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Post by gooderson1 on Apr 26, 2016 19:49:46 GMT 1
Apparently Arriva is selling it's Burton operation to Midland Classic
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Post by mark51953 on Apr 26, 2016 19:52:53 GMT 1
Sale of Burton
At a meeting in Burton last night, I announced that talks were taking place with Midland Classic about selling most of our Burton business to them.
There is nothing signed as yet but it is likely that a sale will go through around the end of July 2016. This will not include routes X38 or 9/9A/9E/29A. These will transfer to Derby and Coalville respectively.
As part of the talks, Midland Classic applied to the Traffic Commissioner to add our Wetmore Road depot to their Operators Licence and this was granted.
I understand that this will now be an unsettling time but can tell you that there is no threat to any job at either company. In the meantime we need to continue to provide the best possible service for our passengers, some of whom will continue to be Arriva passengers even if a sale takes place.
I will update you as soon as there is more information to share.
Simon Mathieson
Area Managing Director East
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 30, 2016 19:36:18 GMT 1
This will make Midland Classic the 21st century answer to Stephenson's in the area.
I wonder whether this would lead to competition from National Express West Midlands or Trent Barton?
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Post by Arriva Wakefield on Apr 30, 2016 21:33:06 GMT 1
This will make Midland Classic the 21st century answer to Stephenson's in the area. I wonder whether this would lead to competition from National Express West Midlands or Trent Barton? If the sale includes the legal company name as well, then maybe Stevensons may return! |
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sharksmith
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Post by sharksmith on May 1, 2016 17:28:42 GMT 1
Surely the competition police won't let this go through, apart from the few interurban routes that Arriva keep and the Trent Barton services to Derby, this will give Midland Classic a monopoly in the town. Surely Stagecoach and First could feel rightly aggrieved after what happened in North Devon if this takeover is waved through!
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Post by deerfold on May 1, 2016 18:30:06 GMT 1
Surely the competition police won't let this go through, apart from the few interurban routes that Arriva keep and the Trent Barton services to Derby, this will give Midland Classic a monopoly in the town. Surely Stagecoach and First could feel rightly aggrieved after what happened in North Devon if this takeover is waved through! It's hardly a huge area and there's plenty of companies around who could compete if they fancied it. |
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Post by dwarfer1979 on May 2, 2016 10:06:38 GMT 1
Surely the competition police won't let this go through, apart from the few interurban routes that Arriva keep and the Trent Barton services to Derby, this will give Midland Classic a monopoly in the town. Surely Stagecoach and First could feel rightly aggrieved after what happened in North Devon if this takeover is waved through! Why? The North Devon deal wasn't refused, Stagecoach simply refused to pay for the investigation so pulled out of the deal before the referral went through (the businesses involved in the deal have to pay a fee to help pay for the investigation, which isn't cheap especially as in the North Devon case you don't see the deal as being a huge income/profit stream). I wouldn't be surprised to see it referred but I would also expect it to be cleared since there are big operators all around it and Midland Classic are hardly a big enough operator to hold anyone of any size off if they decide there is a gap. |
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Post by stevieinselby on May 3, 2016 10:06:32 GMT 1
Surely the competition police won't let this go through, apart from the few interurban routes that Arriva keep and the Trent Barton services to Derby, this will give Midland Classic a monopoly in the town. Surely Stagecoach and First could feel rightly aggrieved after what happened in North Devon if this takeover is waved through! The "competition police" couldn't give a wet slap about one operator running most or all bus services in a particular town or small district. A great many towns and districts struggle to support a strong bus network, and often the most economical and efficient way to run it is through a single locally-based operator. For many years, Arriva ran 99% of buses in Selby, Blazefield ran 99% of buses in Harrogate, and EYMS still run 99% of buses across the whole county. It really isn't an issue. The only time that a more detailed look may be considered is if there was any suggestion that an operator was abusing its position as the sole provider and was using anti-competitive measures to stop anyone else setting up shop. There's no suggestion that either of those things are happening here/ |
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Post by dwarfer1979 on May 4, 2016 8:10:55 GMT 1
Surely the competition police won't let this go through, apart from the few interurban routes that Arriva keep and the Trent Barton services to Derby, this will give Midland Classic a monopoly in the town. Surely Stagecoach and First could feel rightly aggrieved after what happened in North Devon if this takeover is waved through! The "competition police" couldn't give a wet slap about one operator running most or all bus services in a particular town or small district. A great many towns and districts struggle to support a strong bus network, and often the most economical and efficient way to run it is through a single locally-based operator. For many years, Arriva ran 99% of buses in Selby, Blazefield ran 99% of buses in Harrogate, and EYMS still run 99% of buses across the whole county. It really isn't an issue. The only time that a more detailed look may be considered is if there was any suggestion that an operator was abusing its position as the sole provider and was using anti-competitive measures to stop anyone else setting up shop. There's no suggestion that either of those things are happening here/ The Competition Authorities (old OFT & CC or new CMA) cannot do anything about natural market development (an operator ceasing or pulling out with no interaction from the other operator - which would I suspect cover both Selby & EYMS in your above list) or pre-existing conditions unless, as you say, there is a specific complaint about abuse of a monopoly position but they can, and normally do, investigate any takeover transaction and will refer many (they even referred the sale of the Centrebus shareholding in Centrebus Holdings to Arriva despite them already having a significant shareholding in the Joint Venture anyway). There has, in the past, been something of a lower limit in the size of the transaction/market where they didn't bother themselves with a takeover (probably how the position in Harrogate got stabilised in the early years of privatisation) but that minimum threshold has been getting lower in recent years and the Burton market is certainly big enough to interest them, but based on previous decisions the small relative size of the new owners, Midland Classic, will work in their favour as they tend to view businesses like this as not big enough to dominate their own market if others get interested where they may view one of the 'big boys' as being too strong for anyone else to get a look in. The CC & OFT have not in the past shown any great understanding of the bus industries natural pattern of merging or any interest in the best interests of bus passengers who see the efficiencies of a single network & its commensurate wider ticket availability as advantages of a single operator, they would certainly have little interest in the most economical & efficient way to run a local network unless sufficient case can be made that a market is not big enough to support two operators making any form of profit in any form of ownership. |
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 14, 2016 10:53:09 GMT 1
Maybe in the medium term the wider Midland Classic will be sold to Wellglade or even Rotala.
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