A BUS owner is facing a lengthy wait after a document he needs to register his new coach has gone missing.

Rossendale Travel Ltd bought the luxury vehicle for thousands of pounds from a firm in Devon which went into administration.

Company director Alan Weavers said that even though the bus was insured and had its MOT, he cannot use it as the previous owners have lost the V5 document so he cannot tax it.

The V5 registration holds details of the vehicle and its registered keeper and it could take the DVLA more than six weeks to issue a replacement.

Alan said: “We bought the bus from Scania, one of the world’s most prestigious manu-facturer of buses.

“The previous owners failed to send the right documents to Scania who built the bus and we are not suffering because of that mistake.

“We need that bus on the road for our business but we have to keep it in a depot off the M65 even though we have it insured.

“Its a disgrace, we’ve only been up and running for 12 months and this is costing us money.”

The company currently has one minibus and one coach, but was depending on the new bus to expand their business.

Alan has turned to his MP in a desperate bid to put pressure on the DVLA and the former owners of the bus to allow him to tax his vehicle. Rossendale MP Janet Anderson has written to Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis to intervene on the company’s behalf due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the tax claim.

Alan added: “The DVLA are now writing to the previous owners who are in administration, so we are not hopeful of any quick reply.

“It’s an empty building in Devon so there is no point in writing there, what needs to happen is common sense.”