Barrow on the market
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• Municipally-owned Barrow Borough Transport has become insolvent and is up for sale.
Barrow Borough says 20 parties are interested in the company, and a workers' cooperative buyout has been proposed; this was first put to Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council several months ago.
Ribble may also be a potential buyer — it approached the council with a bid when the cooperative scheme was first announced.
The company came under creditor pressure in midDecember with debts of more than 2500,000, says Barrow Borough. As a result financial consultants Price Waterhouse were brought in to review its finances.
Following the review it was decided to submit a petition to place the company in administration. This was granted at Manchester High Court on 21 December.
Two Price Waterhouse administrators, Ed James and Gordon Horsfield, have been brought in to manage the company. The existing management are still responsible for bus operations, but no longer have the same power.
Barrow Borough is trading as normal and all services are still running, but the company says there may be some cutbacks after an internal review of services.
The company has 114 staff, including 58 drivers, with 43 vehicles, mainly Leyland Nationals, Peugeot Pullmans, Leyland Atlanteans and Renaults. It also runs a commercial vehicle repair and maintenance service and offers coaches, vans and cars for hire. It has a turnover of about 21.6 milli—on.