Hatts in admin

[OwlMan]

The Wiltshire coach & bus firm Hatts has gone into administration

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-28484542A coach company in Wiltshire has gone into administration with the loss of 89 jobs and a knock-on effect on hundreds of customer bookings.
Staff have been made redundant at Hatts Coaches across its offices and depots in Chippenham, Devizes and Salisbury.
As many as 1,000 customers have already made bookings with the specialist coach and holiday tour operator.
The group, which also includes Bodmans Coaches and HQT Ltd, employs about 108 staff.
'Dedicated helpline' Restructuring specialist FRP Advisory has been appointed by the company as administrators.
An FRP spokesperson said it was "not aware" of HQT (the group's holiday coach tours division) being a member of Abta or equivalent travel agent association, nor of the existence of any travel security bond.
Andrew Sheridan, partner and joint administrator, added: "Our priority right now is to contact and provide dedicated helpline support for those members of the general public who have paid for holidays, day trips and other private hire with Hatts.
"We will ensure that they are advised of their statutory rights under the Consumer Credit Act where, in the first instance, if they have paid by credit or debit card they should make contact with their card providers."

Hatts Coaches operates a fleet of about 90 buses and coaches. Its customers include Wiltshire County Council, with contracts to run Salisbury's park-and-ride bus service involving 30 staff. The company also operates a number of school bus services.
In a statement, a Wiltshire Council spokesperson said it had been "working hard" to minimise the impact on users.
"The company operated buses in several parts of Wiltshire, including the Salisbury Park & Ride, and we have been able to cover all of these services using alternative operators," the statement continued.
"We recognise there may be some initial disruption to services and we would like to apologise for the inconvenience this may cause."
The company dates back to 1928 and has been under the same family ownership for four generations.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The Wiltshire coach & bus firm Hatts has gone into administration

That's big news in Central and South Wilts. In a county where the big operators are geographically on the margins with many small firms doing tendered work, it's not so simple to cover such a business failure. Assume GSC may pick up the Salisbury area but the rest?

 

[lightning76]

Salisbury area (except park & ride) being operated by Salisbury Reds except the 29 which is Damory.
Marlborough/Hungerford area to Thamesdown.
Devizes town and Sat 85 to Stagecoach Swindon.
Salisbury P&R and Pewsey Vale C2W are being continued by the administrators.
Don't know about the rest.

 

[robertclark125]

I would imagine, for those who have booked holidays with the firm, given that they weren't part of any bonding scheme, such as those run by ATOL or ABTA, those people will become unsecured creditors, and probably only get so much pence in the pound.

What about those on holiday right now with the firm?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Salisbury area (except park & ride) being operated by Salisbury Reds except the 29 which is Damory.
Marlborough/Hungerford area to Thamesdown.
Devizes town and Sat 85 to Stagecoach Swindon.
Salisbury P&R and Pewsey Vale C2W are being continued by the administrators.
Don't know about the rest.

Two Solos drafted in by Stagecoach were working the Devizes town services yesterday - free fares! Solo and Sprinter of Hatts were working bookable services.

Would guess the bookable services and P&R had money paid upfront to administrators to enable them to run. Think Beeline and Frome Minibuses also are filling in. Oddly nothing from Faresaver, whilst First are a bit distant and short of buses anyway in Bath.