Oft inviting comment on Diamonds RH & KR acqusition

[winston]

I wonder if any other bus company / or parties will put in a complaint/comment to the Oft about the situation in RH?

KR wont be an issue with competition from Whittle's

Any investigation or restrictions imposed could potentially cause Diamond problems,

RNS Number : 6718C
Office of Fair Trading
18 April 2013

Invitation to Comment

Completed acquisition by The Diamond Bus Company Limited of the bus business of FirstGroup plc in Redditch and Kidderminster

The Office of Fair Trading is considering whether this agreement has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.

Affected sector: bus services

Please send written representations about any competition or public interest issues to:

Carlos Martínez Rico           
Office of Fair Trading
Fleetbank House
2-6 Salisbury Square
London EC4Y 8JX
Email: carlos.martinez@oft.gsi.gov.uk   
Fax: 020 7211 8916

to arrive by 2 May 2013.

[winston]

Rotala have had to give initial undertakings to the Oft that they wont intergrate the former First businesses any further in to the existing Diamond RH business, they'll be no staff changes, no route/frequency changes which will more than likely also result in no fleet investment or repaints of former First vehicles until the Oft confirm whether or not there will be an investigation or the outcome of the investigation is known



RNS Number : 6883C
Office of Fair Trading
18 April 2013

Initial undertakings

The OFT accepted, on 15 April 2013, hold separate undertakings given by Rotala plc and The Diamond Bus Company Limited under section 71 of the Enterprise Act 2002.  The undertakings are without prejudice to OFT's ongoing investigation into the completed acquisition by The Diamond Bus Company Limited of the bus business of FirstGroup plc in Redditch and Kidderminster.

The text of these undertakings has been placed on the Office of Fair Trading's website at http://oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/register/Initial-undertakings/diamond

[tank90]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

[PM]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

And diamond have got the citybuses and presidents up for sale!

[winston]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

Any outcome will not effect First as Rotala now own both garages. Worst case scenario Rotala will be forced to divest the former First RH or its own Red Diamond operation similar to what Stagecoach had to do with Preston Bus. It's more likely that Rotala may have to give certain undertakings regarding maintaining current frequencies / routes & fares. It largely depends on if anyone comments/complains to the Oft, and the reasons for the complaint and whether or not the Oft will investigate. I had thought this far down the line that Rotala weren't going to attract interest.

In the meantime Rotala/Diamonds hands are tied while they await a decision being made to investigate the takeover and the outcome of the investigation if that is the chosen course of action

[winston]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

And diamond have got the citybuses and presidents up for sale!

Reading the undertakings in more detail, Rotala will have to take them off the for sale list for the foreseeable. They are now not allowed to dispose of them.

I'm not certain, but the undertakings also read along the lines that Rotala's RH operation will need to be split back in to two separate operations?

[Justin Tyme]

I don't know how keeping the 'First R & K' business separate will be done, but I would expect that Rotala bought on the assumption that the OfT would probably issue an invitation to comment (at least).

Stagecoach did not have to wait many weeks before the outcome was decided in the North West, so I hope this is decided soon - and that no further action is necessary.

[PM]

Hopefully the acquisition will be allowed-MPs and councillors seem in favour-then diamond can get on with running an integrated transport network for redditch

[tank90]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

And diamond have got the citybuses and presidents up for sale!

Reading the undertakings in more detail, Rotala will have to take them off the for sale list for the foreseeable. They are now not allowed to dispose of them.

I'm not certain, but the undertakings also read along the lines that Rotala's RH operation will need to be split back in to two separate operations?

How blumming heck is that going to happen as Diamond would have to move buses into a different pool and which ones do you move. Also this is just going to hinder them as they need to be able to say at somepoint right we are going to scrap all the timetables and release new ones which will sort out some of the problems. I bet its our bloodly MP who can't keep her trap shut, saying its got worse there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we need better.
This is just going to put a nail in the coffin as people have got used to using Diamond buses and now they are going to be using Diamond and what ever Rotala call the exFMR segment, also staff from Diamond will have to transfer with buses, this is not well thought out at all.
You say that Peter but our (redditchs) MP has a happy nack of saying things when she has already agreed to something. ie at the start she was fine with it but now maybe not, and she knows where and when to say it to course trouble.

[PM]

Its a bit late as first are moving on and have got things planned with the spare Enviro 300s they have and if they have to have RH back we will only have 10 DDs and 3 enviros  :o

And diamond have got the citybuses and presidents up for sale!

Reading the undertakings in more detail, Rotala will have to take them off the for sale list for the foreseeable. They are now not allowed to dispose of them.

