London Country North East
Parent | National Bus Company (1986-88) AJS Group 1989 |
---|---|
Founded | 7 September 1986 |
Ceased operation | 1989 |
Headquarters | Hatfield |
Service area | Hertfordshire Essex Greater London |
Service type | Bus operator |
Depots | 6 |
Fleet | 350 |
Operator | County Bus & Coach Sovereign Bus & Coach |
London Country North East[1] was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986 and operated a fleet of around 350 buses from six garages, with its headquarters located in Hatfield.
The company was the last subsidiary of National Bus Company to be privatised, being sold to the AJS Group on 22 April 1988. Later in the same year it was split into County Bus & Coach and Sovereign Bus & Coach.
Formation and early history
In the run-up to
Early difficulties with staff conditions and wages, which the company was attempting to simplify from the complex contracts arranged by LCBS, led to strike action by staff in February 1988. Performance levels on contracted routes were already below those expected by the local councils who had awarded LCNE the contracts, and by
On 22 April 1988, London Country North East was sold by the National Bus Company, the last of 72 subsidiaries to be privatised.[6][7][8] The buyer was Alan Stephenson's AJS Group,[9] which had been formed by the management buyout of West Yorkshire Road Car Company.[3] As part of the sale LCNE's property was bought by Parkdale Holdings and leased back to the company; some was sold for redevelopment, while the remainder was later sold back to LCNE. Parkdale Holdings later went out of business having changed their name to Pavilion Leisure.[8]
A month later LCNE was banned from registering new services for six months by the Traffic Commissioner for failing to operate service in accordance with registrations made. Following poor financial results, AJS decided to split the company in two.[3]
Division
In 20 months of existence London Country North East had lost £5.5 million, on a turnover of £14 million.
County Bus & Coach
Arriva Shires & Essex in Upminster in October 2000 | |
Parent | AJS Group (1989-91) Lynton Travel Group (1991-97) |
---|---|
Founded | 1989 |
Ceased operation | 1997 |
Headquarters | Harlow |
Service area | Essex Greater London Hertfordshire |
Service type | Bus operator |
County Bus & Coach
AJS group was wound up in 1991, and the company's director Bob Howells bought County Bus & Coach through a new holding company, Lynton Travel Group.[3][14] County Bus & Coach was relaunched with three new local identities: Grays garage became ThameSide, Harlow became TownLink, and Hoddesdon became Lea Valley.[15] One small operator, Davian Coaches of Upper Edmonton, was acquired a few months after and merged with County Bus & Coach.[3]
The company was one of the beneficiaries of the collapse of
However, on 7 October 1994 County Bus & Coach was sold to
After also taking over British Bus on 1 August 1996,[19] who owned most of the other former London Country Bus Services company, in November 1997 the Cowie Group was rebranded as Arriva.[20]
County Bus & Coach's garage at Grays was transferred to
Sovereign Bus & Coach
Parent | AJS Group (1989-91) Blazefield Group (1991-2005) |
---|---|
Founded | 1989 |
Ceased operation | 2005 |
Headquarters | Hatfield |
Service area | Hertfordshire Greater London |
Service type | Bus operator |
Sovereign Bus & Coach[22] took over three former London Country North East depots in the 1989 split, namely Hatfield, Stevenage and St Albans. These were quickly joined by the operations and Stevenage depot of Jubilee Coaches, an independent which had previously taken several contracted routes from LCNE, but found it had bid too low for the routes and could no longer fulfil its operations.[3] Hatfield garage was closed in 1989, and a new site established at Welwyn Garden City. Another operator, competitor Welwyn Hatfield Line, was taken over in January 1990 and retained as a separate subsidiary for several years.[23][24] Most of Sovereign's Stevenage operation was sold to Luton & District (successors to London Country North West) in 1990.[23] In 1991 the owning AJS Group was wound up. Two directors formed the Blazefield Group, and purchased Sovereign Bus & Coach and most of AJS Group's other operations.[25] At the time Sovereign operated 76 vehicles.[26]
Some expansion followed. In October 1991 a new offshoot, Sovereign Buses (Harrow), was formed to operate a number of London Regional Transport contracts won by the company.[27] In August 1994, the company's position in London strengthened with the acquisition of the 43-vehicle Borehamwood Travel Services,[28] which brought tendered route 13 run with AEC Routemasters, under Sovereign operation. BTS was renamed Sovereign London and merged with the Harrow operation.[8]
The company's fleet and operations remained largely static until 3 November 2002, when Blazefield sold Sovereign London to
Sovereign contracted further in 2002 with the sale of the St Albans operation to Centrebus.[26] Centrebus sold the depot to Uno in March 2008.[31]
By 2002, Sovereign's fleet amounted to just 45 vehicles. Stevenage depot was closed and a smaller garage in the same town acquired, with
References
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2005563 London Country Bus (North East) Limited
- ^ Out on its own Commercial Motor 6 December 1986 page 54
- ^ ISBN 1-898432-74-0.
- ^ a b c d Jarosz, Andrewe (November 1991). "The rise & fall of the AJS empire". Buses. Vol. 43, no. 440. pp. 492–495.
- ^ London Country North East loses three routes Commercial Motor 25 February 1988
- ^ NBC sale is completed with London Country NE Commercial Motor 7 April 1988 page 16
- ^ Hansard House of Commons 18 April 1988
- ^ a b c d e f g Morris, Stephen (September 1996). "NBC since NBC: a history of the former NBC subsidiaries". Buses Focus. p. 46.
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2188825 Blazefield Travel Group Limited ex AJS Travel Group Limited ex AJS Holdings Limited
- ^ LCNE back in black Commercial Motor 5 October 1989 page 18
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2294927 Arriva East Herts & Essex Limited formerly County Bus & Coach Company Limited
- ^ ThameSide Thurrock Transport
- ^ Sovereign takes on BTA Commercial Motor 7 December 1989 page 18
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2525773 County Bus Holdings Limited formerly Lynton Travel Group Limited
- ISBN 1-85414-158-9.
- ^ McLachlan p.33
- ^ Morris, Stephen (Autumn 1995). "The Lowfloor Experience". Buses Focus. pp. 41–45.
- ISBN 1-85414-181-3.
- ^ Cowie buys British Bus for £282m Herald Scotland 1 August 1996
- ^ Bamber Forsyth unites Cowie Design Week 23 October 1997
- ^ "The Arriva Story so far". Arriva Aylesbury/Red Rover Buses. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2295909 Sovereign Bus & Coach Company Limited
- ^ a b Brown (1993) p.165
- ^ Welwyn co-op sells out to competition Commercial Motor 11 January 1990 page 30
- ^ AJS sells remaining bus firms Commercial Motor 8 August 1991 page 16
- ^ a b c "London Country Bus Services". Ampyx Web World. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- ^ Companies House extract company no 2467207 London Sovereign Limited formerly Sovereign Buses (London) Limited formerly Sovereign Buses (Harrow) Limited
- ^ Companies House extract company no 1777430 Burley & Pendle Travel Limited formerly London Sovereign Limited formerly BTS Coaches Limited formerly Borehamwood Travel Services Limited
- ^ About Us Transdev London Sovereign
- ^ Transdev turnover grows by over 64% TransportXtra issue 317 10 August 2007
- ^ "Uno Expands in St Albans". Uno. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ^ Competition referral for Arriva takeover Archived 15 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 6 August 2004
- ^ Sovereign takeover clearance Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 7 January 2005