Long established County Durham operator Scarlet Band will cease trading after 29 October. A difficult labour market that is “likely to be present for years to come” is cited among reasons for the decision in a letter to staff from Director Graeme Torrance.
Mr Torrance says that driver turnover “has been, perhaps, the most difficult issue to address” and that staff departures have damaged the operator’s ability to provide a high standard of service. He adds that the decision for Scarlet Band to cease trading came “only after many weeks of serious thought and careful consideration about what is best for the company and its staff in the long term.”
The letter states that Scarlet Band was recently offered a significant number of contracts by Durham County Council (DCC), although it has also lost work.
However, the short-notice date of commencement of those new contracts – 31 October – means that it would be “impossible to achieve” the required service level, Mr Torrance’s letter continues. He adds that current conditions in the bus industry are unlikely to improve sufficiently over the duration of the proposed four-year terms for that position to change.
A shortage of engineers, increasing costs and a lack of spare parts are also cited by Mr Torrance, along with difficulties caused by burglaries at its West Cornforth base. To cease trading at the point that some existing contracts end will open TUPE opportunities for staff, he adds. In the year to September 2021, the business employed an average of 54 people.
It remains to be seen which operators the current Scarlet Band duties and contracts it has been offered by DCC will pass to, although Weardale Motor Services has hinted that it will take up some of that work.
Darlington Borough Council, for which Scarlet Band currently operates service 16 in the town, said shortly after the decision to close was announced that it was looking “at all the options” for areas served by that route. Cabinet member for local services Cllr Andy Keir has described the decision to close Scarlet Band as “a terrible shame,” adding that it has been “a highly regarded operator in Darlington for almost a decade.”
Scarlet Band was founded in 1921 by Sid Blenkinsop with a route between West Cornforth and Durham. While the deregulation of bus services in 1986 offered opportunity to many independent operators, Scarlet Band did not welcome the move and it instead focused its energies on coaching in the late 1980s.
At one point at around that time, 90% of all of Scarlet Band’s coach work involved overseas tours and it took delivery of a Mercedes-Benz O303 as a fleet flagship in 1988 to run alongside other marques.
The business passed to former Arriva, First Bus and Stagecoach man Graeme Torrance in 2007. Since then, it has vacated the coach segment to concentrate on bus services. In 2014, Scarlet Band became the first independent operator to purchase Optare Solos in Euro VI form. 10 arrived for use on the Durham park-and-ride after the contract for those routes was gained from Arriva.
