Risk Takers

Is history repeating itself with the recent multi-million pound sale of Yorkshire Traction to Stagecoach?

Some called it obscene, during the fat cat 80s & 90s, when many newly privatised bus companies, sometimes having been asset stripped by their new owners, sold high to larger groups.

At the sale of the National Bus Company, a number of people found themselves in the right place at the right time for a management buyout, often at extremely favourable prices. They moved from managers to owners and from owners sometimes even to millionaires, following very lucrative sales to others. Staff rarely got much of a look in, the short-lived People’s Provincial’s employee share ownership plan being a marked exception.

But these new bus industry entrepreneurs were also very courageous. They bought their businesses from NBC at a time when the previously stable, regulated régime was about to change markedly. They had no real idea of the competition they might face. Their profitability could change within 42 days (the notice period for the registration of competitive bus services, at that time).

They also put their families on the line. They often re-mortgaged their homes and ran up considerable debt to an extent that they could’ve lost everything. Selling was therefore a matter of risk and reward. And the rewards were potentially great. Who can blame them? The man at the helm of Traction bought his company from NBC in 1987. He was one such risk taker. He has stayed the course longer than many.