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MILITANT MUNICIPAL bus operators may try to compel the Department of Transport to resume payments of new bus grants to them by resorting to legal action.
At present, only Nationalised operators, Passenger Transport Executives and independents are receiving grant after a three-cornered row between the DoT, the Association of District Councils and the Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport, writes Martin Watkins.
The DoT stopped paying grant to municipal operators after the ADC questioned the legality of withholding grants for which an approval in principle had been given. The DoT now says it is awaiting proposals from the ADC about how the money allocated to the municipal sector should be shared out between different authorities.
The argument is about whether grants "approved in principle" on vehicles ordered before April 1, 1976 but delivered after this date should be carried forward and paid out of the money allocated for the year from April 1,1976.
This rationing agreement was finalised this June and gave the Municipal operators £6.29m out of a total bus grant payment of £42m by the Department. The ADC maintains that when it agreed to the £6.29m allocation it thought that payments on vehicles for which an "approval in principle" certificate had been issued previously would be made in addition to the £6.29m.
The ADC has called in all the approved in principle forms issued to its 50 members and has calculated that payouts on these between April 1, 1976 and 31 March 1977 should work out to £1.8m — thereby reducing by 25 per cent the amount of cash they thought they had negotiated for new payments during this time.
To add to the confusion, some municipal undertakings received a letter in early August from the DoT which appeared to revoke the approvals in principle issued to them.
Both the ADC and the Confederation have briefed counsel on the case — but they have been given conflicting