Greater Manchester politicians have blasted Arriva bosses for their handling of non-emergency patient transport after it was revealed the firm wrongly claimed £1.5m in incentive fees following the misreporting of performance.

As the M.E.N. revealed on Monday, Arriva chiefs have pulled out of the tender process for a new deal when the three-year contract comes to an end next summer following the gaffe.

The bus firm has paid the region’s 12 clinical commissioning groups £1.5m back in cash for good performance after it was revealed an error led to its standards being ‘overstated’.

Arriva bosses have held their hands up - and have confirmed they won’t be looking to renew the deal, having taken over the service in 2013 after undercutting the North West Ambulance Service by £3.5m.

The controversial move was blasted by politicians and patients from the start, with some claiming it showed the slide nationally towards privatisation of the NHS.

Arriva was bombarded with 600 complaints over the service in 2014 - 80pc of which were partially or fully upheld.

In the year after it took over, the firm failed in terms of performance every month. Bosses claimed standards were improving, but the latest news of the error in reporting of performance has put that into grave doubt.

Denton and Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne, who is also shadow health minister, said: “This news is hardly a revelation.

“Some 15,000 signed a petition against letting Arriva undercut the North West Ambulance Service, and all the evidence showed they weren’t capable of delivering the high-quality service we deserve.

“That they have failed to live up to the standards we expect is not surprising to anybody who warned about their failings.

“This whole process has wasted public money and caused misery for vulnerable patients. Serious questions now need to be asked – not just about Arriva - but about the commissioners too.

“The whole sorry affair only goes to show what happens when you try to sell off our NHS services on the cheap.”

Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner said she was ‘horrified and appalled’ at the news and called for a police investigation. NHS Protect is looking into the matter.

Ms Rayner added: “We warned at the time that such an important public service was not safe in the hands of the private sector, who are driven by profit instead of patient care.

“There is no accountability to the public or transparency when a private company runs a public service. That’s why, with such huge sums of public money involved, a police investigation needs to be carried out into what happened and why.”

Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell, who helped in the M.E.N. investigation to expose Arriva's failings, said: “It is outrageous that Arriva have been able to get away with taking patients and taxpayers in Greater Manchester for a ride over the past few years.

“Arriva’s record as a provider of ambulance services across the region is appalling and frankly those in charge should be ashamed of themselves.

“I was against the decision to award this contract Arriva in the first place and since then I’ve regularly highlighted the many instances of poor service my constituents have been subjected to.

“It is vital that full investigation now takes place into what went wrong with the awarding of this contract and if criminal activities took place.

“I hope that commissioners will learn the lessons of this debacle and ensure that the contract is awarded to a more suitable provider in the future.

“It is now clear that far from improving standards in the NHS, fragmentation of services and the use of private providers in this way, actually leads to greater inefficiency and worse outcomes for patients."

Ms Powell has written to Blackpool CCG about the 'debacle' and the search for a new provider of PTS services.

She has called for CCGs to be responsible for monitoring providers' performance, not the bodies themselves.

'Our main priority is to ensure people receive the best possible service'

An Arriva Transport Solutions spokeswoman said: “Arriva has made a full apology for the errors in performance reporting that we disclosed to our NHS commissioners.

“Our main priority now is to work closely with the NHS to ensure the people of Greater Manchester receive the best possible service from us until our contract ends.

“The improvement plan we have developed includes increasing the number of ambulance crews taking patients to and from hospital every day; more and better use of taxis for patients who require less assistance from our crews; and an intensive focus on how journeys are planned and managed through the day in the control room.

“Performance levels will be monitored daily and we will work with our NHS commissioners to provide them with this information regularly.”