EditorSWANSEA: Swansea bus builder that shed 17 jobs after tax bill collapse is rescued — and sacked workers are being offered their jobs back
A Swansea company that builds minibuses has been rescued after collapsing when the taxman came knocking — with the new owners promising to take back many of the workers who lost their jobs in the process.
Ilesbus UK, which converted and supplied minibuses from a site in Swansea, folded into administration in March after HM Revenue and Customs filed a petition to wind it up over an unpaid tax bill. Seventeen members of staff were made redundant before administrators could step in. Five more kept their jobs while a buyer was found.
That buyer — Yorkshire-based Minicoach World — completed its takeover on 7 April, and says it has already been back in touch with a number of those who were let go, offering them their positions back.
It is a significant turnaround for a company that had been reporting turnover of more than £19 million a year as recently as 2024, but was quietly racking up serious losses behind the scenes. Its last set of accounts — for the year to May 2024 — showed a loss of nearly £1.25 million. The company owed more than £7 million in debts due within that period, leaving it with net liabilities of over £300,000. Directors described that year as “very difficult” but insisted the business would return to profit.
That did not happen. HMRC had been given formal notice of a winding-up intention as far back as January — though the company remained active on social media until this month.
Ilesbus UK was founded by Swansea brothers Creighton and Gary Johns, who had previously run Swansea Coachworks, along with Turkish business partners Ilker and Esra Yildirim, who built the vehicles at their factory in Turkey. The company had been selling those vehicles in the UK since 2018. Last year it had moved into a new 20,000-square-foot base after relocating from near Bridgend, and was reportedly doing well — making its collapse all the more sudden.
Former director Creighton Johns said the moment the redundancies had to be made was gut-wrenching. “It was with great sadness that on Friday 20 March we made 17 staff members redundant,” he said. “Myself and Gary, along with five staff members, are working with the administration to ensure the safety of the company assets.”
For customers who had already paid deposits on vehicles they were waiting to receive, the new owners have offered reassurance — saying they will honour every outstanding order. Each customer will be contacted individually with an update on when they can expect delivery.
The new owners, Andrew Garratt and Kevin Procter of Minicoach World, say they moved fast deliberately. “We are pleased to have been able to rescue Ilesbus UK, preserve and reinstate jobs for the majority of the team, and pick up the operations to continue service for customers,” they said.
The Swansea site itself is not guaranteed to survive — Minicoach World has the option to buy the lease on the building but has not yet committed to doing so. Whatever is left over after the sale will be auctioned off by the administrators.
The administrators have warned that those owed money by the company — suppliers, contractors and others — are unlikely to see any of it back. Only employees and certain priority creditors typically receive payment when a business fails with debts of this scale.
Huw Powell, of Cardiff-based restructuring firm BTG, who handled the administration, said the speed of the sale had been the priority. “We are particularly glad that this has saved the jobs of the remaining five employees while providing the opportunity for production to recommence,” he said.
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