Two groups bid for Till control
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Two potential buyers for the Transport Research Laboratory,' (TRL) have been shortlisted by roads minister Steven Norris.
A management-led buy-out team and a consortium including the AA and RAC will now battle it out for control of the laboratory, which has been up for privatisation since March. The Government will make its final decision in the new year.
Final offers from the two short-listed bidders must be in by 21 December but Welsh Water, which had put in a bid for the TRL (CM 2-8 Nov), is now out of the ninning.
Former Transport Minister Peter Bottomley has criticised the sell-off, saying that the organisation has the highest integrity in the world.
The TRL, which researches congestion, road construction and safety, was established as an executive agency in 1992. It has an annual turnover of £32m and employs more than 400 scientists, engineers and support staff at Crowthorne, Berks.