The publicly owned Lothian Buses, the largest bus company in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, has revealed all four of its executive directors will leave over the next two years.
The move is the result of new interim chairman Ian Depledge attempting to draw a line under months of ‘bruising and damaging’ internal feuds at the company.
Bitter rows between chief executive, Ian Craig, and the company's finance, engineering and operations directors, have been reported in the local papers.
Mr Depledge revealed: ‘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.
‘I see a management team with strong individual qualities and talents but with deep seated relationship issues. We must start a process to help solve those problems. The Board of Directors will want to ensure that any changes made will be in the best interests of the company as a whole.’
The company’s majority shareholder is the City of Edinburgh Council, while shares are also owned by East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian councils.
The men's contracts guarantee a 24-month notice period.
A spokesman for Lothian Buses declined to comment further on the exact manner of the directors' departures or on any redundancy payments they may receive.
