McGill's boss fires warning to SPT over bus franchising

THE Easdale brothers are ready for a fight.

Having spent the last quarter of a century building up McGill’s, they fear it is under threat from a decision to pursue bus franchising, taken by SPT.

Speaking to the Glasgow Times, in the latest Times Talks series, Sandy Easdale, one half of the successful fraternal partnership with his brother James, explained the lengths to which they will go to protect their assets.

In the firm’s Greenock office, where the transport company is headquartered, he is passionate and even emotional on what he sees as a public body attempting to take away his business.   

Mr Easdale said SPT will not have it all their own way and roll his firm over.

He said: “We're in the process now of getting a real heavyweight legal team, heavyweight institutions, mega expensive people and brains to now fight this.

“I will fight it with every breath I've got and I will fight it with every penny I've got.”

Given that the brothers have a combined wealth estimated at around £1.4 billion by the UK rich list, that's a lot of pennies.

Buses are not their only interest – with property and other businesses adding to the resources available to them.

He added:  “And if that means bringing money in from the rest of your group, that's what I'll do, because the principle of this is so wrong. That’s how I feel about it.”

Under the franchising system, which could take up to seven years to put in place, SPT would set fares, frequency and determine what routes need to be served.

It would also decide who gets to run the buses on the routes.

Mr Easdale feels this means another firm could swoop in and be handed his business.

He said: “From an operator's point of view, what they're asking us to do is actually bid for our own business and everybody else can bid for my business.”

Having taken over the firm as a small enterprise, it has become one of the biggest independent bus operators in the UK.

The scale of what is at stake is outlined when he says: “We've invested more than £200 million in this business in the last 20 to 25 years.

“In infrastructure, buses and training. It's all documented, the money is there.

“We're building a bigger and better business.

“We are not into big dividends. We believe in investment and that's what we've done.”

Following the decision to pursue franchising, SPT said: “Franchising is a proven model for delivery of local bus services across Europe and beyond and provides the greatest certainty of making significant improvement to the network to achieve passenger growth, better accessibility for all and deliver wider public policy outcomes.”

Mr Easdale disagrees.

Not only does he disagree, he is scathing in his assessment of the organisation that would oversee the process.

“Power,” he said, is the reason SPT has pursued this particular agenda – and he suggested that “they are using socialist dogma that the buses will be better off in public hands”.

“I have no doubt,” he added, “that SPT is on a power grab to safeguard SPT itself”.