The process of choosing which company will run Durham’s park-and-ride bus service for the next five years has provoked outrage and a threat of legal action. Mark Tallentire reports.

AT face value, the battle over who should run Durham’s park-and-ride bus service is of David and Goliath proportions.

Since the scheme began in 2005, it has been operated by Scarlet Band, an independent firm based in West Cornforth, County Durham But last month, Durham County Council announced its “preferred bidder” for the contract to 2014 was Arriva, one of the largest transport firms in Europe, which employs 34,000 people and every year delivers more than one billion passenger journeys across 12 European countries.

However, councils awarding contracts cannot have regard to sentiment, and the reality is more complex.

Achieving preferred bidder status does not necessarily mean Arriva will secure the deal – Scarlet Band has queried the decision, triggering a “cooling off” period.

On Thursday, Go North East, another big player on the regional transport scene, described the scoring system used to name a preferred bidder as “substantially flawed”.

Today, the county council will launch a review of how it awards all its contracts. Councillor Joe Armstrong, chairman of the overview and scrutiny management board, says he wants to make the process more open and ensure it is fit for purpose.

Already this month, the council has been forced into a U-turn over plans to axe care home providers, after Coxhoebased Community Care, an unsuccessful bidder for a care contract, took the issue to the High Court.

On park-and-ride, companies wanting to run the service had their bids considered “blind” – meaning council officers did not know which company had filed the offer in front of them. Each firm’s overall score was calculated based on price, which carried 60 per cent of the marks available, and “added value”. That could include performance and carried 40 per cent.

Sources have stressed the contract is not yet a done deal and today’s meeting is unlikely to bring closure.

However, the scrutiny review is expected to report by the end of this month.

Scarlet Band ‘£24,000 a year cheaper’

SCARLET Band has run the park-and-ride service since 2005, but faces losing the contract.

The firm has queried the council’s decision to award “preferred bidder” status to Arriva.

Owner Graeme Torrance says Scarlet Band’s bid was £24,000 a year cheaper than Arriva’s, the firm planned to use the same buses as Arriva and had offered to use electric buses, which were “virtually emission free”.

Mr Torrance said the company’s existing park-andride service had received a 98 per cent satisfaction rating and was “very disappointed”

with the council’s decision.

Since the announcement, The Northern Echo has received a number of letters supporting Scarlet Band.