Bus chiefs have launched a legal battle to overturn a Traffic Commissioner's ruling which could force them to take 180 vehicles out of service after snap inspections found serious defects.

First West Yorkshire has gone to the Court of Appeal in London to challenge the order which could lead to a cut in Bradford bus services.

The order was made by North East Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney at a transport tribunal last summer after inspections of the company's bus fleet in December 2003 found about 15 per cent of vehicles had "serious defects" and 16 per cent were failing their MoT first time.

But today the company said it was fighting "on all fronts" to get the ruling lifted.

It has gone to the Appeal Court after losing its appeal against the tribunal and a later approach to Mr Macartney saying it could demonstrate that significant improvements had been made.

First West Yorkshire is made up of three separate companies, First Bradford, First Leeds and First West. It runs 1,125 vehicles including 225 in Bradford.

Steve Graham, managing director of First Leeds, speaking on behalf of all the companies, said: "We are fighting this legally on all fronts. We have documentary proof about our performance."

The tribunal last July made the order after the inspections in December 2003 found 14 of 98 buses had serious defects. At that time nearly 16 per cent of buses were failing their MoTs first time even after days of intense preparation by skilled mechanics.

Mr Macartney said then evidence given to him led him to believe the company was only capable of operating a reduced fleet in a manageable and roadworthy state.

But he told the company then he would consider altering the order if it could show dramatic improvements had been made.

As a result the company approached Mr Macartney saying it was now higher than the national average with a 92 per cent first time pass rate.

Mr Graham said they were far above the national average for first time passes of less than 90 per cent.

But a spokesman for Mr Macartney's office said: "The company appealed against the decision of the tribunal and the decision of the tribunal was upheld. They have now gone to the Court of Appeal and we cannot comment in these circumstances."

Chairman of Bradford Passenger Consultative Committee Councillor Ann Ozolins said: "In this case I think the Traffic Commissioner is wrong. The Bradford public are going to suffer."

A spokesman for Metro, the operations arm of West Yorkshire Transport Authority which buys transport services from First West Yorkshire, said it would be monitoring any proposed service cuts.

He said: "Metro will be monitoring the situation and trusts that First will make every effort to ensure passengers are not inconvenienced should the company be required to take buses off the road."

*West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority is seeking meetings with operators over concerns about unreliability.

A survey of Bradford Interchange on November 22 showed 1,695 of 1,749 services were seen leaving as scheduled.

At Leeds bus station one in ten evening peak-time services departed late.

But more than 90 per cent of services operating during the main part of the day were reliable.

The survey which covered the whole of West Yorkshire covered ten different operators.

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority members will be told on Friday by officers that First Bradford's reliability was assessed at 99.5 per cent and First Leeds at 98.2 per cent.

Mr Graham said services were hit by road congestion - particularly in Leeds.

He added more measures were necessary to give buses priority on the roads.