Greater Manchester Tenders

[Mayneway]

RE: Greater Manchester Tenders

(03/04/2022 14:46)knutstransport Wrote:  You do have to question what was the point of them buying the bus business from Go Goodwins when now they don't have the routes or the drivers and Go Goodwins operate some of the routes that were part of the sale.

When Stagecoach purchased the bus business from Bullocks, Bullocks only subsequently operated the Oxford Road link and school services.

They didn’t know at the time what was going to happen. Rotala bought the Eccles operation when they operated out of Atherton (South Lancs Travel), at the time of buying Eccles Goodwin wanted out of the bus game. He wanted to focus on coach work, holidays and a few school contracts. It was the end of them operating general service work.
Then after the sale they won a couple of tenders (I think the 84a), but that was it.

Then all went quiet and he suddenly started up again, no doubt the Dunns never thought to ask him to sign a waver to say he wouldn’t go for any work that would effect their business in the future.

Stagecoach are not daft. When they bought the operations of Maynes and Bullocks (both retained coach operations) both owners agreed as part of the sale not to operate or tender for any contracts that would see them in any form of competition with the purchaser. The bullocks deal was amended to cover the Oxford Rd link, which they lost years later anyway.

Famously in Oldham after years of battling it out First bought part of the Stotts operation simply to stop them competing (and wiping the floor with them). The deal would stop Stotts running any commercial services in GM or bidding on any tenders, but they could continue to operate their commercial school services and private hire work. The mistake was in the wording of the contract. It was only for 3 years, clearly whoever wrote it thought they would be long gone.
And literally in 2001, the very year it was up Stotts once again began competing with First on the 427, won a load of school tenders and later won a load of regular tenders too.