Highland Council to purchase D&E Coaches

[GusB]

Having set up an in-house operation a few years ago, Highland Council is to purchase D&E Coaches.

D&E Coaches to be purchased by The Highland Council - routeone

Inverness operator D&E Coaches will be purchased by The Highland Council after agreement between the two parties.

www.route-one.net

Inverness operator D&E Coaches will be purchased by The Highland Council after agreement between the two parties for a sale of the entire shareholding in the business was reached.

The local authority says that the deal will allow it “to accelerate provision of public transport services in the area, achieve operational cost efficiencies, and reduce the risk of future cost increases.”

In 2022, The Highland Council established an in-house bus operation, citing ongoing cost increases for supported bus service and home-to-school contracts as the reason. In announcing the purchase of D&E Coaches it has reiterated that home-to-school “is a high-cost statutory function that has caused significant budget pressures in recent years.”

Completion of the deal is subject to due diligence and is expected to wrap up “in the near future.” A business-as-usual approach will be maintained, although further details will be announced at the time the sale is finished.

Speaking about the development, D&E Coaches owner and Managing Director Donald Mathieson says: “D&E Coaches has been in business for almost three decades and we feel as a family firm that we have taken the company as far as we can.

“Moving forward, we feel that the acquisition of D&E Coaches by The Highland Council is the best move for the company and everyone concerned, including our staff and customers. We are also pleased that the company will move into local authority/public ownership.”

This certainly seems like an unusual move, especially as D&E hived off some of its services off to Stagecoach a few years ago. It'll be interesting to see what will happen with the private hire side in the long term, although the D&E website has a message saying that current bookings will be unaffected:

After nearly 30 years of dedicated leadership, Donald Mathieson is retiring. As part of this transition, we’re proud to announce that D&E Coaches is now part of The Highland Council. Rest assured, all bookings made prior to this acquisition remain valid, and our services will continue as usual. We’re excited to embark on this next chapter and remain committed to providing the excellent service you know and trust. Have questions? Contact us at [email protected]

 

[JKP]

So Highland Council follow Pembrokeshire Council in acquiring a local operator presumably to prevent the area around Inverness and the Black Isle becoming solely reliant on Stagecoach with resultant higher costs for school and local bus service contracts.

 

[318266]

So a similar situation to Eve Coaches: owner of company that runs a lot of school buses wants to retire, council operator offers to purchase to save on school bus costs.