BILL Dax has quit as boss of Eurotunnel's shuttle operation.

His departure is the second by a senior executive since the former Kent-led board was dramatically ousted by shareholders on April 7. Roger Burge, the finance director, resigned just two weeks later.

Mr Dax, based at Cheriton, near Folkestone until his departure, has been a key figure in the Kent-based passenger and freight shuttle operation for nearly 10 years, building it into a world-class operation.

He took on the job in 1995, barely a year before a freight shuttle fire closed the tunnel for weeks.

He said the decision was not directly connected to the change of regime. He had been thinking for a while that it was the right time to step down and had discussed it with Richard Shirrefs, the Canterbury-based former chief executive who lost his job in the French-inspired coup.

Mr Dax involved Eurotunnel in the wider community, especially tourist promotion. The company pumped nearly £2m into the Kent Tourism Alliance of which he is chairman.

He is staying on as chairman of KTA and Folkestone Town Centre Management, and will remain a director of Locate in Kent and a Kent Ambassador.

Mr Dax changed the middle letter of his name after family research. In 1920, his father changed the name from Dax to Dix while he was living in Gillingham.

The family had reverted to the original spelling four years ago, but Bill kept the name Dix in Kent.

As well as spending a couple of days a week in Kent, he will be helping his daughter Elizabeth run her restaurant in a village near Windsor.