South Midland redundancies
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• The headquarters of South Midland bus operations in Witney has been closed down by Transit Holdings chairman Harry Blundred, making 15 people redundant, including the managing director Laurie Grove.
Paul Jeffery, managing director of Thames Transit, is now responsible for the day-to-day management of the bus company, which is part of Transit Holdings, aided by the depot management at Wantage and Witney. Colin France is acting managing director.
Blundred says the move is designed to reduce the administration costs of South Midland and it will have no effects on operations. The only impact the closure has on passengers is that they now have to go to either the Corn Street depot in Witney or the Gloucester Green travel shop in Oxford with travel enquiries.
Rival operator Oxford Bus Company, however, claims the move is a cost-cutting exercise aimed at saving around a quarter of a million pounds a year. Blundred said last week that the number of passengers in the Oxford area had risen by 40% since the company started trading in 1987. A total of eight million passengers was expected in 1988, with South Midlands taking around 50% of them. Oxford Bus Company anticipates 18 million passengers in 1988.
The company was also in the news a month ago, when Blundred announced a major reshuffle in South Midland operations and launched a new Abingdon service.