GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[Garsty]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Some pictures on Flickr of ex-GHA vehicles with new owners:

MX58 KZF - http://www.flickr.com/photos/55355638@N05/29525721180
FN09 AMX - http://www.flickr.com/photos/55355638@N05/29110767754
FN09 APY - http://www.flickr.com/photos/55355638@N05/29446223010
GA08 GHA - http://www.flickr.com/photos/100007433@N06/29654478272
YJ15 AYG - http://www.flickr.com/photos/77000628@N02/29715744852

[Mayneway]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(21/09/2016 16:54)RedPanda Wrote:  Surprised they let them run for so long with 980k of unpaid tax

Don't forget that up until a few months before thier demise, on the face of it they looked to be doing well. They were picking up contracts and nobody would have guessed how things would have ended up so I'm sure HMRC were happy they would get the debt paid - obviously once things changed HMRC began a pitition to wind the company up.

[N531 DWM]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
... And into the final hour of bidding at Ruabon depot again...

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/aucti...andwo10032

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(21/09/2016 21:37)Mayneway Wrote:  Don't forget that up until a few months before thier demise, on the face of it they looked to be doing well. They were picking up contracts and nobody would have guessed how things would have ended up so I'm sure HMRC were happy they would get the debt paid - obviously once things changed HMRC began a pitition to wind the company up.

It was really December 15/January 16 when the problems first became apparent. They started using non-DDA deckers and coaches to replace non-DDA saloons and a number of drivers disappeared from their regular routes with cancellation of services due to staff shortages occurring. More warning signs appeared when Cheshire East awarded GHA 4 new contracts (2 being replacement contracts for routes they already had and 2 being new routes) but the contract awards for 2 of the routes were annulled and went to D&G and Arriva instead. Also GHA were stripped of all their Reaseheath College contracts when a random inspection on vehicles at the college found their were using multiple buses which weren't fit to be on the road.

With hindsight I imagine the former GHA management will see the 84 bus war as a catastrophic disaster. While they were successful in getting Routemaster to abandon their C84 service, they were using resources which could have been more effectively used elsewhere and the number of potential GHA passengers which Routemaster had picked up would probably have been minimal and mainly ENCTS pass holders.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(21/09/2016 15:25)N531 DWM Wrote:  GHA £5.2 million in debt!
There's an interesting statement from the administrators as well.

http://www.wrexham.com/news/5-2-million-...19648.html

It says in the article

"An update from the GHA Coaches administrators has also been made public, giving a background to the eventual collapse of the company.

The document also contains a 299 entry 20 page list of unsecured creditors owed money due to the collapse of GHA Coaches, including £26k to Cheshire West Council, £27k to Wrexham Council and £978,000 to HMRC."

Is that document available online or does anyone know how much GHA owed other councils?

[Mayneway]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(22/09/2016 09:45)knutstransport Wrote:  It says in the article

"An update from the GHA Coaches administrators has also been made public, giving a background to the eventual collapse of the company.

The document also contains a 299 entry 20 page list of unsecured creditors owed money due to the collapse of GHA Coaches, including £26k to Cheshire West Council, £27k to Wrexham Council and £978,000 to HMRC."

Is that document available online or does anyone know how much GHA owed other councils?

They owe Wrexham council £27k and who have they now got operating some contracts?? It really does begger belief.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(22/09/2016 10:43)Mayneway Wrote:  They owe Wrexham council £27k and who have they now got operating some contracts?? It really does begger belief.

Vicious circle probably. The council has lost £27k of their already limited public transport funding so they probably can't afford the extra few thousand it would have costed to award the contracts to an operator like Arriva.

I wonder when we're going to hear who has been awarded the long-term replacements for the former GHA Cheshire East contracts which are supposed to start on 24th October. They were supposed to be awarded at the end of August but the last I heard was the operators hadn't heard any response to their bids.

[Salopbus]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(22/09/2016 09:39)knutstransport Wrote:  It was really December 15/January 16 when the problems first became apparent. They started using non-DDA deckers and coaches to replace non-DDA saloons and a number of drivers disappeared from their regular routes with cancellation of services due to staff shortages occurring. More warning signs appeared when Cheshire East awarded GHA 4 new contracts (2 being replacement contracts for routes they already had and 2 being new routes) but the contract awards for 2 of the routes were annulled and went to D&G and Arriva instead. Also GHA were stripped of all their Reaseheath College contracts when a random inspection on vehicles at the college found their were using multiple buses which weren't fit to be on the road.

With hindsight I imagine the former GHA management will see the 84 bus war as a catastrophic disaster. While they were successful in getting Routemaster to abandon their C84 service, they were using resources which could have been more effectively used elsewhere and the number of potential GHA passengers which Routemaster had picked up would probably have been minimal and mainly ENCTS pass holders.

Whilst everything that has happened is terrible and I wish people on here would report facts not heresay. GHA gave notice on their Reaseheath contracts they were not taken off them.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(22/09/2016 12:33)Salopbus Wrote:  Whilst everything that has happened is terrible and I wish people on here would report facts not heresay. GHA gave notice on their Reaseheath contracts they were not taken off them.

Surely the most relevant bit is whether VOSA did ground multiple buses belonging to GHA at Reaseheath College (which various sources have mentioned.) Who initiated the cancellation process of the contracts is a lot less significant than whether a bus operator used buses which were unfit to be on the road.

It also seems the administrators of this forum don't want some facts discussed. The outcome of a court case was removed from this thread which if I recall correctly was on the grounds it would have been potentially damaging to the operator, despite it being all over the local newspapers.

[wirralbus]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
If it goes to court then the entire thread may have to be locked anyway , as could be classed as interfering with a case in progress , no matter whether its been in the public domain in the past.