Crosville Motor Services
Encyclopedia
Crosville Motor Services was a bus
operator running within the north west of England
and north and mid Wales
.
The company was formed as Crosville Motor Company Limited on 27 October 1906 in Chester, by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Georges de Ville, with the intention of building motor cars. The company name was an amalgam of 'Crosland' and 'de Ville'.
In 1909 Crosville had commenced its first bus service, between Chester
and Ellesmere Port
. By 1929 Crosville had consolidated an operating area covering the Wirral
and parts of Lancashire
, Cheshire
and Flintshire
.
The Railways (Road Transport) Act, 1928 gave the four railway companies the opportunity to provide bus services. But rather than run in competition they bought into or purchase outright existing bus companies. In February 1929, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
made an offer of £400,000 to purchase Crosville, which was completed in November 1929. The new LMS (Crosville) company then in the next few months purchased Holyhead Motors, and UNU Motor Services of Caernarfon
.
Shortly afterwards, the four railway companies reached an agreement with the Tilling and British Automobile Traction
(T&BAT) to complete a cross-holding deal, where by each organisation held a 50% share in a series of jointly-held and consolidated regional bus companies. LMS (Crosville) was therefore merged with T&BAT's Royal Blue of Llandudno
, and renamed Crosville Motor Services Ltd. on 15 May 1930, after only nine months of outright LMS ownership.
In the next few months the company consolidated its majority share of the North Wales
coastal services, buying up various smaller private companies that operated in the Crosville area, including: White Rose Motor Services of Rhyl; Red Dragon of Denbigh; Burton of Tarporley; North Wales Silver Motors; and Llangoed Red Motors. On 1 May 1933, the Great Western Railway
s northern Welsh service Western Transport was amalgamated
with Crosville.
brought about cuts in the company timetable, by the end of the war the company had increased passengers by 50% and revenues by 90%. This was through North Wales being seen as a safe area from Luftwaffe
bombing, resulting in a number of Shadow factories
and Munitions
factories being built in the area. This resulted in the expansion of a number of formerly quiet villages, and hence the route map changed quite dramatically. In example, ROF Wrexham at Marchwiel
needed over 200 buses daily.
This passenger demand brought about a change in fleet policy, with double deckers appearing in the fleet for the first time, albeit second-hand as war time production was give over to the war effort. This changed on 3 December 1942, when Crosville became a subsidiary of the Tilling Group, resulting in a change from maroon to Tilling-green livery, and Bristol-chassised buses
replacing Leyland as the manufacturer of choice.
Crosville emerged from the war far stronger in many ways, with healthy cash reserves in the bank or accumulating nicely in property assets, unable to replace their fleet at their normal renewal rate. However, although Crosville focused on replacing its single-deck fleet with double deckers, Tilling had a group policy against investment in coaches, resulting in a rise across the geography of a number of new coach operators. By the time that the post-war government of Clement Attlee
merged both Tilling and the railway companies into the British Transport Commission
on 1 January 1948, and Crosville was nationalised, the coach operators were a sustainable competitive entity.
of 1956 and a lack of staff due to low wages, lead to a general contraction of the network out of countryside routes and to reduce operations by at least half on a Sunday. The network continued to decline, except in the provision of new service to replace railways removed by the Beeching Axe
, with the 1965 introduced "Cymru Coastliner," between Chester and Caernarfon anticipating the closure of that British Rail
route and the intermediate stations.
, and the principle that rural bus services needed to be subsidised by councils. Although having reduced costs through the introduction of one-man operation, Crosville submitted a list of 196 routes that required financial assistance.
With the transfer of routes within Greater Manchester
to the local Passenger Transport Executive in 1971, NBC spilt the residual service between Trent and Crosville, with the company taking over 119 vehicles and depots in Northwich, Macclesfield and Biddulph in March 1972. A consolidation of companies within NBC resulted Crosville taking over services in parts of West Wales from Western Welsh
, including those from the depots in New Quay, Newcastle Emlyn
and Lampeter
.