I'm not certain, but the undertakings also read along the lines that Rotala's RH operation will need to be split back in to two separate operations?

How blumming heck is that going to happen as Diamond would have to move buses into a different pool and which ones do you move. Also this is just going to hinder them as they need to be able to say at somepoint right we are going to scrap all the timetables and release new ones which will sort out some of the problems. I bet its our bloodly MP who can't keep her trap shut, saying its got worse there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we need better.
This is just going to put a nail in the coffin as people have got used to using Diamond buses and now they are going to be using Diamond and what ever Rotala call the exFMR segment, also staff from Diamond will have to transfer with buses, this is not well thought out at all.
You say that Peter but our (redditchs) MP has a happy nack of saying things when she has already agreed to something. ie at the start she was fine with it but now maybe not, and she knows where and when to say it to course trouble.

It does seem like unnecessary bureaucracy and quango intervention-as has been discussed on here before, the oft and the like really do not seem to have a clue when it comes to buses. I just hope that the oft don't look on diamond's facebook page at all the people saying things have got worse because that could really harm diamond's presentation in the eyes of the oft. Diamond have tried hard with the new businesses transferring far better buses in than first did and I hope the acquisition will go ahead as planned.

[Justin Tyme]

How blumming heck is that going to happen as Diamond would have to move buses into a different pool and which ones do you move. Also this is just going to hinder them as they need to be able to say at somepoint right we are going to scrap all the timetables and release new ones which will sort out some of the problems. I bet its our bloodly MP who can't keep her trap shut, saying its got worse there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we need better.
This is just going to put a nail in the coffin as people have got used to using Diamond buses and now they are going to be using Diamond and what ever Rotala call the exFMR segment, also staff from Diamond will have to transfer with buses, this is not well thought out at all.
You say that Peter but our (redditchs) MP has a happy nack of saying things when she has already agreed to something. ie at the start she was fine with it but now maybe not, and she knows where and when to say it to course trouble.

It does seem like unnecessary bureaucracy and quango intervention-as has been discussed on here before, the oft and the like really do not seem to have a clue when it comes to buses. I just hope that the oft don't look on diamond's facebook page at all the people saying things have got worse because that could really harm diamond's presentation in the eyes of the oft. Diamond have tried hard with the new businesses transferring far better buses in than first did and I hope the acquisition will go ahead as planned.

Most of the business can probably easily be separated.  The only service not totally clear is the 57/58, but if the timetable has not been changed, there are presumably ex-First and 'native Diamond' duties - if so, no problem I would think.

[tank90]

its the 51 57 and 58 and these time tables have been slightly tinkered with not much but tinkered all the same. Red Diamonds 51 was de registered so it would need to be re registered, the 57/58(A) have been combined in a weird way that would make it confusing for Staff if spilt up.

[winston]

It does seem like unnecessary bureaucracy and quango intervention-as has been discussed on here before, the oft and the like really do not seem to have a clue when it comes to buses. I just hope that the oft don't look on diamond's facebook page at all the people saying things have got worse because that could really harm diamond's presentation in the eyes of the oft. Diamond have tried hard with the new businesses transferring far better buses in than first did and I hope the acquisition will go ahead as planned.

Ultimately, the deal has left Rotala/Diamond with a monopoly over Redditch town services, Redditch passengers have no option but to use Rotala services as there are now no alternatives. I suspect that fares weren't increased because of a potential threat of an Oft investigation, I'm surprised its took this long for the Oft to become interested. The same concerns apply to Rotala in Redditch as did to Stagecoach in Barnstable, NXWM have about 80% of the West Midlands bus market, but I should imagine with Rotala in Redditch that percentage will be much higher.

Diamond still seem to be having capacity problems & large gaps in service (particularly on the 57/58), now the Oft are considering investigating, Diamond will be able to change very little in the business. I can't see Diamond being forced to separate the two fleets at present as they have already been merged in to Plymouth Road depot, I'll be surprised if there many fleet changes for the time being and any planned repaints of ex First vehicles will no doubt be suspended

[tank90]

Well there are roughly 28 standard services in Redditch looking at WCCs website this includes 55a 56a 58a 70a and a few others. Out of those 28, 16 are solely run by Diamond, so working on that 42.86% of services are not run by Diamond. Now I could go further in the brake down to see with every number if its still that percentage.

[tank90]

After alittle more playing around there is 37 seperate boards if you like, out of those 22 are a Diamond service the pertage that is NOT Diamond is 40.54% so its still far less than NXWM. The sad thing is if you look at PVRs than thats where it goes to pot as Diamond rocket out ahead, but in terms of services its still a fraction of the services in Redditch.