National Bus Co
The National Bus Company (NBC) was, from 1969 to 1988, a nationalised bus company in England and Wales.
1968 Established to carry passengers by road and linked seaborne transport, to co-ordinate transport services with other transport boards and to operate as a travel agency.[1]
1969 January 1: The National Bus Company became the owner of a number of regional bus operating companies, including the Transport Holding Co's bus and coach interests which included those of both Tilling and BET. It did not run buses itself.
The NBC inherited from the Transport Holding Co (THC) the 75 percent holdings in the bus manufacturers Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works.
See 1969 National Bus Co: holdings
1969 NBC formed a joint venture with British Leyland Motor Corporation (the 25% owner of Bristol and ECW), by means of which British Leyland became a 50% owner of the NBC's manufacturing companies. The joint venture designed and built a new single-deck bus, the Leyland National. The first bus was delivered in 1972, and it remained in production until 1986. The National was also available to other bus operators.
1969 Acquired Gosport and Fareham Omnibus Co from Hanson Trust[2]
1970 the company was enlarged when it acquired the former country area buses of London Transport, and the bus operations of the County Boroughs of Exeter and Luton.
1972 NBC introduced corporate images. Henceforward its coaches were branded as National Travel and painted in unrelieved white, with the NBC logo and the 'NATIONAL' name in alternate red & blue letters, being rebranded as National Express soon afterwards. The addition of blue and white stripes appeared first in 1978.
1972 Reorganised its subsidiary companies in South Wales - establish two groupings for operational purposes in the region: South Wales Transport (United Welsh, Thomas Bros, Neath and Cardiff Luxury Coaches) and Western Welsh (Rhondda, Red and White, Jones Group).[3]
1982 NBC sold its 50% interest in the vehicle manufacturing joint venture (including Bristol and ECW) to British Leyland.
1986 The government decided to privatise the company.
The National Bus Co was broken up into 72 companies which were then sold off between 1986 and 1988, many to their managers
1986 The management buy out of Devon General was the first such sale by NBC, swiftly followed by Badgerline, which operated in Somerset, Avon and Wiltshire. It had only started operating on January 1, having been formed from the Country Bus sector of NBC's Bristol Omnibus subsidiary.[4]
1986 Sold Midland Red West, Midland Coaches and Eastern National to their managements
1987 Sold Trent Motor Traction to its management, bringing the number of NBC subsidiaries sold off since deregulation to 13.[5]
1987 Halfway point in the privatisation process with sale of National Welsh Omnibus Services, Northern General Transport, Provincial Bus Co, Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Co, South Wales Transport[6].
1987 The 37th privatisation was the return of Shamrock and Rambler to private ownership after 18 years under NBC. The purchaser was Drawlane, the first entry of its parent, Endless, into the bus and coach market.[7]
1987 National Holidays Limited was sold to the Pleasurama Group, which also owns Smiths Happiways and Shearings Holidays.[8]
1987 West Yorkshire Road Car Co was sold to its management; this was the 44th National Bus Co operating subsidiary to be privatised. [9] Followed by sale of Milton Keynes City Bus Co, and Western National
1987 NBC received bids for Darlington-based United Automobile Services and sold it to Caldaire [10] which already owned West Riding Automobile Co. As part of the Government's privatisation plans United's operations were being split up, with all its services north of the Tyne being taken over by Northumbria Motor Services, which would be sold later, while its services in the Scarborough and Pickering areas of Yorkshire were transferred to East Yorkshire Motor Services Co.[11]
1987 November: 50 of the operating subsidiaries had been sold. Northumbria Motor Services, the most northerly of NBC's original 72 operating companies, was sold to a management buy-out team. Aldershot-based Alder Valley South was acquired by Frontsource, the bus engineering company. [12]
National Bus Company had decided to re-open bidding for the purchase of six of its subsidiary companies: East Midland Motor Services; Lincolnshire Road Car Co; London Country Bus (South West); Midland Red North; North Devon (Red Bus); Southern National.
1988 NBC sold North Western Road Car of Bootle to Drawlane, of Salisbury.
1988 Lincolnshire Road Car was the 59th operating subsidiary to be privatised, sold to another ex-NBC company, Yorkshire Traction. Road Car serves the whole of Lincolnshire, South Humberside and the Newark area from its head office and depot in Lincoln, and smaller depots in Boston, Gainsborough, Grimsby, Grantham, Holbeach, Louth, Newark, Scunthorpe and Skegness. It has a fleet of 172 buses, mini-buses and coaches and a staff of 320.[13].
1988 April: the privatisation of National Bus Company subsidiaries was completed with the sale of the London Country Bus (North East) to Parkdale Holdings and operator Alan Stephenson. In all 70 subsidiaries had been sold, 52 of them local bus operating companies.[14]
1990 Over 21 months, 62 operating subsidiaries were sold as going concerns, 18 to single bidders. In its report the National Audit Office said "Early subsidiaries were sold proportionately cheaper than the later ones"[15]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ National Archives
- ↑ The Times, Dec 20, 1969
- ↑ Commercial Motor 28 July 1972
- ↑ Commercial Motor 27 Sept 1986
- ↑ Commercial Motor 10th January 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 16th May 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 9 July 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 19 July 1986
- ↑ Commercial Motor 3 Sept 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 10th December 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 10 Sept 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 5 Nov 1987
- ↑ Commercial Motor 4 Feb 1988
- ↑ Commercial Motor 7th April 1988
- ↑ Commercial Motor 6th December 1990
- [1] Wikipedia