A BUS company is angry at being made a scapegoat in the takeover of Darlington routes.

Leven Valley withdrew its 32 and 33 services, which ran hourly from Morrison's supermarket in North Road, through the town centre to Mowden, on July 21.

The firm, based in Great Ayton, blames its financial losses on a new system of concessionary fares and its view is backed by rival Stagecoach, which says bus operators must have talks with the council.

Mr Richard Cranmer, divisonal traffic manager for Stagecoach, is operating the former Leven service as an emergency measure until September 29.

He said the scrapping of bus tokens had also affected his company.

"It really is putting into doubt whether the whole issue of the council's cheap passes will continue next year. The operators and the council have to sit down and discuss this."

Approval for a fully-subsidised service on the Leven routes went to rival operator Arriva North-East at last week's cabinet meeting - where a comment was made that Leven Valley had left Darlington in the lurch.

Mr Paul Thompson, who owns the small company, described the criticism as unfair and negative, especially since he introduced a bus, well used by pensioners, along the previously neglected Staindrop Road. He had given the six-week notice demanded by the contract.

He told the D&S Times he started making a loss when concessionary tokens were scrapped in April

"Many months previously were spent in trying to resolve the situation that became financially unbearable for the small, community-oriented, co-operatively inspired Leven Valley."

Free passes - unlimited travel for about £1 a week - took priority over a poorly-used half-price concessionary fare scheme introduced by the government.

Darlington council's system of paying operators on mileage also worked against it.

"We could leave the town centre with a full bus and take 70p because they were all free passes - then we had to wait 16 weeks for payment. But we still had to pay for fuel and drivers' wages weekly."

Leven was still awaiting payment for half-fare concessions dating back to April under the new system.

"We normally have everything covered and work through very carefully, but the changes caught us out in a big way," added Mr Thompson.

In the background, its competitor, Arriva, doubled to eight an hour the buses it provided on an additional 40 and 41 Mowden route, in competition with Leven's two.

Mr Cranmer said: "I don't blame Leven for what they did. There's no question things have to change. We were given an extra subsidy because we took over as an emergency."

Bus companies such as Northern, operating from Bishop Auckland through Staindrop, were now getting a set payment, regardless of how many passengers they carried