A NEW £6.4million bus station could become a ‘white elephant’ after operators threatened to boycott it.

Two independent companies have said that unless the price of using the Accrington complex is reduced they would avoid it and use nearby passenger stops instead.

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Lancashire County Council said it was looking at imposing a charge of up to £1.50 for each bus departure from the station in a bid to make it ‘self financing’.

But Alan Pilkington, owner of Accrington-based Pilkington Bus, warned all four main operators in Hyndburn were unhappy with the proposal.

Mr Pilkington said bus operators were ready to by-pass the bus station leaving it with few or no services at all.

He was backed by Bob Tuffnell, operation director of the town’s M and M Coaches which has six town centre services.

He warned the cost of paying the bus station fees could force his company out of business.

The bus station, due to open in May, is a key part of the £40 million Pennine Reach scheme to speed bus journeys between Hyndburn, Blackburn and Darwen.

Mr Pilkington said: “This new bus station could become a white elephant with no bus services at all.

“We have been lucky enough to pay no operation charges in Accrington for a while but I have seen a county council document proposing a £1.50 per journey charge.

“That is far too much compared to Burnley bus station at 75p per movement and Rawtenstall at 38p.

“This is unacceptable not just to me but the other three main companies operating in Accrington - M and M Coaches, Transdev and Rosso - who are all very angry.

“I operate six services, three of which already run at a loss, and I just can’t afford to pay £48,000 a year to use the new Accrington bus station.

“With the county proposing to scrap subsidies for loss-making and weekend services, it is a double hit.

“We are looking at boycotting the new station and using bus stops in the town centre.

“The county council document also talks of increasing the charges for Burnley and Rawtenstall’s bus stations to £1.50 which would only make thing worse.”

Asked about the proposed charge, Transdev managing director Alex Hornby said: “We remain in consultation with Lancashire County Council regarding the operational procedures for the new bus station.”

Mr Tuffnell said: “It’s just too high and not acceptable.

“M and M cannot afford £1.50 a movement.

“If we have to pay it, it could put the company out of business.

“We would certainly have to increase bus fares of cut services.

“M and M are looking into the legality of boycotting the new bus station altogether and using bus stops in the town centre instead.”

Oswaldtwistle county and borough councillor Peter Britcliffe said: “The whole Pennine Reach scheme has borough chaos to Hyndburn.

“News of this excessive charge and possible boycott of Accrington bus station promises this chaos will continue.”

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: “A policy has been agreed to move to a position where all bus stations operated or supported by the county council become self-financing in order to reduce the very severe pressures on the county council’s budget.

“We have carried out indicative modelling which shows that we would need to increase departure charges from between 50p to £1.50 in order to cover the costs of operating the bus stations.

“However no decision has been made and we are currently working to determine the revised charges to be introduced from April.”

The spokesman said the new charges could also affect Chorley and Nelson’s bus hubs.

Blackburn with Darwen council are currently considering what charge per movement would be appropriate for its new £4.7 million bus station due to open next month.

No-one at Rosso Bus was available to respond to the Lancashire Telegraph’s request for comment.