David Stewart has left FirstAberdeen after serving as interim MD since 2010. First’s Duncan Cameron confirmed the position this morning following weeks of speculation. The statement merely said that Mr Stewart had “left the business”.

David Stewart, an accountant, was brought in to manage the organisation following the Public Inquiry into FirstAberdeen’s timekeeping on routes across Aberdeen and their failure to resume normal service following a strike in 2009 despite instruction from the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland.

Councillor Steve Delaney, now Lib Dem Deputy Group Leader was the only member of the public invited to speak at the inquiry in April 2010. This followed on from a lengthy letter of complaint to the Traffic Commisioner in which he outlined a number of significant failings on various routes across the City.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Mr Delaney said, “David was an accountant and his emphasis was on maximising shareholder profit rather than running a public service. The reduced frequencies on numerous routes across the city have become David Stewart’s legacy to Aberdeen”.

He further commented on Mr Stewart’s absence from First’s recent AGM, something which raised a few eyebrows. A number of people queried this, asking if he was still with FirstAberdeen but were given what they considered to be evasive answers. It was also noted that he played no part in the recent consultations on forthcoming network changes, something he would previously have been involved with. It is now clear he had left the company, but First were, for some reason, unwilling to confirm this at that time.

Councillor Delaney continued, “Whilst David Stewart was a personable individual and I hold no malice against him, I hope his successor will give more regard to the needs of fare paying passengers in Aberdeen and remember that public transport needs to provide an acceptable level of public service”.