CARMEL Coaches of Northlew is to cease trading after it was stripped of its operating licence.

The company has announced it will cease trading on November 14 after losing an appeal aimed at keeping the licence which the company was stripped of in June.

The traffic commissioner for the West of England Sarah Bell revoked the firm's licence and those of two of its directors for 18 months over 'woeful failures' and safety concerns.

Issues raised include poor record keeping of safety issues and defects on coaches not being fixed.

The Upper Tribunal heard Carmel Coaches' MOT failure rate was double the 18% national average.

After the hearing, Tony Hazell, who runs Carmel Coaches, which also has a depot in Exeter, admitted the company had expanded too fast but said maintenance had improved.

In a statement Mr Hazell said: 'Carmel Coaches announce with great sadness that it will cease trading on November 14 having lost an appeal against the revocation of its licence to operate.

'Although this marks the end of a family business that has served the Exeter and West Devon area for 30 years, we have to accept the decision made despite its harsh severity.

'We can confirm that arrangements are being made for all future contracts and bookings to be honoured and our business at Bristol is unaffected and continues to trade as normal.

We would like to thank our long-serving hard working staff and our loyal customers for their support, particularly during this past year which was marred by the tragic and devastating accident on May 13.

'We are working hard to ensure that our staff find continued employment and job losses will be kept to a minimum.'

One of the firm's vehicles was involved in a coach crash at Looe in Cornwall in May where two people died.

No defects were found on the vehicle and the traffic commissioner who revoked Carmel's licence gathered her evidence before the crash and said her decision did not reflect the incident.