Western Greyhound bus firm goes bust with the loss of 160 jobs

There's confusion over bus services in Cornwall tonight after one of the county's main operators went out of business with the loss of nearly 160 jobs.

All Western Greyhound services have been suspended. Cornwall Council has stepped in to hire other operators. But some areas could be left with no bus services at all,

Dozens of Western Greyhound staff arrived at the company's depot nearNewquay this morning to find they no longer had a job.

One driver told ITV News: "We knew it was coming for a long time, we knew something like this was going to happen."

Another told us that today was pay day and he hadn't received his wages.He said he'd turned up for work at 5.30am to be handed a lettersaying the company had ceased trading.

The current owners only took over the firm in December. They blame trouble raising finance for a large insurance bill.

"The reason for the company ceasing trading is due to a financial issue with the company's insurance and we explored all alternatives to try and seek resolution to this and unfortunately that failed. We've spent most of the day today looking after the employees and making sure they've got other jobs to go to. We've asked First Group to attend this morning who are the other local bus company in order that they can start recruiting the staff."

It's been a turbulent time for the company which lost 38 buses in separate arson attacks over the past two years.

The company runs 14 routes in mid and north cornwall, only half of those are currently covered by rival firm First Kernow.

Today some passengers found themselves stranded and had to walk to another bus stop to catch a First service.

Local MP Stephen Gilbert has been holding crisis meetings with management. "We've got to be clear bus routes here in mid Cornwall are an absolute lifeline for thousands of people and today's announcement will come as a real shock and a real blow to the people who depend on the bus to get to and from work, to get to the shops, to get to the hospital, and I will be doing everything I can as the MP to push everybody to get these services up and running as quickly as possible."

Cornwall Council subsidises two of the routes. It said a stand-in bus had been found for a school contract in Liskeard and a handful were currently left without cover.

Bert Biscoe from Cornwall Council says: "We are working with the bus companies and with the traffic commissioner to try and put together as quickly as we can an alternative temporary timetable to pick up the services for which contractually we are responsible."

As for the staff, they've been told the company will settle all outstanding wages, and that there are enough assets to cover their redundancy.