Dereg-day is put back yet again
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DEREGULATION of the bus industry is to be delayed for a month or so, following pressure from local authorities and operators that the proposed timetable was too tight.
The concession was announced by Agriculture Minister of State Lord Belstead in the Lords this week, as he rejected demands for deregulation to be put back to April 1987.
Some peers argued that the existing timetable was far too tight, particularly for the PTEs and the local authorities to deal with all the tenders that would be submitted.
Lord Belstead admitted that the work which authorities would have to do between now and September next year was "daunting-.
"It is because I think we need to have some more elbow room on the timetable that I say now that the Government is prepared to consider a small extension of the tendering period by putting back deregulation day by just one month, and choosing a date in late October or early November as best calculated to coincide with school halfterm holidays in England and Wales," he said.
The effect of the change will be to extend the period available for tendering from six to seven months