FOUR directors at a troubled taxpayer-owned bus firm are at the centre of a new row over free golf, dinners and entertainment from a key supplier as a £10 million-plus deal for a fleet of new buses was concluded.

 

Diary entries obtained under Freedom of Information reveal four directors of Lothian Buses, the sister company of Edinburgh Trams, accepted hospitality from Volvo on seven occasions in just over a year as it sealed two consignments of a total of 45 new green buses.

Lothian Buses said the events were for industry and supplier networking but the firm has been criticised over how it has historically recorded such gifts of hospitality as the details emerged.

The directors Ian Craig, Norman Strachan, Bill Campbell and Bill Devlin, who each earned between £190,000 and £270,000 in 2013, are separately due to leave the company on notice of two years.

That move came after months of boardroom in-fighting among the four that led to handshake deals and an overhaul of the top flight at the Edinburgh City Council-owned company with a new interim chairman, Tony Depledge and general manager, Jim McFarlane.

The latest issue to surface is the concern over the recording of hospitality.

The firm said it has since updated its code of conduct and changed its policy to ensure all gifts and hospitality over £100 are recorded, instead of a previous £300 threshold that was in place prior to January.

Edinburgh SNP councillor Stefan Tymkewyc said firms have a right to vie for the time and attention of customers and that executives in roles paid for by the public purse should be seen to be scrupulous about transparency.

He said: "I would think manufacturers are perfectly within their rights to lobby and show brochures and explain to a potential customer of any firm, but if it is not recorded (by the authority) then that brings it into question."

Mr Campbell, Mr Devlin and Mr Strachan earlier came under fire after travelling to London in December for the annual all-male Transport Golfing Society dinner, which also featured live entertainment.

The dinner was paid for by Volvo and was the subject of a review by Mr Depledge who has taken over the interim role from former chairman Ann Faulds who resigned last year. They were advised not to attend the men-only event again.

In total the four directors accepted 19 offers of hospitality in little over a year, although there is no suggestion of any impropriety by either suppliers or directors.

Chief executive Mr Craig attended eight, including the 2014 Confederation of Passenger Transport annual dinner as a guest of coachbuilder Wrightbus whose headquarters are in Northern Ireland, dinner in St Andrew Square with Royal Bank of Scotland, Commonwealth Games Luncheon at the Corinthian Club in Glasgow as guest of chartered surveyors Graham and Sibbald, Edinburgh International Book Festival as guest of Scott Moncrieff, dinner courtesy of Brodies LLP, the University of Edinburgh's "Where next for the Capital" private dialogue and dinner and the UK Bus Industry Awards in London and UK CPT annual dinner 2015, both as guests of Volvo.

Operations director Bill Campbell was also at the Confederation of Passenger Transport as a guest of Volvo and the RBS and Brodies LLP dinners as well as the TGS dinner in London, again as a guest of Volvo.

Finance director Norman Strachan was at the Association of Corporate Treasurers dinner in 2014 courtesy of Barclays Bank, the Scotland versus England rugby game with Graham and Sibbald, dinner with the RBS, golf at Archerfield, the TGS dinner in London courtesy of Volvo and the 2015 Association of Corporate Treasurers dinner as a guest of the National Australia Bank.

Bill Devlin attended the TGS 2015 dinner as a guest of Volvo.

Lothian Buses said this was atypical but it did not have full written records of previous years.

A spokesman for Lothian Buses said: "It's normal practice in business for directors and senior managers to engage appropriately with suppliers at events.

"Such engagement is covered by our code of conduct which has recently been updated and clearly sets out how relationships are managed to ensure any engagement is transparent, appropriate for the company and recorded in the right way."

In response to the Freedom of Information request, the firm's FOI officer added: "I can confirm prior to 2015, gifts and hospitality over £300 were required to be recorded.

"As of January 2015, this level was reduced to £100.

"There are no items over this threshold but I have included details of hospitality during 2014 taken from corporate diaries.

"The events recorded were industry and supplier networking events."

Edinburgh City Council's handling of the boardroom fight is being scrutinised by KPMG at a cost of £39,000.

The row between Mr Craig and Mr Devlin, Mr Campbell and Mr Strachan ended with allegations made against Mr Craig but an investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing. The company has 2,000 staff and 721 buses.

In 2010 it introduced its first 15 new hybrid double deck buses it said were manufactured locally by Alexander Dennis, and 10 by Volvo, with the help of the Scottish Government's Scottish Green Bus Fund.

Of its fleet of 65 hybrid buses, 15 are Alexander Dennis vehicles, the Falkirk-based firm that is majority owned by Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, and the rest are Volvo, whose headquarters are in Sweden.

The first of 25 new diesel-electric hybrid Volvo B5TL Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 3 double deck buses came into service at the end of November.

Nick Page, Managing Director, Volvo Bus, said:  "I can confirm that in the usual course of business Volvo Bus did purchase the guests'tickets but did not pay for any guests to attend or for any guests accommodation or travel costs."