MAJOR Lancashire bus operator Stagecoach faces a demand for advance notice of job losses or timetable changes in East Lancashire.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice is calling for 'timely advance notice' of such issues.

He made the request to Stagecoach chief Brian Suter, who sent an information pack to him detailing facts and figures about the company.

Mr Suter promised the MP further information should he request it.

Mr Prentice is a bitter opponent of the decision by Pendle Liberals to sell the council's half-share in the Burnley and Pendle bus company to Stagecoach.

He said: "I was quick to take up Mr Suter's offer."

But he attacked the sale of the Pendle share in the bus company to Stagecoach which he branded "the most voracious predator in this country."

And he warned that Stagecoach might try to buy up other local authority bus companies in Lancashire to take a stranglehold on county services.

Mr Prentice said if that happened, he would seek to refer any takeover bid to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

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