Coach company near Brackley goes into liquidation

The firm based in Helmdon near Brackley has been trading since 1958 but in a statement on the BBC website Jeffs Travel owner Colin Matthews said the company had collapsed on Monday because of ‘the loss of contracts and a large bad debt’.

Schools in the area use Jeffs Travel to transport their pupils to school each morning and some parents are now concerned at how their children will get to school.

Caroline Wild said: “Parents of Banbury and parents whose children attend Oxford schools will be hitting the train, the slow S4 public bus or trying to negotiate the Oxford roadworks to get there children to school.”

As well as transporting schoolchildren, the company also provided ‘awaydays’ and holidays for people throughout the year.

It was rescued from closure back in 2012 when it was bought out by Bowens Travel Group.

Northamptonshire County Council released a statement yesterday (Thursday) about the news, and a spokesperson said: “Jeffs operated two routes on behalf of the county council, one going to Magdalen College School in Brackley and one to Danetre and Southbrook in Daventry.

“We were notified on Monday that Jeffs had gone into liquidation and so went through an emergency procurement process to appoint a company to take on the routes over the short-term.

“We managed to appoint Cheney’s Travel, which is currently running the services until the end of the school term.

“Soon we will start a procurement process to tender for new contracts to operate the routes with these starting in January.”