Bus services scrapped as company goes into administration

gha

GHA Coaches has gone into administration meaning that about 25 school and public transport routes across Cheshire East will not operate from today, Thursday 14th July.

As a result some children and commuters have been left stranded this morning and the Council is urgently trying to make alternative arrangements and focussing on getting people to where they need to get to.

Amongst the routes affected is the Connect 88 service from Knutsford to Wilmslow, Morley Green and Altrincham along with the Service 200 from Wilmslow to the Runway Viewing Park via Styal and Manchester Airport.

A spokesperson from Cheshire East Council said "It has come to our attention that GHA Coaches are experiencing difficulty in providing their normal services in Cheshire East as from the morning of Thursday July 14.

"This could have a significant impact on schools and other commercial and social transport operations normally provided by GHA Coaches.

"Cheshire East Council is currently working to provide alternative arrangements and we are giving urgent priority to school pupils, the elderly and other residents who routinely rely on the services provided by this particular company.

"We wish to assure our residents and schools that we are doing all we can, as a local authority, to mitigate the impact of the sudden loss of services by providing alternative transport where possible. Unfortunately we may not be able to cover all services affected.

"We would ask our residents to bear with us during this difficult period."

Wrexham based GHA Coaches Ltd was one of the largest independently owned bus and coach operators in the UK, operating 230 vehicles from 6 depots and employing nearly 400 people.

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GHA Coaches
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Pete Taylor
Thursday 14th July 2016 at 8:39 am
The same old faces keep popping up. http://bit.ly/1KHQK8m
Alan Brough
Thursday 14th July 2016 at 2:37 pm
There are some serious questions to be answered here.

Just six months after the set-up of TSS to provide a more "entrepreneurial" service delivery for stakeholders the main service provider goes from gold to bust!

http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/gha-goes-gold/
Paul Mead
Thursday 14th July 2016 at 7:55 pm
We are now in the ludicrous situation of not having a bus service linking Altrincham & Wilmslow to get people to work around 0645.

The first train service doesn't leave Altrincham until 0702 via Stockport arriving in Wilmslow about 0745-0800.

The train services to Wilmslow via Manchester airport are 0547 & then an inapplicable delay until 0711.

As the Metrolink station St Peters Square does not reopen until late August & services now start at 0620 a full half hour later than the service use to start, a journey via Piccadilly will get to Wilmslow at 0730 at the earliest.

The Northern powerhouse, not with these uncoordinated transport services.
Vince Fogharty
Friday 15th July 2016 at 2:33 pm
Arriva have today said they are taking over the 88 to start at 0640 from Alt, but will now only be a 60 min frequency service. GHA hardly did any commercial services (ie they mainly did council and school contracts) and there is no money in them, its no good being the biggest company anymore you have to be the most profitable, GHA were one of the biggest independent bus companies in the UK, but no council contracts are going to give you the level of profit you need to survive with all the cuts being made to them. Its a simple fact unless a public transport service is used and makes money nobody is going to run it. Lets hope the employees caught up in it all find work quickly.