Eastleigh MP wants Inquiry into ‘Local Bus Wars’
By Caroline_W | Thursday, October 15, 2009, 16:59
Eastleigh MP, Chris Huhne, has written to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) requesting the issue of local bus routes be referred to the Competition Commission following ‘predatory behaviour by their larger competitor and the dominant player’ towards the bus operator, Black Velvet Travel Ltd.
Velvet buses are the distinctive purple-coloured buses that operate in the Eastleigh area with Route A linking Eastleigh and Botley via West End and Hedge End. Special college buses also operate between Hedge End and Barton Peveril.
Earlier in the year Black Velvet opened two new routes through Fair Oak but was forced to cancel the services when Bluestar (originally Solent Blue Line) began running the same routes. Bluestar subsequently also cancelled their services and as Chris Huhne points out in his letter to the OFT, not only did Black Velvet make a loss, but ‘bus passengers locally have suffered from the withdrawal of an improved bus service.’
The Competition Commission has the power to levy fines on companies that have not acted in fair competition and Chris Huhne believes, ‘It is not just important for bus travellers in South Hampshire, but across the whole country as Solent Blue Line is part of one of the biggest British bus groups, Go-ahead. If they can do it here, they can do it anywhere.’
Black Velvet Ltd is an Eastleigh-based company with 11 drivers and details of its routes and timetables can be found on its website.
![Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi LX [110] [Euro 4 ... 5-Door](http://cdn.motors.co.uk/d/used-photos/23953/120x/0/0/KD55ZMO.jpg)
Comments