A TROUBLED publicly-owned bus firm is to shed all four of its executive directors over the next two years.

Lothian Buses confirmed the four directors will leave the Edinburgh-based company in the wake of a "bruising and damaging" boardroom battle.

It follows a series of leaks over the row between the chief executive, Ian Craig, who was cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation, and the company's finance, engineering and operations directors.

Mr Craig, operations director Bill Campbell, engineering director Bill Devlin and finance director Norman Strachan, who each earned between £200,000 and £270,000 in 2013, are now to leave the firm.

Tony Depledge, chair of Lothian Buses, said there is to be a review of management, organisational and remuneration arrangements.

He said: "My commitment is to ensure that Lothian Buses is equipped to thrive as a modern, agile business to the benefit of its customers and to the wider city economy as part of an integrated network.

"Recent months have been bruising and damaging for this company in terms of its reputation but, in terms of its performance as a business, we continue to succeed.

"However, for this success to be sustainable it's vital that we restore confidence and stability to the leadership of Lothian Buses.

"This means that change is required. This decision hasn't been taken lightly and issues raised in recent weeks have led me to the understanding that structure and governance need action.

"We want to have the right people in place to manage the business and we need to take account of changes as people retire or move on."