JOBS are in jeopardy and scores of customers face disappointment after an East Lancashire company which organises luxury rail trips ceased trading.

Tim Hanson, boss of Blackburn-based Statesman Rail Company Ltd, today blamed privatisation and increased costs for the decision.

The company ceased trading after an unnamed company presented a winding up petition after a financial dispute.

The petition is due to be heard in court on December 6 but directors are in negotiations to try and resolve the matter so the company can resume trading.

A rail trip due to take scores of East Lancashire people to Edinburgh for pre-Christmas shopping on Saturday has been cancelled.

Lancashire trading standards officials have already received five complaints from customers who paid £90 deposits for the trip.

The firm, at Eanam Wharf, Blackburn, has been operating for nearly six years but Mr Hanson said its problems surfaced after the British Rail privatisation in April.

If directors are unsuccessful and the company is wound up customers may lose their money, unless there are sufficient assets to cover their losses. They may also be able to claim compensation through their credit cards, if they were used to pay and the cost was more than £100.

Mr Hanson, who lives in Haslingden, said: "I can confirm we have ceased trading but it is early days at the moment and we are doing all we can to salvage the company.

The problem is that all charges made by the new companies more than doubled after privatisation, making the business less and less viable and putting us on a downward spiral.

"A lot of jobs are at stake and it is a very difficult and frustrating time for us. We hope a final decision on our future will be made in the next few days.

"If anybody has booked a trip with us they should write a letter and it will be dealt with accordingly after the decision is made."

Mr Hanson started the business in the Yorkshire Bank Chambers, Accrington, after paying £200,000 for the last Pullman built for British Railways.

The company's solicitor Roger Pickles, of Blackburn-based Parker and Pickles, confirmed: "The company has ceased trading but the directors are attempting to negotiate with another company in an attempt to resolve the matter."

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