BUS wars are back on and this time the gloves are off.

New family owned bus operator Black Velvet has criticised the “aggressive” attitude of its longer established Bluestar rival and vowed to target some of its more profitable routes.

The bitter bus war has already claimed its first casualty of the new year with a popular Eastleigh to Southampton route being cut.

Bosses at Black Velvet have decided to cut the service just four months after stepping in to cover the busy route that had been abandoned by its larger competitor.

Bluestar immediately responded by reinstating its buses along the same route as Black Velvet – arriving three minutes earlier.

Bluestar also put on a free bus for the first week to promote the service on a route it had previously ditched. Now after months of the two buses travelling in tandem through Chilworth and Velmore, Black Velvet has withdrawn its B service and left the route to Bluestar’s Beep bus.

Black Velvet boss Phil Stockley told the Daily Echo the “aggressive attitude” of his rival has prompted his company to target some of Bluestar’s more profitable services.

From January 12 the B will be withdrawn but the company will be launching a new 500 service that will pick up parts of the B service from Eastleigh and make stops in Boyatt Wood and Chestnut Avenue before arriving in Southampton.

It will also be introducing the Fair Oak Flyer to run between Eastleigh and Fair Oak.

The company will also introduce a £10 weekly ticket.

Mr Stockley said: “We went out of our way to organise our routes in a way that wouldn’t impact on Bluestar but after the way they have reacted we have decided we will stand on their toes and won’t worry about taking their customers.

“We believe our services are as good as or better than Bluestar.

“Our decision to walk away from the B service is a pragmatic one on our part. Many passengers have commented on the stupidity of two buses running together and the force of Bluestar’s reaction showed how much they really wanted the route for themselves.”

However, Bluestar is planning new initiatives to hold on to their passengers and from tomorrow will be slashing their weekly pass from £12.99 to £9.99.

Bluestar operations manager, Alex Hornby, said: “They can do what they like and have every right to compete in the market place.

“We will continue to run the best service we can as cheaply as we can to attract more passengers.

“We are not worried about Black Velvet and we think we run a better, more comprehensive service than them.”

However, Mr Stockley believes bad blood exists between the two companies as he was formerly Bluestar’s managing director and since setting up his company in January 2008 has managed to poach operations manager Taz Kelley and a handful of drivers.

Bluestar, part of public transport giant Go-Ahead group, employs 150 staff, has 25 main routes, runs 67 buses every day and has been on Southampton roads since the 1920s.

Black Velvet on the other hand has 14 staff, six main routes and ten buses.