Brakes put on bus company's son
Bus company Banga Travel has suffered another blow to its survival struggle following a Court of Appeal judgment – the owner's son has been denied a licence to set up his own firm.
Rajinder Banga, aged 38, applied to run a bus company after his father Parkash Ram Banga had his licence revoked following an earlier ruling the firm's fleet was not fit for passengers. Wolverhampton-based Banga Travel is currently putting its affairs in order and has until March 11 before Mr Banga senior must end his involvement in the business.
He still hopes to get Rajinder a licence to take over the company, but the future looks bleak after Rajinder failed to get a licence for his own separate bus business.
West Midlands traffic commissioner Nick Jones revealed his findings into the application by Rajinder Banga and his mother Simran Kaur Banga to operate six buses from their home in Vicarage Road, All Saints, and the Banga Travel depot at Stamina House in Hickman Avenue.
Rajinder Banga claimed his father's role in the new company SRB Buses, would be "non-existent" even though he had put money forward to set it up.
Mr Jones said: "If this application was successful, he intended using similar buses to that utilised currently by Banga Travel, and would probably seek to buy Banga Travel's existing buses if that operation ceased to exist.
"If Rajinder Banga wishes to apply for an operator's licence then he is free to do so, and despite his previous involvement with his father's business, I would look upon an application sympathetically provided he showed clear blue water between any new business and that of his father's operation, Banga Travel."
On January 15 Lord Justices Ward and Keane dismissed Parkash Ram Banga's appeals to keep his operating licence at the Court of Appeal in London. They allowed two months before the ban kicks in for the firm to sort itself out.
Mr Banga said he had replaced all his buses since the three damning maintenance inspections since 2005. It operates the 530, 545, 535 and 634 services.
