On July 8th I contacted Graham Richardson at Plymothian Transit as I had heard rumours that the gas buses had been earmarked for transfer down there. He told me the same rumours had reached him but he couldn't confirm anything. Well today on his blog he has confirmed that later in the Summer the Anglian gas buses will be transferring to Plymouth Citybus. Roy Northcott of East Norfolk Bus Blog reported Graham's post, and Graham confirmed to Roy that he had been told by the MD of Plymouth Citybus of the transfer. I contacted Anglian, and a spokesperson informed me that no one at Anglian had been told a thing about it. No surprise there really - Go-Ahead only tell people things they want them to know and Anglian has been locked in a dark room for 4 years now.
The big question is WHY?? Why are buses iconic to the region, revolutionary at the time, brought here and paid for by Green Grants from the Government being moved? Why should our air quality suffer? Of course the theorists will be going into overdrive trying to work this out and I'm not going to miss the opportunity to give my two pennyworth too!
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| Anglian 100 on the old 62 |
I will be preparing a couple of posts dedicated to the gas buses over the next few weeks, using pictures of their construction and development never seen before as well as archived pics of them in service.
In other news that I don't think has been reported elsewhere Our Bus have won the tender for the 86, currently operated by Simonds. However at present details as to route changes and frequency are sketchy except the VOSA registration included Beccles, not currently served by the route, so it is possible an extended 86 could be replacing the withdrawn 81A to the villages concerned.
How does this make any sense unless Anglian are going to drop even more routes( and with 12 buses going that will leave them with less buses than Border Bus ) then they will have to get some more diesel powered buses in, But the gas buses are more fuel efficient MAN said when they launched the bus ( which I have been lucky enough to drive and it is the best bus I have ever driven ) that 10 buses over 10 years would save £1,000,000 in fuel costs plus we the public would rather travel on a very comfortable gas bus than what ever pieces of c**p Go Ahead decide to give them in exchange. But then this is the way Go Ahead have treated Anglian for a long while, all the optare versas were taken up to konnect then the MAN solos went the same way , in exchange Anglian got some old excels and some old trident deckers, that was the beginning of the end and the only saving grace was the gas buses . If they are now going then this has got to be the final nail in the coffin a family firm sold at a sad time and systematically destroyed by Go Ahead but then the old Anglian with its old values and most of the old staff is still about it's just called BORDER BUS R.I.P Anglian.
ReplyDeleteI agree with every single word my friend - and I'm guessing you are a friend! I can't fathom it unless, as I said they want to downsize completely from Beccles depot. It's the only logical reason, but then when have Go-Ahead followed logical pathways.
DeleteI know why they're going Steve; I'll email you tomorrow as I'm now off to bed.
ReplyDeleteI have in a sealed envelope what I think you're going to say! Can't wait to see if I'm right!
DeleteYou're right to complain vigorously, of course.
ReplyDeleteBut Go-Ahead are running a business, not a charity. If gas buses are part of the future, which I don't know (not being any sort of sage) but the only thing I'm certain about is that the internal (I could say, infernal) combustion engine isn't. Howls of anguish from everyone!! But in a rational world if you wanted an efficient means of transportation, it wouldn't be one. The world is stuck with early twentieth century technology, that has had a darned good run but outlived its time. Just try to work out all the supporting infrastructure and services it requires for a start compared to any of the alternatives. Even before you get to all the pollution. So why not try out the gas buses in different circumstances around the country? I'd not call it stupidity, but sense.
We're right to focus on our own locality. Of course. But there is still a bigger world out there, even if we choose to ignore it. We are small fish in a mighty big pond. As you point out national taxpayers have part funded it. So why shouldn't the rest of them get some benefit from their contribution?
Gas buses are quite expensive to run and operate. I suspect it is more to do with Anglian wanting to improve its financial position and reduce costs
ReplyDeleteIn which case why don't Anglian know about it? Anyway they are still under warranty and gas is cheaper than diesel.
DeleteI assume Anglian might be under some confidentiality/embargo or even local management kept in the dark. Might even be a negotiation with the Department of Transport, in which case God help everybody. Government was never about serving the public. Ridiculous, buses aren't state secrets - they're too big and obvious for that, for a start. But egos are big and obvious too, unfortunately differently from buses they don't move and always get in the way. What people don't know about they can't complain about: can they? Wrong again!
DeleteThe accounts for year ending 27th June 2015 have finally appeared for Chambers and Hedingham (no sign of those for Anglian or Konectbus yet). Both carry the following warning:
ReplyDelete"Events subsequent to the balance sheet date
"Subsequent to the June 2015 year end, an internal investigation revealed anomalies in various balance sheet accounts that prompted a full review, assisted by the Group's internal auditors. This led to the restatement of a number of areas of the balance sheet to correct an historic build-up of amounts now considered overstated or unrecoverable. Accordingly our auditors were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence concerning the profit and loss impact of the adjustments made and have disclaimed their opinion on the profit and loss account.
