A coach firm which transports children to-and-from school has been given a formal warning by the traffic regulator.

M & I Travel Limited, based at Lillyhall Industrial Estate, holds a number of contracts with the county council, covering 43 routes which include taking children to school as well as pupil referral units.

A public inquiry, held by the Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England, has ruled that apart from its existing contracts, the company can not operate vehicles for two weeks.

M & I Travel Limited, which trades as JKL Developments, along with its transport manager, Grahame Stephenson, also received a formal warning at the inquiry.

The inquiry held earlier this month follows an investigation by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), where a number of "shortcomings" were reported in the company's vehicle maintenance procedures.

These included a wheel loss incident in April; incomplete safety inspections; and ineffective driver defect reporting.

Traffic commissioner Simon Evans also recorded three undertakings on the company's licence.

These are to have yearly audits of maintenance procedures; reduce the time between vehicle safety inspections from 10 weeks to six; and the provide further financial evidence to the commissioner.

Mr Evans said: "M & I Travel has been guilty of resting on its laurels; it has been complacent. Neither its directors nor the transport manager has kept up to date with modern expectations of operators.

"It's reaction to the wheel incident, which easily could have been an incident of very great significance with serious repercussion, was to deal with the symptoms and not the underlying issues."

He added, however, that the DVSA visit does appear to have "served its purpose" in "galvanising the operator into some meaningful action."

He said: "It is the case however, that not everything has been done/is in place yet, some five months after the wheel incident and some four months after the vehicle examiner visit."

M & I Travel Limited did not want to comment.

The two week order came into effect on Sunday and lasts until October 30.