Countryliner Sussex goes pop

[bluenoxid]

Countryliner Sussex has gone bust.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9972917.Sussex_school_bus_firm_Countryliner_goes_into_administration/

Sussex school bus firm Countryliner goes into administration

Council staff were tonight scrambling to arrange emergency school buses after transport firm Countryliner Sussex went bust.

East Sussex County Council announced it was organising replacement services to ferry pupils to and from their schools after the company went into administration.

Countryliner took children to schools in Chailey, Ringmer, Uckfield, Wivelsfield, Lewes, Cuckfield, East Grinstead, Heathfield, Wadhurst, Robertsbridge and Battle.

A council spokesman said: “We regret the disruption to bus services that this will cause. Children should be able to get to school as normal but expect delays.” (read more)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-19880942

Buses disrupted as company 'goes into administration'

Bus services in Surrey and Sussex have been disrupted after the company which ran them went into administration.

Surrey County Council (SCC) and East Sussex County Council (ESCC) said Countryliner Sussex had gone into administration on Monday night.

Buses to 13 schools and colleges in Sussex were affected, along with bus routes 10 in Guildford and 11 in Camberley, Surrey.

Calls to Countryliner's offices were not being answered on Tuesday.
(read more)

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Feel sorry for the staff who have lost jobs

 

[Qwerty133]

Should the title be edited to make it clearer that only parts of the business are effected.

 

[bluenoxid]

Should the title be edited to make it clearer that only parts of the business are effected.

Countryliner Kent not affected???

 

[robertclark125]

Nevertheless, that's two operations in a week to go, with the firm in Oxon who sadly went out of business last friday.

 

[radamfi]

Surrey CC have terminated Countryliner's contracts:

http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-an...imetables/up-and-coming-bus-timetable-changes

Wednesday 10 October 2012 - BUS SERVICES OPERATED BY COUNTRYLINER

With effect from Wednesday 10 October 2012, Surrey County Council has terminated all contracts for the provision of local bus services that Countryliner runs on behalf of the authority. To safeguard the interests of the travelling public, alternative operators have been engaged from 10 October, to continue the services with the current routes and timetables.

From information received, the Council feels that Countryliner is no longer in a position to run these services to the required standards.

(read more)

 

[Statto]

Sign of the tough times for all operators at the mo, wonder how many more bus companies will go bust?

 

[ushawk]

Feel sorry for the staff who have lost jobs

Some services have already been transferred to other operators. Stagecoach East Sussex have taken over 5 routes (261, 259, 254 and 304/305). They were given notice at 4.30PM on Monday to start running them the next day !!

Fortunately in these cases jobs would be saved, although of course the future of the routes will probably remain in doubt.

 

[BestWestern]

News this morning that Countryliner (Surrey) Ltd has finally gone bust, after a long and lingering struggle with very poor financial health. Various bus routes have been surrendered/withdrawn by local authorities and handed to other operators, including Abellio.

I understand that there may be more than one arm of Countryliner, so who knows if they'll pop up elsewhere, but to those who worked for the firm I'm told this is certainly no great surprise. Much/most of the company's fleet was refinanced to within an inch of it's life, and there were apparently some longstanding concerns over the upper management and it's handling of the operation.

This comes only a short time after the firm (or one of it's component parts) received a heavy fine and some bad publicity after taking over a very dodgy outfit by the name of C & S Coaches, where it was later discovered there were widespread abuses of the driving hours regulations going on.

 

[fgwrich]

Just out of curiosity, Who operated the Cango Services up here in Hampshire? As we used to get occasional visits from Countryliners Darts, Primo's & on one occasion, an SPD Dart.

 

[wintonian]

Just out of curiosity, Who operated the Cango Services up here in Hampshire? As we used to get occasional visits from Countryliners Darts, Primo's & on one occasion, an SPD Dart.

Cango is county council branding for certain tendered routes, so they were operated by whoever won.

Most of the routes didn't work out and have been replaced by taxi shares for example, but I did catch sight of a cango branded bus sitting at Andover bust station on Monday.

 

[BestWestern]

Sign of the tough times for all operators at the mo, wonder how many more bus companies will go bust?

I have it on very good authority that in this case it has been coming for a very long time