The company continued to consolidate and regress its network through the 1980s, making a loss of £1M in 1980, and £2M in 1981. Rebranding of local service in metropolitan areas assisted in a flattening of the rate of revenue reduction, but losses continued to mount.
decided that, because of their size, the four largest NBC companies would be split, as they provided too great a competitive threat on deregulation
. Crosville was split into two in preparation for the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s. Crosville Cymru was to remain generally in one piece, but the remainder of Crosville based in England was to be split between then-sister companies Midland Red North and the new North Western
company based in Liverpool
. The latter move was quite a reversal of fortunes, as much of Crosville's territory in the eastern half of Cheshire had been gained from the original North Western
company at its dismemberment in 1972.
The Wirral
operations were sold on to PMT and were to retain the Crosville name, however the name has since passed into history with the corporate First Group branding. North Western, Crosville Cymru and the Cheshire depots of Midland Red North are today under common management as Arriva North West and Wales.
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
operator running within the north west of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and north and mid Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
History
In 1909 Crosville had commenced its first bus service, between Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
and Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port is a large industrial town and port in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated on the south border of the Wirral Peninsula on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which in turn gives access to the River...
. By 1929 Crosville had consolidated an operating area covering the Wirral
Wirral
Wirral may refer to:* Wirral Peninsula, a peninsula in the northwest of England, between the rivers Dee and Mersey* Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, occupying the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula...
and parts of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
and Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
.
The Railways (Road Transport) Act, 1928 gave the four railway companies the opportunity to provide bus services. But rather than run in competition they bought into or purchase outright existing bus companies. In February 1929, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
made an offer of £400,000 to purchase Crosville, which was completed in November 1929. The new LMS (Crosville) company then in the next few months purchased Holyhead Motors, and UNU Motor Services of Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
.
Shortly afterwards, the four railway companies reached an agreement with the Tilling and British Automobile Traction
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
(T&BAT) to complete a cross-holding deal, where by each organisation held a 50% share in a series of jointly-held and consolidated regional bus companies. LMS (Crosville) was therefore merged with T&BAT's Royal Blue of Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
, and renamed Crosville Motor Services Ltd. on 15 May 1930, after only nine months of outright LMS ownership.
In the next few months the company consolidated its majority share of the North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
coastal services, buying up various smaller private companies that operated in the Crosville area, including: White Rose Motor Services of Rhyl; Red Dragon of Denbigh; Burton of Tarporley; North Wales Silver Motors; and Llangoed Red Motors. On 1 May 1933, the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
s northern Welsh service Western Transport was amalgamated
Consolidation (business)
Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...
with Crosville.
World War 2
Although the start of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
brought about cuts in the company timetable, by the end of the war the company had increased passengers by 50% and revenues by 90%. This was through North Wales being seen as a safe area from Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bombing, resulting in a number of Shadow factories
British shadow factories
British shadow factories were a plan developed by the British Government to implement additional manufacturing capacity for the British aircraft industry, in the build up to World War II...
and Munitions
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
factories being built in the area. This resulted in the expansion of a number of formerly quiet villages, and hence the route map changed quite dramatically. In example, ROF Wrexham at Marchwiel
Marchwiel
Marchwiel is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.It is about 2 miles south-east of Wrexham town on the A525 road towards Bangor-on-Dee...
needed over 200 buses daily.
This passenger demand brought about a change in fleet policy, with double deckers appearing in the fleet for the first time, albeit second-hand as war time production was give over to the war effort. This changed on 3 December 1942, when Crosville became a subsidiary of the Tilling Group, resulting in a change from maroon to Tilling-green livery, and Bristol-chassised buses
Bristol Commercial Vehicles
Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer of in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built....
replacing Leyland as the manufacturer of choice.
