OFT guide is a flop with the BCC
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II An Office of Fair Trading guide to restrictive practices in the bus industry has been dismissed as "an acute disappointment" by the Bus & Coach Council.
"It is neither detailed enough nor specific enough to reassure operators or to give them practical guidance," the BCC says. A crucial point, that the OFT is prepared to advise on proposed agreements, is tucked away on page nine. "There should be an exhortation at the very beginning," BCC says.
Operators have been telling
passengers that they cannot allow return tickets to be used on competing services because it is against the law, but such arrangements may well be legal, the OFT says. It is also happy to see the joint provision of routes and timetables, and other schemes to encourage use.
The OFT wrote its guide after industry confusion was highlighted in letters from MPs, together with reports from the London Business School and a joint report last October from Bus Watch and the National Consumers' Council.