HCT : CT+ : CIC : CT4N : U C? Pt 2

 CT4N No Longer In Nottingham

During the course of last Friday, all CT4N buses were ordered back to their depots, all staff were made redundant and the bus company went into administration. The company went bust.

CT4N is a charity. But CT4N (The Charity) owned a Limited Company which traded as ...

Here is its entry in the records at Companies House.

Back in 2025, things were not going well for CT4N Ltd.

A Voluntary Agreement happens when the company is on the point of going bust, of being unable to pay its staff and its bills. People to whom the company owes a lot of money - maybe a loan which the company cannot repay - agrees to 'wait and see' in the hope that things will get better. The argument is that if the operation does go bust, the creditors will probably get zilch. But the voluntary agreement will give a breathing space to allow business to improve so the creditors might get some of their money back.

They didn't improve; there was no chance of recovery, hence Friday's "sudden" closure.

Activities began, it is reported, some 50 years ago as Nottingham Voluntary Transport. This became Nottingham Community Transport, then CT4N, Community Transport For Nottingham. CT4N was registered as a CIC about ten years ago.

As with Hackney Community Transport, fbb has not attempted to cover every event in CT4N's recent tortuous life; these are examples from the past plus samples of services operated at the demise.

There were recent examples that we might recognise as 'genuine' community transport ...

.... including an 'on demand' service for neighbouring county, Derbyshire ...

... also a minibus service.

CT4N lost the Medilink service as mentioned in the press release ...

... with the service being taken over by Skills.

Then there was the loss of the ten minute frequency Queens Drive Park and Ride, equipped with posh electric buses in CT4N's ambit.

This operation was developed from a free city centre route in the hands of Trent Barton.

The replacement service is now in the hands if Nottingham City Transport, launched with a reduced frequency of every 15 minutes.

The current timetable is further reduced to every 20.

Back to CT4N!

Their 'normal' bus services were wide-ranging with a return journrey for a school ...

... through more rural operations ...

... tagged with somewhat optimistic "up to" every hour.

Some routes were very obviously urban services as here from Long Eaton to Sandiacre ...

... and from central Nottingham to Bulwell.

Others were very clearly local authority tender material ...

.... with just three journeys in each direction.

Trent Barton were providers of route 18 between Stapleford and central Nottingham ...

... showing a truly inspired brand name! But in 2018 Trent backed our of the route ...

... and guess who took over.

Yes, look closely and it is a route 18!

Then, on the day after CT4N's collapse, this appeared on the Nottingham City bus social media.

Did they know something in advance? A reduced service is operating at first with a full replacement to follow. And here is Nottingham doing it!

Finally, in the farewell gabble to a collapsed company, is this helpful route map.

It concerns this CT4N free service.

The Connector links stops in the A453 with the industrial estate north of the runway at East Midlands Airport.

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This has been a disconnected farewell to a busy bus company that simply got it wrong.

fbb hopes to be able to report some more on replacement services as they are announced.

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STOP PRESS

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West Midlands Combined Authority BUYS National Express bus company???

nobody saw that coming.

Might mean a change of blog for tomorrow!

 fbb's Summer Adventures 2 : Thur 20 Aug 

HCT : CT+ : CIC : CT4N : U C? Pt 1

 Is It Really Four Years Ago?

You might expect an operation called Hackney Community Transport to be running buses in Hackney for "The Community", being aimed at passengers who might struggle with a conventional bus.

And that is how things began.

But soon an unusual logo began appearing on "ordinary" London buses.

HCT rebranded itself as CTPlus and developed significant bus operations for TfL. TfL banned large logos and prescribed an all red livery with a minimalist operator name.

fbb has not attempted to put the company's operations into correct date order, nor has he tried to unravel the intertwined subsidiary companies and brands that were developed.

Operations in West Yorkshire began with 'genuine' community services ...

... but morphed into a whole range of tendered to routes. A joint fare promotion was enjoined with South Pennine Community Transport, hence the placards below.

Operations expanded to the Channel Islands with Guernseybus ...

... and Liberty Bus in Jersey.

Activity started in Bristol with a deal between CTPlus and The Big Lemon (yes, that is the Big Lemon in Brighton)

Again more tendered services were operated.

Then there was Manchester Community Transport!

Meanwhile in South Yorkshie, CTPlus bought local operator Powells ...

... again with tendered services as its main business. Below is a bus in CTPlus livery working a tram replacement service in Sheffield ...

... but branded for a hospital shuttle in Doncaster.

In some ways, the oddest CTPlus contract was in Bristol. The Metro bus scheme was delayed, but the services were all to be operated by majority Bristol incumbent, First Bus.

Here is the launch of M1 ...

... clearly with First Bus in the destination box. But, on closer inspection and on the side of the bus, between the two rows of windows, we observe ...

... the CTPlus logo and the name Bristol Community Transport. First had sub-contracted this prestigious service to Hackney Community Transport which arrived on the scene in a very thin disguise.

Then in 2022 the whole house of bus operating cards collapsed almost overnight.

Some areas were aware of trouble at't'mill and replacements came quickly, but for joe public there were days of mystery, chaos and travel frustration ...

... as each subsidiary operation announced its demise.

So what went wrong?

In delightfully simple terms, the company ran out of money to pay its bills and nobody wanted to give it some more.

The process of administration and liquidation was long and complex for the Yorkshire subsidiary ...

.. but it began with the "registration if a charge" in June 22. fbb thinks that is the formal way someone says, "We want our money back, like what you promised".

But of money there was none!

If these things excite you, you can read every single one of the documents in the list above on the Companies House web site under:-

Have fun!

Community Interest Company (CIC)

... is somewhat different from a Charity.  A charity is very tightly controlled by The Charity Commissioners and has to show that all its activities are genuinely charitable. 

A CIC is just like a normal Limited Company except that profits are NOT distributed to shareholders. Its day-to-day management cannot be its shareholders. Its shareholders are best thought of as trustees to ensure that the CIC genuinely "serves the community".

The CIC has to submit annual accounts as does any limited liability company. Generally, however, the trustees are protected from all liabilities if the company fails. Lest you are concerned, trustees are NOT absolved if they oversee any illegal activity.

The idea is that any profits will be either re-invested in the company's community activity OR donated to some other community charitable work.

So running a huge national bus operation may not be community related in itself, but the profits are either re-invested or donated. Staff just get their salary!

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So why write about CTPlus; that's old news?

Because it has happened again, suddenly, less spectacularly but equally disruptively - and equally unhappily for its loyal staff, now out of work.

Pt2 2morrow!

 Next Community Transport blog : Wed 19 Aug