STAGECOACH'S £12 million acquisition of FirstGroup's bus operations in Wigan has been cleared by the Office of Fair Trading.

The watchdog said it would not be referring the takeover, announced in October last year, to the Competition Commission.

The Wigan operation employs around 300 people and has 120 vehicles while Stagecoach's Greater Manchester Buses has 1850 staff and 630 vehicles.

Stagecoach recently had clearance from the OFT to complete its transaction to buy private Manchester bus business Bluebell.