Ending charity was 'last thing we wanted to do'

Steve Chu said he felt sad for community groups affected by the charity's demise

Liquidating a transport charity in Derbyshire was "the last thing we wanted to do", its former interim chief executive says.

Derbyshire Community Transport (DCT), which operated buses and on-demand services across the county, ceased trading on 31 October due to "long term financial issues and a tough trading environment".

Speaking to the BBC for the first time since then, Steve Chu said the decision was based on a number of "long-term challenges", including a reduction in contracts, high vehicle running costs and the impact of the Covid pandemic.

He said going forward, finding new providers for DCT's services was the main priority.

Mr Chu, who also has a leadership role at Bakewell and Eyam Community Transport, was appointed by DCT in March to advise its board on the day-to-day running of the charity.

"DCT had some financial issues going back a number of years, which became tougher and tougher", he said.

He added that DCT had "poor cash" and struggled to invest in up-to-date vehicles, meaning high repair bills.

The Grange care home in Eckington is among several due to be closed and sold off

Mr Chu added that Derbyshire County Council's decision to close care homes and day centres in the county had made it more difficult to win and deliver more contracts.

Despite this, he said, "I’ve got no complaints with how we were treated by Derbyshire County Council and we understand they are in their own difficult financial position."

A council spokesperson said: “The closure of Derbyshire Community Transport was not the result of any actions by the county council and was entirely a decision for them.

“However, we have now been able to offer replacement services for all those that DCT operated on our behalf so they continue to run as they were.

“We believe DCT also ran its own services, independently of the county council, although we are not aware if these are continuing to operate by different providers.”

Despite some services being saved, Mr Chu said he felt sorry for small community groups affected by the charity's demise.

This includes the likes of Edna Stein, 90, who saved her group by organising taxis to transport members to meet ups.

"I was really optimistic until the end and liquidating was the last thing we wanted to do", said Mr Chu.

"We had long-term liabilities that we would have to pay off for years into the future.

"I couldn’t see a way we could honour those commitments and I felt it was better to cease trading and find new providers to preserve as many services as we could.

"If public bodies do value the services transport communities can provide, a fresh look at what grants can be made available is really important to help sustain them for the future."