A BUS company is at the centre of a row with Burnley Council over charges for the use of the town's new £3million station.

Blazefield Holdings began withholding payments to the authority, which owns the Centenary Way terminal, after a row broke out when it opened nine months ago.

Now talks are being held to try and resolve the dispute after the council claimed it was owed a "considerable" sum for the operation of Burnley and Pendle Travel buses at the site.

It refused to specify the exact amount owed but it is believed to run into five figures.

Blazefield, which owns Burnley and Pendle Travel, said it was unhappy with the level of charges, which it claimed were much higher than other bus stations in the region.

It also said it was not satisfied with several aspects of health and safety at the bus station site.

Representatives from both sides have been in negotiations to try to resolve the dispute, which centres on the issue of departure charges.

Each company using the bus station must pay the council a 58p fee for every departure.

Coun Peter Kenyon, the council's executive member for best value and resources, said: "Blazefield have been withholding what was due to the council as they had queries over the size of the charges in relation to other places.

"The amount owed is quite a considerable sum, certainly into five figures."

The council's property consultancy manager Michael Birdsall added: "The charges are relatively high compared with other bus stations, but we try to keep them as close to cost as is possible."

The 58p charge for Burnley compares with a 35p charge for Keighley, Bradford Interchange and Leeds bus stations in West Yorkshire, also used by Blazefield companies.

A spokesman for Blazefield, which has bases in Leeds and Manchester, said the row had been continuing since the opening of Burnley's new state of the art bus station last year.

The spokesman added: "Blazefield operates five bus companies across the north of England. We are very well aware of other levels of charging in places from Manchester to Scarborough.

"Burnley is certainly not the cheapest and it is a fact that Burnley charges 58p when other comparable towns, such as Keighley, charge 35p."

The Blazefield representative would not disclose the amount owed to Burnley Council, but was confident that a solution would be found soon.

"I am not in a position to the details of the claim. However, there are negotiations and we are hopeful of a speedy outcome to this", he added.