefield]

Public Inquiry (81229) to be held at The Court Room (Cambridge), CB2 8BF, Eastern Traffic
Area, Eastbrook, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, on 18 February 2020 commencing at 10:00
PF2020005 SN
A2B TRAVEL GROUP LTD
Director(s): BRIAN CLIFFORD
1 LONDON WAY, MELBOURN, ROYSTON, SG8 6DJ
S16 - Consider attaching of varying conditions under Section 16 (The Public
Passenger Vehicles Act 1981)
S17 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 17 (The Public Passenger
Vehicles Act 1981)

[Emms1]

What is this in relation too?

[John Wakefield]

What is this in relation too?

I dont know, the TC's are never specific in the N&P's. Possibly to do with vehicle maintenance records. I understand there was a previous hearing last year when the Transport Manager (Simon Meekings) did not turn up at the hearing and the TC was not impressed.

Be a great shame if this company are put off the road for some minor breach of operating regs as they have made great strides in providing services for the outlying rural areas in South Cambs.
The buses always look smart, are fully disabled compliant, and run to time with nice friendly drivers. If A2B get taken off the road I think CCC with have difficulty in finding a replacement operator.
I hope the TC takes this into consideration when making his jurisdiction.

[HughT]

What follows isn't specific to A2B, and may not be relevant (since we don't know what the TC is investigating). But it might be of relevance to note that when Express Motors' licence was revoked a couple of years ago, it led to huge problems for Gwynedd council. Express were the largest independent operators in that part of N Wales (indeed, the largest for many miles beyond) and had numerous school and public service contracts. By the time the next such case came up (a Wrexham-based concern that operated the T3 to Barmouth, amongst other routes - I forget its name) there had clearly been a "conversation", and the TC didn't immediately cancel the licence, but set the cancellation date some months hence, to give everyone time to make alternative arrangements.

However, that assumes there are other operators able and willing to step in to take on contracts. We've already had a situation locally where a service was abandoned because nobody was prepared to bid. In N Wales, an Anglesey-based operator has taken on many of the smaller Snowdonia contracts (in theory that leads to a lot of dead mileage back and forth across the Menai Strait, but it's possible some vehicles and drivers are based on the mainland). And Lloyds of Machynlleth has grown considerably.

[John Wakefield]

Its much the same in South Cambridgeshire, very few independents are prepared to tender for these services. Whippet have pulled out to the North of the County, Dews operate some in the St Ives, Huntingdon and Ely areas, and the Big Green Bus Co only run one Saturday service (the 114) into Cambridge.  Other local companies such as Youngs of Haddenham and the Miller Group (Andrews, Mil-Ken and Neals) dont run stage carriage services. So if A2B get put off the road by the TC, CCC (soon to become the Cambridge & Peterborough Partnership) will struggle to find a replacement operator.
A2B currently run nine tendered services, 7A, 18, 31, 32, 75, 114, 117, 127 & 202

[TCD813]

Just realised that there was a typo in the topic name. I've corrected it to N&P 2412 29/1/20. Hence the appearance of edits on all of the posts.

Here's the link to the full document (PDF 264KB).

OFFICE OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER (EAST OF ENGLAND)
NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS
PUBLICATION NUMBER: 2412
PUBLICATION DATE: 29/01/2020
OBJECTION DEADLINE DATE: 19/02/2020

Regards,

Richard.

[John Wakefield]

I hear on the 'grapevine' that A2B got a 1 licence suspension for 2 weeks, thus reducing there licence application from 6 to 5 during that period. 
They are currently shown as 'Curtailed' https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.service.gov.uk/view-details/licence/514581 All services are continuing to run to schedules, so good news for the company and local bus users.