Its shares now quoted on the Stock Exchange recently hit an all-time high

Its shares, now quoted on the Stock Exchange, recently hit an all-time high.The company, a child of the 1985 Act which deregulated the bus industry, makes no bones about the fact that it feels a local monopoly is the best way to provide services. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR

If the Government had wanted to choose the most controversial candidate as the flagship for its privatised rail programme, it could not have done better than going for Stagecoach. It is Britain’s largest bus company and at once its most famous and most infamous.
Stagecoach has been built up by the brother-and-sister team of Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, both former bus drivers who started the company from redundancy pay-outs, and its profitability is demonstrated by the fact that Mrs Gloag recently bought Beaufort Castle, near Inverness, the seat of the late Lord Lovat, a far cry from the council house in Perth where she was brought up.Stagecoach’s infamy comes from its aggressive and predatory behaviour towards scores of bus companies which it has either bought up or driven out of business. This will be welcomed by the Government, which has always argued that privatisation would lead to savings, but Stagecoach will struggle to achieve it without industrial strife..

But, Mr Cox said, Stagecoach “was not in the business of cutting back on services but of building up volumes of passengers”.Stagecoach, created 10 years ago by Brian Souter and his sister, Ann Gloag, has built up its business by taking over 30 companies around Britain, often using methods which have been criticised by the Office of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.Brian Wilson, Labour’s transport spokesman, said: “It is particularly ironic that privatisation, which began with rhetoric on competition, has ended up with the first franchise going to a ruthlessly anti- competitive company…”Mr Souter yesterday defended his company’s record, saying that no one had accused it of running poor services or “of not being innovative”. The company admits there will be job losses at SWT but hopes these can be achieved by voluntary redundancies.Mr Salmon said Stagecoach would require on average pounds 49m subsidy per year, compared with BR’s net subsidy last year of pounds 63.4m for the SWT services. The company admitted that there would be no chance of buying new trains for the line because the seven-year franchise term was not long enough to justify the purchase of new rolling stock.Brian Cox, the company’s executive director, said yesterday he could not guarantee that there would be no cuts. The company is only contracted to provide up to the minimum passenger service requirements – 86 per cent of the existing timetable – set by the franchise director, Roger Salmon. The Government was determined to ensure that at least one of the first three franchises went to an outside bidder and it is thought that after the collapse of Resurgence, it was forced to allow the Stagecoach deal to go ahead.The confirmation that Stagecoach, Britain’s biggest bus company, had won the right to operate South West Trains, which runs the domestic services out of Waterloo station in London, was immediately attacked by Labour who called it “a sad day for Britain’s railways”.Stagecoach has, however, promised that it will “maintain present service levels”, keep fares down and improve the quality of service by imposing more onerous Passenger’s Charter targets on itself. “But there is no organisation, no campaign, not even any regular contact.”. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR

Transport Correspondent
After a series of delays and last-minute changes, the franchises to operate rail services on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and Great Western Trains were signed last night, with both going to the management buy out teams.Earlier yesterday a bus company which has been frequently criticised for its aggressive tactics towards rivals, Stagecoach, was awarded the first privatised passenger rail line, South West Trains.The London, Tilbury and Southend team has been given a 15-year franchise on condition it provides new trains within the first few years of the franchise.Great Western, which was earmarked for a company called Resurgence Railways only for the deal to collapse when Resurgence failed to obtain the finance, has been let on a 10-year franchise, also with promises of investment from the new operators.

“We are just a very loose grouping who feel Hindley is being unfairly treated,” he said. She works at Taylor Nichol, a firm based in Finsbury Park, London, with a reputation for taking on difficult cases.Mr Astor was introduced to Hindley in 1982 by Lord Longford, who has campaigned for Hindley’s release on the grounds that she has been punished and, he feels, rehabilitated, and whose granddaughter the biographer Rebecca Fraser is married to Mr Fitzgerald.The Rev Peter Timms, a former governor of Maidstone prison, Kent, who was asked to evaluate Hindley, rejected reports of a well-organised group of people campaigning for her release. It is understood his fees in Hindley’s case have been minimal. They are invariably paid by David Astor, 83, editor of the Observer until 1975, who believes that Hindley is treated as a political prisoner in as much as any decision to free her would have to be made by a Home Secretary instead of the courts.Hindley’s solicitor is Carolyn Taylor, niece of the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth. She has served almost that term.Mr Fitzgerald is one of a loose group of people who have supported Hindley over the years who believe she is being treated differently from other prisoners because of the political dangers inherent in any consideration of her release.Without condoning what she did, her supporters point to the fact that she has served twice the average life sentence and is recognised by psychologists and criminologists as presenting no danger to the public.Mr Fitzgerald is a recognised champion of civil liberties. Papers from Hindley’s Home Office file, published by the Independent last year, show that a Cabinet decision was taken in the mid-1980s to release Hindley after 30 years. In one recent US translation, King Saul “entered the cave to go to the bathroom.”.

STEVE BOGGAN

Michael Howard’s decision to imprison Myra Hindley until she dies could be challenged in the courts in months, say sources close to the Moors murderess.
An application for leave to seek a judicial review of the case is being prepared by Edward Fitzgerald QC and is thought to be in an advanced state.It is expected that Mr Fitzgerald will challenge the Home Secretary’s right to overturn earlier recommendations that Hindley, 53, should serve 25 years. It hit Joram between his shoulders, then it went through his heart and came out his chest. He fell over dead in his chariot.”The Dean of Lichfield, Tom Wright, said: “The language reminds me of what happens when someone leading a bible study is trying to summarise for the troops what the passage is really about.” However, he said, the results could have been stranger. ‘Your mother Jezebel has caused everyone to worship idols and to practice witchcraft.’” ‘Ahaziah, let’s get out of here!’ Joram yelled ‘It’s a trap!’ As Joram tried to escape, Jehu shot an arrow. Take II Kings ix, where Jehu, God’s candidate for the throne of Israel, seizes the throne by shooting Joram, his predecessor and rival, in the back.In the authorised version, the story is quickly told: “It came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said: ‘Is it peace, Jehu?’ And he answered: ‘What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?’ And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah: ‘There is treachery, O Ahaziah.’”And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and smote Joram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart and he sank down in his chariot.”In The Contemporary English Version, this becomes: “Joram asked: ‘Is this a peaceful visit?’” ‘How can there be peace?’ Jehu asked.