Ochil Tours coach company calls in the liquidators

Perthshire based Ochil Tours has gone into liquidation with very little warning to staff. The company’s employees turned up, for what they thought was a normal day’s work last Tuesday, only to be confronted by a team of liquidators who were present to seize Ochil Tour’s assets. All coaches were taken from the premises last week and the company has ceased trading.

Ochil Tours held several contracts with local authorities, the main one being a contract to transport primary school children to Perth Leisure pool. Now rival coach company Stagecoach has taken over the job. The company also specialised in providing coach tours.

The staff at the Fair City firm seemed baffled by the sudden closure of the company. One said that their boss had even been considering taking on a new member of staff recently. The firm had employed 4 full time drivers, a receptionist and part-time casual staff.

The former acting transport manager at Ochil Tours, Alan Robertson said he was sorry that many of their customers who had made prior bookings would lose out, whilst others may not even realise they have ceased trading and will be expecting them to turn up for their booking. Mr Robertson said, “It is letting people down that is really getting to us. There will be a lot of local people out of pocket.” He added, “A number of people have paid for business trips or put down deposits and they will not get a penny.

The recession has been partly blamed for the closure of the company plus “changes in legislation meant that some contract work was lost.” Also cited as a contributory factor were the “large maintenance bills” which meant the firm couldn’t survive through the winter.