THE pensions of more than 2,000 British workers were at risk last night after Mayflower, the debt-stricken busmaker, admitted that emergency financing talks with its lenders were likely to fail.

The admission came after it emerged that Mayflower’s pension scheme is deeply underfunded, leaving its employees at risk of losing their pensions before new government measures to protect workers’ retirement benefits come into effect next year.

A spokesman for the T&G, the union with the biggest representation at Mayflower, said that there was “cause for concern” over the pension scheme and demanded information from the company.

Mayflower’s British retirement schemes hold assets of £36 million but the pensions that Mayflower has promised to workers are worth at least £57 million.

The expected failure of talks with lenders, who are owed £160 million, raises grave doubts about the future viability of Mayflower, which makes London buses and owns the Dennis and Plaxton brands.

The company’s statement comes after Monday’s shock disclosure of a £20 million accounting black hole.

The crisis at the firm deepened yesterday when Mayflower asked the Financial Services Authority to suspend its shares from trading on the London Stock Exchange “pending clarification of the company’s financial position”.

Experts fear that there will be an £18 million black hole in the pension scheme unless the company survives the present crisis.

The Government intends to introduce a safety net scheme to pay retirement benefits to workers at insolvent companies. But the new Pension Protection Fund is unlikely to be introduced until April next year. Experts fear that Mayflower’s workers could fall through the gap ahead of the new legislation.

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, the Liberal Democrats’ pensions spokesman, said: “Yesterday’s events provide a graphic illustration of the concentration of risks employees and pensioners face when a highly borrowed company has a substantial deficit on its pension schemes.”

The National Association of Pension Funds called on the Government to pledge to bail out all members of schemes that fail before the Pension Protection Fund is introduced.

Failure to refinance its substantial debt burden could play into the hands of Melrose, the AIM-listed cash shell that has approached Mayflower with a potential rescue bid that would incorporate a £50 million capital injection.

A spokesman for Melrose said that the investment house was “awaiting clarification” on Mayflower’s financial position, including its pension liabilities.

The Financial Services Authority is understood to be launching an investigation into the accounting irregularities at Mayflower, which date back three to four years.