|
|
Post by wirewiper on Jun 29, 2021 16:06:20 GMT
What happened to London Surbuban. I remembered them when they used to operate the 41 and 271 back in the 90s and then they went to MTL which then became present day Metroline. London Suburban Buses was a new operator which took on routes 4 and 271 from London Northern in September 1993; they also won route 41 in January 1994. The 4 and 271 were returned in April 1996 to what by then had become MTL London Northern; and London Suburban Bus decided to close down its operation, the contract for route 41 being reassigned to Leaside Buses from 1st June. MTL London Northern was acquired by Metroline in August 1998. Leaside Buses was rebranded as Arriva London North in the April of that year. |
|
|
|
Post by wirewiper on Jun 29, 2021 16:08:37 GMT
Was reading the other day about London Easylink. Can anyone give me some more context as to why they were awarded the 185 and why they failed? lol, I just posted about them. The owner, who was a bus enthusiast had seek help from many members on another bus forum about spec etc on the buses to be ordered. It was one of the first to have majority of windows on the upper deck opening. i cannot even remember the spec we came up with, but it some then after saw its way on to other operators buses, so it was a good thing. Unfortunately Peter Lee if that was his real name, who was married with kids had an obsession for very high priced escorts, the ones who charge £1000k, some even £5k. IIRC he spent a lot of money on them and it was the company's money he was using. In effect he put the company in debt, so when it was revealed, the drivers were told to take the buses back to the garage and they were locked up. All staff sadly lost their job in an instant. he was jailed, but believe he is out now, but has kept a very low profile. Just to be clear, it's the buses that were locked up, not the drivers  The ending of service was brutal; London Easylink went into Administration and during the afternoon of 21st August 2002 the liquidator ordered that all drivers were to turf their passengers off on the spot and return directly to the depot, they weren't even allowed to finish their journeys. Blue Triangle was given the job of organising emergency cover and managed to secure a very limited service for the 185 that same afternoon. A wide variety of vehicles and operators could be seen for many weeks until the route was transferred to East Thames Buses, the TfL-owned "operator of last resort" which had been set up following the failure of Harris Bus, in April 2003. |
|
|
|
Post by LondonNorthern on Jun 29, 2021 17:06:43 GMT
Out of interest what happened to the speculation thread over operators leaving London?
|
|
|
|
Post by richard on Jun 29, 2021 17:20:47 GMT
I remember the bad days of Stagecoach they even left London for a while and then came back.
|
|
|
|
Post by vjaska on Jun 29, 2021 17:49:10 GMT
Ealing Community Transport also temporarily had Pointer Darts on hire - 4 ex Sovereign examples on hire from Mitcham Belle whilst it's Caetano's were being delivered in 2003 and then in 2004, there was a long term hire of a Pointer in all over white for about a year or so covering for presumably a PVR increase as a new Caetano was ordered and arrived in 2005. I assume that Caeteno was KX05KFW? I think those 4 ex Sovereign Examples passed to Thorpes afterwards. I also remember W568JVV, that was one of the only examples that started life outside of London before entering London. Other examples were Blue Triangle TPLs, Abellio London Darts (so like DK04SUU) & DLF125 in Thorpes.
Yes, that was the one - they then took some ex Dockland examples for the Charville Lane Estate extension a few years later |
|
|
|
Post by LondonNorthern on Jun 29, 2021 18:30:09 GMT
I assume that Caeteno was KX05KFW? I think those 4 ex Sovereign Examples passed to Thorpes afterwards. I also remember W568JVV, that was one of the only examples that started life outside of London before entering London. Other examples were Blue Triangle TPLs, Abellio London Darts (so like DK04SUU) & DLF125 in Thorpes.
Yes, that was the one - they then took some ex Dockland examples for the Charville Lane Estate extension a few years later It was down to Brentford I believe  |
|
|
|
Post by redbus on Jun 29, 2021 18:31:27 GMT
lol, I just posted about them. The owner, who was a bus enthusiast had seek help from many members on another bus forum about spec etc on the buses to be ordered. It was one of the first to have majority of windows on the upper deck opening. i cannot even remember the spec we came up with, but it some then after saw its way on to other operators buses, so it was a good thing. Unfortunately Peter Lee if that was his real name, who was married with kids had an obsession for very high priced escorts, the ones who charge £1000k, some even £5k. IIRC he spent a lot of money on them and it was the company's money he was using. In effect he put the company in debt, so when it was revealed, the drivers were told to take the buses back to the garage and they were locked up. All staff sadly lost their job in an instant. he was jailed, but believe he is out now, but has kept a very low profile. Just to be clear, it's the buses that were locked up, not the drivers The ending of service was brutal; London Easylink went into Administration and during the afternoon of 21st August 2002 the liquidator ordered that all drivers were to turf their passengers off on the spot and return directly to the depot, they weren't even allowed to finish their journeys. Blue Triangle was given the job of organising emergency cover and managed to secure a very limited service for the 185 that same afternoon. A wide variety of vehicles and operators could be seen for many weeks until the route was transferred to East Thames Buses, the TfL-owned "operator of last resort" which had been set up following the failure of Harris Bus, in April 2003. Whilst liquidators have an important job to do, they also have to remember we are all human including themselves. To stop service immediately, chuck people off buses, leave people at stops is in my view inhuman and not an appropriate way to behave. To quote the old saying ' the unacceptable face of capitalism'. Next time it might be the liquidators wife, children, mother, family etc that is left waiting at the stop! Anyway all in the past and hopefully will never happen again. |
|
|
|
Post by lonmark on Jun 29, 2021 18:52:01 GMT
Do anyone know about Crystal who had done service on route R2, R7, and random Mobility buses route as well?