"The local management team has now been strengthened and internal monitoring is in place to ensure no recurrence of the issues identified."
The auditors also note that
"- we have not obtained all the information and explanations that we considered necessary for our audit; and
"-we were unable to determine whether adequate accounting records had been kept"
That's not particularly good.
Profits/losses for 2014/5 are as follows (2013/4 in brackets) [2012/3 in square brackets]
Chambers: -£148,000 (£30,000) [-£36,000]
Hedingham: -£877,000 (-£387,000) [-£76,000]
It'll be interesting to see how Anglian and Konectbus fare (presumably their accounts must also be on the way), but in 2013/14 their results were [2012/13 in square brackets]:
Konectbus: £132,000 [£-]*
Anglian: -£590,000 [-£804,000]
*£210 to be precise, but none of the other accounts are given to the same level of accuracy.
I think this makes it very clear that going on as they were probably wasn't sustainable.
They aslso all have to pay £250 for each month the accounts are late. There may also be repercusions from HMRC plus companies house as they appear to have failed to keep proper accounts. THere is also no way of verify whether the latest accounts filed are acurate as the auditors stated that there were no real record to be able to verify them
ReplyDeleteI can understand Chambers and Heddingham being in the same state as although seperate companies they had as far as I know a common management. I am not aware of Konect and Anglian sharing a common management which if that is the case it makes the situation even more serious. It possible thows doubt over the entire Go Ahead Group inm the region. It probably means the contract prices they bid for rouites are to low and they will on the restated accounts be making a loss on them. It may well mean many commercial routes may actually be making a loss. Interesting times. If Go Ahead do let them go under it gives a big problem to SCC and to a lesser degree NCC. It's more a case of watch this space. THey could also face fines for not keeping proper accounts
Looking at Chambers accounts they still seem to have rrors No director fees are shown nor are any pension payments. They seem to be a total mess in my view
DeleteAs Chambers and Hedingham were managed as a single unit, presumably it's management costs were borne by Hedingham so wouldn't appear as a cost to Chambers.
DeleteAt least we now know why Hedingham's General Manager left at the end of last year. He is now Head of Network Development for Yellow Buses in Bournemouth.
Not sure they can legally do that as they are reistered
DeleteNot sure they can legally do that as they are two separate legal entities and the cost have to reflect the true costs of each company
The wonder perhaps is that it has taken Go-Ahead so long. Or perhaps not, given the number of take-overs where financial issues emerge, afterwards (sometimes long afterwards). There is often a cozy relationship that develops over time between accountants and the companies they serve, and it afflicts the Big Four too.
DeleteAcross their Anglian companies the signs are of Go-Ahead central getting a grip, and before we say anything that does not mean making the right business decisions. The two are quite different. They have no alternative.
Financial management has always, I think, been the Achilles heel of the industry. The regularity and number of failures down the years attests to that. There is no necessary correlation between service quality and financial management (until the inevitable crisis occurs). I'm not criticising anyone; as a passenger I believe service quality has to be the number one priority, without it everything else is undermined.
More evidence too, if any were needed, of how difficult it is to make a living in this industry, at least without scale and a core network or other source of sustainable income. Councils and passengers are fickle. Loyalty doesn't always generate profits, it depends as ever on the circumstances. Hedingham and Chambers, each in different ways, have been under the cosh for years. (I don't mean Go-Ahead's cosh, if anything there has been too little of that, at least administered to the right area). Not an accident. So, a little regret and perhaps, there but for the grace of God . . . we all in our own ways hope "something will turn up". It's not always what we expect, though. Financial management is the beast you have to keep on top of, or it'll bite you, hard. Shared management is fine, but you have to apportion costs, properly. That's always the rub, doing it properly. Or what you can get away with.
Enviro 400s will replace them anyway. http://www.route-one.net/articles/Vehicles/Plymouth_to_gain_gas_buses
ReplyDeleteThe E400's mentioned are the Konect P&R E400's which took over the 7. Anglian's PVR is now so low the gas buses will not be replaced.
Deletemakes sense now!
DeleteWhat's actually wrong with Konnect/Anglian and Hedingham/Chambers co-ordinating as one company? Aren't Go-Ahead just doing what First did a decade ago (when we all thought they were a basket case too) - and Stagecoach more than a decade earlier - making themselves more competitive? May be they have to shrink first. Often losing weight is the first stage to fitness. Then they can grow. Just may be the first green shoots are showing in Essex. Perhaps we just have to be a bit patient.
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