BROTHERS who owned collapsed bus firm GHA Coaches risked lives in a desperate bid to keep the company afloat.

For months the Ruabon-based firm ran unchecked vehicles, failed to pay bills or heed health and safety concerns, a public inquiry was told on Tuesday.

On one occasion the wheel fell off a bus carrying schoolchildren from Mold.

Directors Gareth Lloyd Davies and Arwyn Lloyd Davies are to have their licences revoked and will be disqualified by Nick Jones, the Traffic Commissioner for Wales.

They appeared at the inquiry Welshpool Town Hall in Powys held to look into the licences held by GHA.

The company went into administration in July, which led to bus services across the county being axed and about 400 employees losing their jobs.

A packed chamber, with several former employees looking on, heard some services did not run because vehicles were overdue inspection and because bills to parts suppliers had not been paid.

Vehicles were regularly moved from depot to depot without checks.

Mr Jones said evidence from a transport manager within the company indicated buses had “been kept running to bring income in” and that maintenance of vehicles did not adhere to the terms of their licence.

He asked: “Is that fair?

THE Traffic Commissioner for Wales has the power to disqualify an individual or a company from having a licence.

The Davies brothers are registered as directors of RJ’s of Wem, a Shropshire company which was recently awarded the contract to operate a number of services previously run by GHA.

This included the vital 146 service linking Whitchurch to Wrexham through rural villages including Bronington, Hanmer, Penley, Overton, Bangor-on-Dee and Marchwiel.

A decision to disqualify them from having a licence could result in the future of the 146 being thrown back into uncertainty.

Following a public inquiry, the commissioner can also decide to:

Disqualify transport managers.Impose financial penalties on registered bus service operators.Refuse to grant a licence.Refuse to vary an existing licence.End or suspend an existing licence.Attach conditions to a licence.Grant a licence allowing fewer vehicles than the number applied for.

Director Gareth Lloyd Davies, a transport manager on both the company’s Welsh and North West licences, replied: “Fair. But only in the last three months.”

Mark Williams, a vehicle examiner from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVS) in Wrexham, gave evidence the fleet engineer responsible for hundreds of buses was away on driving duties one visit, with many vehicles were off the road.

The commissioner said: “It is not surprising there are problems with maintenance if senior management are off driving. It appears it’s all hands to the pump in terms of driving and getting the vehicles out.

“I’m surprised to hear of a fleet engineer driving on a daily basis.”

He added: “It is a symptom of the operation, a merry-go-round of vehicles moved from one depot to another no-one overall control of vehicles being safe.”

Director and transport manager Gareth Lloyd Davies said: “I should have taken more control.

“We paid people to do it and they didn’t do it.”

Mr Jones said: “The buck stops with you. You should have been keeping control of it.”

The inquiry heard that on January 12 a wheel came off a bus carrying children from the Alun School in Mold on a main road.

Coaches are subject to regular periodic maintenance inspections (PMIS) once a month, but this vehicle had not been checked for more than two months.

Mr Jones said: “This appals me, potentially killing people on the road, schoolchildren and innocent road users.

“Fourteen weeks, six days since the last inspection and surprise, surprise, the wheel falls off. The word shambolic comes across as the way the licences have been run generally.

“There is a clear pattern here of poor maintenance, not having records and the PMI being exceeded on a regular basis.

“It doesn’t say much for the safety of people travelling on GHA Coaches.

“Finances came before road safety.

The directors agreed and admitted they should have done more but declined to give more evidence on their behalf, claiming much of their documentation was with the administrators.

Mr Jones said: “It comes across that the failure of this company is due to a complete lack of control.

“Other operators in Wales comply with the rules. People know it costs them money but they are expected to keep their vehicles in tip-top condition.

“Not only did you jeopardise road safety there were competitive disadvantages for the other operators in North Wales.”

The company’s then transport managers, Darrell Barron, Berwyn Davies and David Yarwood, were admonished with a warning.

There is also likely to be another public inquiry into RJ’s of Wem, a transport company the brothers are currently involved in.

But they are both set to be personally disqualified and will lose their operating licences.

Mr Jones said: “I will produce a written decision which will include findings that the operator has lost its repute.

“It is apparent to me road safety has very much taken second place to financial considerations and this has been the case for a period of time.

“It is conceded by you that this happened for at least a three-month period, but in my view probably much longer. Any operation that puts finances above road safety should not be operating in the future.”

Referring to the transport for the Sterophonics concert Mr Jones said: “You are both directors of an entity which ran illegally. It indicates that as you were a company about to go under, desperate measures were taken to avoid administration and road safety became very much bottom of the pile in consideration.

“You should have closed the company earlier. I am going to make orders of personal disqualification against both of you.

“I have concerns about either of you being involved in running vehicles, and both should be kept out of operating licences for period of time.

“I will reflect on how long that should be – the failures come down to your negligence and putting your financial interests above road safety.”

Transport for the Stereophonics gig in Wrexham was also organised illegally by the company as it did not have permission from the transport commissioner to run the service.

Referring to the Sterophonics gig, traffic commissioner Nick Jones told the Davies brothers: “You are both directors of an entity which ran illegally.

“It indicates that as you were a company about to go under, desperate measures were taken to avoid administration and road safety became very much bottom of the pile in consideration.

“You should have closed the company earlier. I’m going to make orders of personal disqualification against both of you.

“I have concerns about either of you being involved in running vehicles, and both should be kept out of operating licences for period of time.

“I will reflect on how long that should be – the failures come down to your negligence and putting your financial interests above road safety.”