Peace talks at BCC
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• Talks are planned to heal the rift between Passenger Transport Executive bosses and the Bus & Coach Council (CM 29 September-5 October). "We really ought to be working together for the industry," says David Howard, director-general of Tyne & Wear PTE and one of the leaders of the breakaway group which tried to set up its own alternative association for tendering authorities. "Myself and several colleagues are presently discussing the best way to set up a meeting with the BCC," he says.
"There was a lot of dissatisfaction with the BCC on our part but I detect a changing attitude. In the first flush of deregulation the BCC perhaps saw PTEs as the dead hand of officialdom. Things have settled down now and I think the council realizes that we have a valid role to play."
BCC director-general Veronica Palmer says the PTEs have not yet contacted her formally, but she is eager for a reconciliation. "We would be very willing to discuss the situation with the PTEs. There is a lot of common ground," she says.