QUANGO bosses have come under fire after selling off dozens of taxpayer-owned buses at a fraction of their original cost.

A number of minibuses bought by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) for between £82-84,000 from a bus company where SPT chief executive Gordon Maclennan was once a non-executive director were sold to motor dealers five to six years later for as little as £450.

Bus industry professionals have described the deals as "disastrous".

The transport body, which runs the Glasgow Subway and oversees bus operations across Greater Glasgow, spent £7.5 million between 2008 and January 2013 buying up more than 90 buses to form its own fleet.

These were then doled out to operators on various taxpayer-funded contracts in exchange for a lower subsidy and on condition that the private bus companies shoulder the repair bill, an arrangement SPT stresses has "significantly reduced the contract costs".

Minibuses were supplied by Alexander Dennis, Trailertech, Optare Group, Bluebird and Allied Vehicles and mainly used for Dial-a-Bus services relied on by elderly and disabled passengers.

At the time of the initial order Mr Maclennan, then SPT's assistant chief executive, was also on the board of Allied Vehicles, a conflict he declared.

It was the first time the family-run firm had ventured into manufacturing low-floor, accessible minibuses, known as a "lobus conversion".

The vehicles were made in Italy and modified at Allied's yard in Possilpark, Glasgow.

When the first batch was delivered in 2009, SPT's then-chairman Alistair Watson said they would "drive up standards and improve quality for the travelling public".

But just five years later SPT admitted that the vehicles were "proving to be extremely unreliable" and needed replaced.

Since 2014, SPT has sold off 12 of its 16 Allied Vehicles' buses as well as six Trailertech, one Optare, and five Alexander Dennis buses as part of a "fleet replacement strategy" projected to cost the quango £8.6 million over seven years.

However, industry insiders have questioned the rate of return on some of the vehicles sold off after figures obtained by the Herald revealed that just £247,000 has been recouped from an original spend of £2.14m.

The Allied Vehicles' buses saw the biggest losses. All 12 were sold between September and October last year to Glasgow motor trader, RS Used Cars. Three fetched £450, while the other nine sold for £1,250. Each had been bought by SPT for between £82,300 and £83,800 in either 2009 or 2010.

One bus industry source said the figures were "absurd". He said a commercial operator would expect to get at least £500 for the wheels alone and that even if they were selling a 12-year-old bus "for scrap" they would typically recoup at least £1000.

Another said the returns were "unusual", pointing to adverts in trade magazines seeking anything from £8-14,000 for similarly aged models.

One trade professional, who asked not to be named, said the depreciation was "pretty disastrous".

He added: "Basically they bought the wrong vehicles for the wrong reasons. In general taxpaying terms, it's small beer, but it's the operators who ended up having to run these things when they kept breaking down who really got left out of pocket. It's appalling.

"These types of minibus are fine sitting in the driveway of a nursing home, but they were never suitable for day-to-day passenger transport. Hopefully SPT have learned from it and they won't be as daft again."

Susan Aitken, leader of the SNP opposition at Glasgow City Council, said the saga was "typical of SPT's cavalier attitude to public money".

She added: “SPT have serious questions to answer about why the decision was made to purchase these particular vehicles – despite warnings from local operators that they weren’t suitable; why that initial error appears to have been compounded by the failure to sell the vehicles for the maximum value; and what lessons have been learned from this debacle to ensure it isn’t repeated.”

A spokesman for SPT said: "SPT is committed to delivering the best value for the public purse and our vehicle purchase policy is a cornerstone of that commitment.

"The cost of purchasing these buses has been recovered by way of reduced on-going contract costs and has enhanced the bus fleet in the SPT region. These low-emission and fully accessible vehicles provided vital public transport services for communities across the region.

"SPT’s purchase of vehicles helps to stimulate the marketplace, giving smaller SMEs the opportunity to compete against larger operators in tendering exercises for contracts requiring multiple vehicles. This helps to ensure competition and, subsequently, quality services for the travelling public, in a cost effective way.

"The vehicles in question were the first of their type to be developed and the manufacturer undoubtedly encountered a number of issues which affected reliability. However, subsequent vehicle purchases did not experience those issues and most have successfully completed more than 200,000 miles in service."