Operators

As ever there was a lot of movement in the operating world and sadly a number of respected names ceased trading or were bought out. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the sell off by First of all its London operation. That brought a new operator into the capital and the country, Australia’s Transit System Group. Other First sales largely benefited Rotala.

Amongst operations which ceased trading were Tees Valley Coaches; Premiere Travel of Nottingham; Procters Coaches of Stoke; Maytree Travel; Kent Top Travel; Munros of Jedburgh; Impera on the Wirral; Riverside Transport at Barrhead and KS Travel. Whilst Yellow Duck Marine sank – literally. Another major change announced late in the year was that Stagecoach is to buy award winning Norfolk Green.

Unbelievably we thought we were going to lose one of our flagship operations when Dave Parry said he was going to close his business but thankfully he had a change of heart and we still have Parry’s with us – long may they continue.

Amongst those that changed hands were: Selwyns which went to RATP; Redwing bought by a management team; Addison Lee sold to the Carlyle Group; Bowmans on Mull went to West Coast Motors; Southern Holidays went to A.C.Williams; Finglands bus operations went to First whilst the coach operations went to Bullocks; NAT secured VR Travel; New Horizon bought Cedric Coaches and Riddlers of Angus went to JP Mini Coaches.

Go Goodwins set up a heritage coaching arm Goodwin Classic taking over from Regency Road. As an ex AEC man I had to find a way to mention those gorgeous AEC Reliances they are running.

Greyhound extended operations in the Bristol Area whilst Kings Ferry turned up in nearby North Somerset providing new commuter services. Xelabus stepped in to service students in the Southampton area when others withdrew, but for me one of the highlights of the year was watching those wonderful Stagecoach Glasgow-London Sleeper Coach service maroon Van Hools gliding down the M6 through the night – what an advert for luxurious coaching.

People

Sadly, as ever we’ve lost many friends: Paul Jones, Harry Grindle; Irwin Dalton; Jim Hilton; Graham Martin; Ray Muggeridge; Bryan Heiser; Ray Noble and Malcolm Begg who departed in style aboard a Bedford OB.. Saddest for me personally were dear old Fred Tuer (I used to sell him wine!), Vince McKenna of sign producers McKenna Brothers and my great Northern Irish friend Danny Monaghan. But the saddest of all, was Harry Law of AK Carpets. I’d only sat talking and joking with him on the B&CB stand at Coach and Bus Live a few days previously.

It was a year for significant retirements. Our own, or rather Brighton & Hove’s, Roger French retired and was finally able to come out from behind his Probus nom-de-plume, thankfully although retired, Roger remains a valued part of the team. Others to retire were: Steve Dewhurst of Volvo Bus UK; Steve Challis, MD of Konectbus; and Peter Knight of EvoBus;

Some changed hats, notably: Nick Page who became MD of Volvo Bus in the UK; Martin Harris who became MD at Brighton and Hove; David Brown who became PTEG Chair and also CEO of Merseytravel; Bill Freeman who took over as CEO of the CTA following Keith Halstead’s departure; Filip van Hool who became CEO of the Belgian coach builders Van Hool; Malcolm Robson became CPT President; Dr Wolfgang Bernhard took charge of Daimler Benz commercials; Julian Patterson became MD at Konectbus; John McLaughlin became MD at Wrightbus and Lothian’s dynamic MD Ian Craig became CEO of the Edinburgh operation. Claes Jacobsson became MD of Scania Great Britain; Michael Hawes became CEO at the SMMT; Ken Scott became Engineering Director at ADL; Enrico Vassallo became CEO at Optare; Phil Stockley became GM of TM Travel but also retained his Velvet Bus responsibilities; Mike Beagrie became interim CEO and MD at EvoBus UK following the departure of Jan Alchinger; John McFarlane became Chairman of FirstGroup after Martin Gilbert stepped down and Tachodisc’s very capable MD, Karen Crispe, became a board member at SMMT.

TfL’s Peter Hendy was knighted and also elected UITP President, though this wasn’t why he appeared on the front page of the tabloids; others, mostly from the CT sector, to achieve honours were, Carolyn Dolan MBE; Margaret Everson, MBE; Margaret Lawson, MBE. Philip Ayres; Lyn Costelloe; Ann Murdoch; Patricia Preston and Harriet Woakes all received BEMs.

We can’t leave people without mentioning our Norman, I refer of course to former Transport Minister, Norman Baker. I’ve experienced a lot of Transport Ministers in my time but what a refreshing change Norman was – someone who understood buses, recognised the value of buses and, God forbid, liked buses and who actually stayed around long enough to do some real good. That is probably why he got moved. Thanks Norman you will be missed.

B&CB

I can’t leave the year without mentioning what a significant one it has been for Bus & Coach Buyer. Founders Steve Cole and Stuart Jones sold the business to AT Graphics who have inevitably made some changes; a new, fresher, cleaner look; relocation from Spalding to Peterborough and a new excellent website, but much is still the same as before – Stuart remains Editor and it’s the same team that’s bringing you the best bus and coach magazine in the UK and without tempting fate we will continue doing so in 2014. Happy New Year.

By Rob Orchard