Big operators with no place to go
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• The imminent closure of Manchester's Lower Mosley Street bus terminal — since the turn of the -century the base for coach express and tour companies in the North
West has left some of the best-known operators without a central bus station. The North Western Extended Tour Operators' Association has already made a strong protest over the situation and Shearings Pleasurways and Ribblesdale Holidays say the situation is now so desperate that they have no alternative but to appeal to the North West Traffic Commissioner to decide the issue.
Also without a base are Smith Tours of Wigan. Florence Motors of Morecambe, Robinson Tours of Great Harwood, and Holts (British) Tours of Oldham.
These companies, all members of the North Western Extended Tour Operators' Association, used to operate from East Street, Manchester, until this site was sold. Discussion took place between members of the Association and various bodies in Manchester with a view to securing an alternative site and eventually they were permitted to use Chorlton Street Bus Station with co-operation of SELNEC PTE.
In July this year, said Mr W. B. Jackson, secretary of the Association, members were advised that following discussions between SELNEC and the National Bus Company, represented by the North Western Road Car Co, they would not be permitted to use Chorlton Street Bus Station after the -1972 season as all NBC express services were moving into Chorlton Street from Lower Mosley Street.
In spite of lengthy correspondence and a meeting with the town clerk's department, the police, the planning authority and National Car Parks, the Association has
been unable to secure an alternative-site and now, reluctantly, has come to the conclusion that it will have to apply for a site in Manchester and allow the Traffic Commissioners to decide the fate of the operators.
The tour operators feel they have not been very well treated as theY were not included in any discussions concerning relocation, in spite of the fact that they carry over 50,000 Mancunians annually on their holidays. They claim that they have never enjoyed the co-operation of the local authority in Manchester as they do with most other towns in the North West and although they have been promised consideration when the new Amdale Bus Station at Piccadilly is constructed, this will not be until at least two years' time.