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Western Greyhound Fire and subsequent WG general discussion.

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TheGrandWazoo

TheGrandWazoo

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freetoview33 said:
I think issues like this will be addressed in time
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Rumour has it that the 576 will be e200.

One wonders if the new owner of the remainder of WG will cut back on the Truro area services and focus on St Austell, Bodmin and Wadebridge areas, and pick their fights accordingly (e.g. Fowey/Bodmin/Meva routes)? Would be a way of coping with lack of drivers, and removing the non DDA compliant fleet.
 
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DaveHarries

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TheGrandWazoo said:
Rumour has it that the 576 will be e200.
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They would be better using smaller ones than WA08 LDN! Some very tight squeezes there, particularly the grounds of Callington Community College: we could easily have it at least two cars and a gate / gatepost in those grounds because of parked cars on the bit where the bus had to go.

IMO would be better to run the Callington CC trips as separate journeys and with a smaller bus!

Dave
 
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Volvodart

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http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Jobs-sa...deal-Western/story-25542863-detail/story.html

Jobs saved as entrepreneur strikes deal for Western Greyhound

By wbchris | Posted: December 10, 2014


A bus and coach industry entrepreneur has announced his purchase of troubled Western Greyhound, saving 133 jobs in the process.

Michael Bishop confirmed this week that he has purchased the entire share capital of Western Greyhound from previous managing director Mark Howarth, his wife Mari and Robin Orbell.

The company which currently carries 2.7m passengers a year in Cornwall and Devon, will continue with 65 buses and 133 employees from its freehold Summercourt depot, together with a small leased outstation at Wadebridge.

Mr Bishop said: “I am so pleased that we were able to work with Mark and his team to purchase Western Greyhound.

“The company has a very exciting future ahead of it and will continue to be a well-respected local independent operator. We have identified areas of the business that would benefit from further development and investment to strengthen the commercial future of the company.”

Western Greyhound was publicly put up for sale a couple of months ago and Mr Bishop will be joined by Adam Smith as general manager, while Mr Howarth will carry on as a consultant to the business.

It encountered difficulties in recent years with massive cuts in concessionary fares reimbursement, a horrific arson attack destroying 35 buses at its Summercourt base, followed by a further fire destroying three buses in Liskeard, and flooding and bad weather during last winter which severely disputed services.

Mr Howarth said: “These have been very difficult times and we apologise for any passengers who have been let down. We now move on and know that many passengers continue to support us as the small local operator and I thank everyone for that.”

Last week Western Greyhound confirmed that Plymouth Citybus had acquired its services in the south east Cornwall area, safeguarding 31 bus driving jobs and continuing to run the Western Greyhound timetables that are currently in place from Monday December 8.

Financial terms for both deals have not been disclosed.
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455driver

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Sounds like he is exactly what WG need right now!
I wish him the very best in sorting out the mess he has bought.
 
iantherev

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DaveHarries said:
They would be better using smaller ones than WA08 LDN! Some very tight squeezes there, particularly the grounds of Callington Community College: we could easily have it at least two cars and a gate / gatepost in those grounds because of parked cars on the bit where the bus had to go.

IMO would be better to run the Callington CC trips as separate journeys and with a smaller bus!

Dave
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Strange how First used similarly sized Darts and B6BLes and even WG used an occasional Citaro on the run. I even remember doing the run on a 12 metre Volvo B10M coach some time ago.
 
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LateThanNever

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richw said:
That article names the 4 owners/directors and Mr Bishop or Mr Smith isn't mentioned.
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Quite, but it does look a bit 'confusing'. Presumably Mr Bishop has paid for the freehold at Summercourt in real money, so it must be a question of where he goes from there. There is certainly some considerable investment required!
It'd be lovely to hope that WG would regain their former glory...
 
Busaholic

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I do wonder whether somebody associated with Countryliner already had connections with Cornwall, perhaps to the extent of owning a house and land here. About two years ago I was driving somewhere along the byeways of West Cornwall (I know exactly where but am not saying) when I came across a Countryliner single deck bus, I think a Dart, outside a large house, parked in such a way to indicate its connection to the house, and looking as though it had been recently in service. I was aware of the Countryliner name and also of its travails but thought nothing more of it. About three months later I passed the house again and it was still there, but didn't look abandoned and neither do I think it's been used on any bus service in this neck of the woods.

We do live in interesting times - I'm sure there will be plenty more stories on this forum and in the local press over the coming months on bus operation in Kernow.
 
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embers25

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richw said:
Looking at Velvet since he took over he will be likely to cut services
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To be fair Velvet had already cut services before they took over and the subsequent cuts are largely due to Hampshire slashing funding resulting in major cuts throughout Hampshire.
 
Tetchytyke

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richw said:
Looking at Velvet since he took over he will be likely to cut services
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I don't think any owner of WG's western operations will have much choice in the matter, given First's registration of competing services. A company on the verge of going bust needs to be focusing on the core business, not trying to compete against one of the big boys.

That said, if his track record is Velvet and Countryliner, it doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence.
 
richw

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Goldfish62 said:
Not sure what your point is.
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The post it was a reply to was telling us that he was owner/director of Countryliner, and then linked an article that tells us he wasn't.

Mark Howarth was on Radio Cornwall today, he attributed the reason for sale of the business being related to his age (in his 60s)!
He also said all the Varios will be gone by end of the month with low floor replacements on the way.
 
Tetchytyke

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richw said:
The post it was a reply to was telling us that he was owner/director of Countryliner, and then linked an article that tells us he wasn't.
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His own LinkedIn says he was Operations Director of Countryliner from 2007-2011 and then again in 2012.

Maybe he's mistaken and Wikipedia is correct, who knows.
 
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Arctic Troll said:
His own LinkedIn says he was Operations Director of Countryliner from 2007-2011 and then again in 2012.

Maybe he's mistaken and Wikipedia is correct, who knows.
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Company Check etc show him as a director of Countryliner. Interestingly, he was also TM for Sunray Travel, which also went bust.

I wonder who will be running Velvet now that Adam Smith is at WG.
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richw said:
Mark Howarth was on Radio Cornwall today, he attributed the reason for sale of the business being related to his age (in his 60s)!
He also said all the Varios will be gone by end of the month with low floor replacements on the way.
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Despite his presiding over an utter shambles in recent months I wish him well in retirement and feel rather sad that it ended like that for him.
 
richw

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Arctic Troll said:
His own LinkedIn says he was Operations Director of Countryliner from 2007-2011 and then again in 2012.

Maybe he's mistaken and Wikipedia is correct, who knows.
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My point was a link used to evidence he was part of the company, but then no reference to him in the link

Goldfish62 said:
I wonder who will be running Velvet now that Adam Smith is at WG.
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He stood down from his position there following the previously mentioned court case.

Michael Bishop is the only named director/manager for Velvet
 
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Volvo142

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Any news of what new vehicles have arrived and what liveries they will be operating in come Friday?
 
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