TWO former company directors have been called to a public inquiry after passengers were left stranded when their buses stopped running.

The government's Traffic Commissioner is set to hold the inquiry in Preston next week after Blackburn Transport Ltd, which ran the Buzy Bus line and Catchmebus.com website, collapsed.

The company stopped operating in November without telling the Traffic Commissioner. The failure to give the required 56 days notice before terminating services will form the basis of the inquiry, a spokesman said.

Suzanne Bailey, transport manager and director of Catchmebus.com, and her husband David Bailey, director of Buzy Bus, have both been summonsed to appear.

The spokesman added: "The inquiry has been called because of a failure to operate local services.

"The company did try to surrender its licences on November 27 but by then the company had stopped running services and the Traffic Commissioner had already decided an inquiry had to be held."

At the time directors blamed external factors, but pointed the finger at bus drivers leaving without giving notice as a reason for the sudden cancellations. Blackburn Transport Ltd was founded with one bus and one route. It bought 12 more vehicles and began operating five minutes ahead of its rival's established services.

A day after the company stopped running services, Suzanne and David Bailey were arrested by police who are still investigating alleged forged insurance documents.

Both were released after being questioned by detectives and remain on police bail.

And a week after police arrested the couple, the company's fleet of over 30 vehicles was removed from its depot in Eden Street, Blackburn.

The office of the Traffic Commissioner said it had the power to disqualify people called before an inquiry for an indefinite or fixed period.