Crosville emerged from the war far stronger in many ways, with healthy cash reserves in the bank or accumulating nicely in property assets, unable to replace their fleet at their normal renewal rate. However, although Crosville focused on replacing its single-deck fleet with double deckers, Tilling had a group policy against investment in coaches, resulting in a rise across the geography of a number of new coach operators. By the time that the post-war government of Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
merged both Tilling and the railway companies into the British Transport Commission
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...
on 1 January 1948, and Crosville was nationalised, the coach operators were a sustainable competitive entity.
1948-1967
New Bristol double-deckers had become the standard fleet purchase for all Tilling/BET fleets, which allowed the company to service the post-war boom until 1950, when traffic began to fall again thanks to the increase in the number of private cars. The combiantion of this, plus the Suez CrisisSuez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
of 1956 and a lack of staff due to low wages, lead to a general contraction of the network out of countryside routes and to reduce operations by at least half on a Sunday. The network continued to decline, except in the provision of new service to replace railways removed by the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
, with the 1965 introduced "Cymru Coastliner," between Chester and Caernarfon anticipating the closure of that British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
route and the intermediate stations.
1968-1985
The 1968 Transport Act created the National Bus CompanyNational Bus Company
The National Bus Company, or NBC, was the Australian brand for National Express Group's mass transit bus services in Melbourne and Brisbane. Its sister companies were Westbus, Hillsbus, and Glenorie in Sydney, Southern Coast Transit in Perth.-Routes:...
, and the principle that rural bus services needed to be subsidised by councils. Although having reduced costs through the introduction of one-man operation, Crosville submitted a list of 196 routes that required financial assistance.
With the transfer of routes within Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
to the local Passenger Transport Executive in 1971, NBC spilt the residual service between Trent and Crosville, with the company taking over 119 vehicles and depots in Northwich, Macclesfield and Biddulph in March 1972. A consolidation of companies within NBC resulted Crosville taking over services in parts of West Wales from Western Welsh
Western Welsh
Western Welsh was a Welsh bus operating company, based in Cardiff covering South Wales and the northern parts of the West Country. Formed in 1920, it was nationalised and became part of the National Welsh Omnibus Services in 1969....
, including those from the depots in New Quay, Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn is a town straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in west Wales and lying on the River Teifi.Adpar is the part of the town that lies on the Ceredigion side of the River Teifi...
and Lampeter
Lampeter
Lampeter is a town in Ceredigion, South West Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Teifi and the Afon Dulas.-Demographics:At the 2001 National Census, the population was 2894. Lampeter is therefore the smallest university town in both Wales and the United Kingdom...
.
The company continued to consolidate and regress its network through the 1980s, making a loss of £1M in 1980, and £2M in 1981. Rebranding of local service in metropolitan areas assisted in a flattening of the rate of revenue reduction, but losses continued to mount.
Deregulation
On 13 February 1986, the Secretary of State for TransportSecretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
decided that, because of their size, the four largest NBC companies would be split, as they provided too great a competitive threat on deregulation
Bus deregulation
Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...
. Crosville was split into two in preparation for the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s. Crosville Cymru was to remain generally in one piece, but the remainder of Crosville based in England was to be split between then-sister companies Midland Red North and the new North Western
North Western Road Car Company (1986)
The North Western Road Car Company Ltd was a former bus operator based in Liverpool, England. The company operated between 1986 and 1998.- History :...
company based in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. The latter move was quite a reversal of fortunes, as much of Crosville's territory in the eastern half of Cheshire had been gained from the original North Western
North Western Road Car Company (1923)
The North Western Road Car Company was a bus company located in Stockport, England. Formed in 1923 from the existing bus services of the British Automobile Traction Company Limited operations based in Macclesfield, the new company grew to operate bus services in five counties The North Western...
company at its dismemberment in 1972.
The Wirral
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
operations were sold on to PMT and were to retain the Crosville name, however the name has since passed into history with the corporate First Group branding. North Western, Crosville Cymru and the Cheshire depots of Midland Red North are today under common management as Arriva North West and Wales.