A taxi firm boss has written to a government minister accusing Bus Vannin of ignoring licence rules over festive Night Owl bus services.

Bus Vannin’s application to extend the late night bus service to 1.15am was heard by the Road Transport Licensing Committee only on Tuesday of last week - although they had been operating since December 1.

At the hearing, public transport director Ian Longworth insisted ’nothing has been done without a licence’.

And in a statement afterwards, the Department of Infrastructure said it had received verbal approval from the RTLC for the service to continue.

The RTLC had now granted the licence variation but said it was ’disappointed’ that the decision was made to run the extra Night Owl journeys before the application had been considered.

’The applicant has been warned there should be no repeat of this in the future,’ it said. Any variation to services must have RTLC approval first, it added.

John Faragher, managing director of Elegance Taxi Service, wrote to Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer expressing his ’real concerns’ about the procedure followed.

He said: ’I feel that the procedure Bus Vannin took, was an abuse of power and a direct violation of the Road Transport Act 2001.

’It is my opinion, that the Act was ignored on purpose. I find it deplorable that a government-owned company can behave in this manner.’

Mr Faragher stressed that he believes the extended Night Owl service is a good idea as the taxi trade will struggle with demand around midnight during the festive period.

But Mr Faragher said if he had driven without a licence he would be prosecuted, and his operator’s status would be jeopardised.

And he questioned whether the late night Night Owl buses would be covered by insurance if they were running without RTLC licence approval.

In his response, Mr Harmer said Bus Vannin has a dispensation that means it doesn’t need to register every timetable change for peak period or holiday services.

He said the RTLC has now approved the application so ’we can now timetable this service in future years, rather than rely on our ability to run services under a dispensation’.

Mr Harmer said the buses were all times properly insured, both under the dispensation and through the government’s wide-ranging insurance policy.

Approving the extra Night Owls, the RTLC said it appreciated that there may have been some ’misunderstanding’ about whether or not the services required official approval from the committee.