THIRTY-five staff have lost their jobs after a long-established family coach company went into administration.

Directors of Stainton Coaches, Kendal, have described themselves as “heartbroken” after they took the decision to cease trading.

Business director Chris Stainton said they were forced to give up four generations of time spent serving the area because their finances would not stretch to pay for coaches.

“I don’t blame anyone else but myself,” he said. “I have been running the company for the last 12 years, with advice from banks. Now we’ve got into a situation where we have needed help and they have refused.”

Accountants advised that the business was short of funds required to pay hire purchase fees for the company’s 24-strong fleet.

Mr Stainton, 30, said they had asked the bank to lend a six-figure sum to keep them trading until the firm, which made a profit this year, had paid off its fees.

His father, Robert Stuart Stainton, 67, had been prepared to put his house on the line as surety but the bank also refused this offer.

“My dad is absolutely heartbroken. He built our yard, the house and even the post office here. We have drivers who have been working for us for 25 years and customers who are 80 and have been travelling with us since they were children.

“I’ve no money to pay my bills. I don’t know a lot about anything else - I’ll just have to go and get another job.”

Stainton Coaches was founded in 1921 and provided Cumbria and the surrounding area with European tour travel, as well as private coach hire, school coach services and trip organisation.

The firm first got into financial difficulty when major client Travelscope Holidays collapsed in 2007.

Coaches will be taken to Manchester to be traded at auction and the Burton Road garage site will be sold.

Mr Stainton said the company was sincerely sorry to customers they had contacted and to those they could not afford to refund.