OFFICE staff redundancies have been declared at Burnley and Pendle Transport by new bosses, Stagecoach.

And five of the eight bus inspectors employed by the company will also go, with the remaining three redeployed, say union chiefs.

The 11 admin employees are expected to have left the firm by the end of the month, with the company's office base transferred to Preston.

Transport union chiefs say they have been told the office block at Burnley, the Queensgate depot headquarters, will be cleared this month to provide more bus parking space.

The changes come within a month of Stagecoach taking full control of the buses following its £2.85 million purchase of Burnley council's 50 per cent stake in company. They have already left the workforce unhappy with a union spokesman stating today: "Staff morale is at rock bottom. We just don't know what is going to happen next."

He said further bad news was expected from a proposed meeting this week between management and engineering maintenance workers whose jobs have always been thought to be under threat under the new regime.

The spokesman was critical of Burnley's sell-out decision, just one year after Pendle sold its shares in the company to Stagecoach.

He said: "Burnley said they had no choice because they could not find half of the £6 million demanded by Stagecoach to put the firm on a firm financial footing.

"We will be interested to see when, if ever, Stagecoach puts in the £6 million."

He added that unlike Pendle, which received a guarantee that no services would be withdrawn for a year of the sale, Burnley had won no such assurance and Stagecoach now had the right to cut 10 per cent of unprofitable services whenever they wished.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said he was unable to comment on changes. He promised a statement in about two weeks' time.

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