I don't know why Go-Ahead takeover the Crystal? was Owner had enough of Crystal or what? does anyone know why?
|
|
|
|
Post by vjaska on Jun 29, 2021 19:20:35 GMT
Yes, that was the one - they then took some ex Dockland examples for the Charville Lane Estate extension a few years later It was down to Brentford I believe Apologies your indeed correct |
|
|
|
Post by YX10FFN on Jun 29, 2021 19:22:16 GMT
lol, I just posted about them. The owner, who was a bus enthusiast had seek help from many members on another bus forum about spec etc on the buses to be ordered. It was one of the first to have majority of windows on the upper deck opening. i cannot even remember the spec we came up with, but it some then after saw its way on to other operators buses, so it was a good thing. Unfortunately Peter Lee if that was his real name, who was married with kids had an obsession for very high priced escorts, the ones who charge £1000k, some even £5k. IIRC he spent a lot of money on them and it was the company's money he was using. In effect he put the company in debt, so when it was revealed, the drivers were told to take the buses back to the garage and they were locked up. All staff sadly lost their job in an instant. he was jailed, but believe he is out now, but has kept a very low profile. Just to be clear, it's the buses that were locked up, not the drivers The ending of service was brutal; London Easylink went into Administration and during the afternoon of 21st August 2002 the liquidator ordered that all drivers were to turf their passengers off on the spot and return directly to the depot, they weren't even allowed to finish their journeys. Blue Triangle was given the job of organising emergency cover and managed to secure a very limited service for the 185 that same afternoon. A wide variety of vehicles and operators could be seen for many weeks until the route was transferred to East Thames Buses, the TfL-owned "operator of last resort" which had been set up following the failure of Harris Bus, in April 2003. That's an interesting point, do we have an operator of last resort at the moment? I know it''s been talked about a lot with the trains but what is TFL's plan if a company goes under? Or is that not so much a worry anymore because you don't have as many small fragile operators around. |
|
|
|
Post by LJ17THF on Jun 29, 2021 19:41:08 GMT
Do anyone know about Crystal who had done service on route R2, R7, and random Mobility buses route as well? I don't know why Go-Ahead takeover the Crystal? was Owner had enough of Crystal or what? does anyone know why? Not sure what exactly happened, all I know is Crystals sold their Crayford business to Tellings-Golden Miller, and TGM later sold that to Metrobus in 2005, without the Crayford garage. |
|
|
|
Post by ianhardy on Jun 29, 2021 19:41:39 GMT
Do anyone know about Crystal who had done service on route R2, R7, and random Mobility buses route as well? I don't know why Go-Ahead takeover the Crystal? was Owner had enough of Crystal or what? does anyone know why? Go Ahead did not takeover Crystals, Tellings-Golden Miller bought the TfL ops in October 2003, then TGM sold the ex Crystal routes to Metrobus in March 2005. |
|
|
|
Post by lonmark on Jun 29, 2021 19:48:10 GMT
Do anyone know about Crystal who had done service on route R2, R7, and random Mobility buses route as well? I don't know why Go-Ahead takeover the Crystal? was Owner had enough of Crystal or what? does anyone know why? Not sure what exactly happened, all I know is Crystals sold their Crayford business to Tellings-Golden Miller, and TGM later sold that to Metrobus in 2005, without the Crayford garage. Ah I must thought wrong. Thank you for clear this up! Now I remember what you was saying about that business to TGM then later sold to Metrobus. Got it. |
|
|
|
Post by snowman on Jun 29, 2021 19:58:15 GMT
Another Operator that went was Mitcham Belle
It was a long established coach operator that started bus services
It started on route 127 (Purley-Tooting) in 1999 with depot in Mitcham
Then took on route 200 (but it’s depot was too small so had to expand into Beddington Lane)
They also took on 152, then 493 with Nimbuses (although they borrowed some buses from Sovereign and others for a while)
They were taken over by Centra in 2004
In 2005 some Centra Heathrow area operations and Surrey routes were sold to Flights Hallmark
Centra also had some Surrey routes (from when they took over Thames bus of New Haw in 2003)
Centra lost 127 (Dec 2005), K5 (Feb 2006), 152 (April 2006)
Then surrendered remaining routes 200, 201, 493 in May 2006 and closed
I forget the details but some of the Surrey routes ended up with Wiltax, others with Travel London West (which became Abellio Surrey)
From memory the 200 and 201 were taken over by East Thames Buses, but 493 went to Armchair (which became Metroline at Brentford) on an emergency contract as East Thames couldn’t cope with another route. I think their inability to be able to act as Operator of Last Resort was part of the reason for selling East Thames buses to Go Ahead.
|
|
|
|
Post by dashing0ne on Jun 29, 2021 19:58:41 GMT
Out of interest what happened to the speculation thread over operators leaving London? Don't know, I will start it again. |
|
