Statement re suspension of trading

On 18 December following consultation with the finance company that underwrites our VOSA financial standing and invoice discounting facilities, a decision was made for Classic Bus North West Ltd (CBNW Ltd) to suspend trading. The services being operated on the CBNW Ltd licence were therefore suspended, affecting services 80 (Blackpool - Poulton - Preston) and the Red Rocket Express (although the operation of this was going to be paused after Xmas).

The decision was taken against a background of increasing amounts owed to the business and losses on the bus refurbishment side of the business, affecting cash flow and our ability to keep pace with payroll obligations. Some staff have been laid off and it is likely that there will be redundancies. The decision DOES NOT affect service 22, which operates on the Oakwood Travel licence, and we are now working closely with our principal stakeholders to develop a fresh and sustainable operation through Oakwood Travel Services Ltd.

Red Rocket shuttles in orbit!

'Houston, we have a problem' is right up there with 'Beam me up Scotty' at the top of the spaceflight-related quotations tree. To get the negatives out of the way first, we have been experiencing some teething troubles with our Bendybuses, thought mainly to do with being more used to crawling around London's city streets and now we are expecting them, after being laid idle for a few years in store, to run the London marathon everyday (well, up and down the M61). MAL41 is the only one in service at the moment with MAL53 due back in service next week. Unfortunately, MAL49 is out of use and requires a new engine.
Anyway, the upshot of this is that other buses from the fleet have had to be drafted in to operate Red Rocket journeys. Saturday 30 November was our busiest day so far though and extra buses duplicated the 09:00 from Blackpool with even a Dennis Dart venturing to Manchester! Later in the day, Volvo B10M no.898 operated the last return journey - a bus no stranger to Manchester having started life with Stagecoach Manchester for the busy 192 Piccadilly to Hazel Grove service.

898 works the last departure of the day from Manchester at 20:00 on Sat 30 November

From Harrogate to Blackpool

601 & 611 collected from Lancashire United at Blackburn today.

The first two of a possible batch of six former Transdev Harrogate Volvo B6 buses were collected today from sister Transdev company, Lancashire United. They are former 601 and 611 in the Harrogate fleet and have been purchased by CBNW initially to replace some of the Darts on service 22 but they are also likely to be destined for regular use on new service 80 which will be operated by CBNW from December.
We are taking on this route on a commercial basis from Lancashire County Council (LCC) and the current subsidised service operated by cumfybus has been cancelled. From 09 December, the service will be revised to operate Blackpool - Victoria Hospital - Poulton - Preston every hour with a reduced evening and sunday operation. As a result of our registration of the service, other services subsidised by LCC are being amended to fill the Poulton-Fleetwood link and parts of the 75/76 Fylde Villager network.

Is that a Red Rocket?

Looking a bit out of place in the rural setting of Bruntingthorpe are MAL41 & MAL53 following collection from storage at the Leicestershire airfield.

Life has never been busier here at Classic Bus North West and I'm afraid this is the reason for the lack of blog postings over the summer months.
Our current project is to start the RedRocket Express service to Manchester which will use former GoAhead London Mercedes Benz Citaros. See www.redrocketexpress.co.uk
Three of these superb vehicles have been acquired initially to be dedicated to the new route. They are MAL41 (BD52LNU), MAL49 (BD52LNF) and MAL53 (BL52ODK).

Catching up with SeaFront 12

Summer is passing by so quickly and blog posts have been few and far between over recent weeks, which are our busiest months of the year. Catching up with SeaFront 12, the service was extended to St.Annes from 20th July, as well as starting the evening operation with later journeys between Pleasure Beach and Norbreck Hotel only.
On the bus front, Routemasters are now making some appearances on SF12 and also "Wallace & Gromit" liveried Olympian 269 has returned to service and will be dedicated to the sea front operation until the autumn closure. The next Olympian to return to Sea Front service is no stranger to the Promenade, having previously operated in orange/yellow Line 1 livery with Blackpool Transport. It is ex-Trent Olympian 701 (XAU701Y) which has received a poppy red & white front (echoing its NBC Trent days) and an all-over advert for the Pleasure Beach Hot Ice show.

701 - returning to active duty on SF12 after returning to Classic Bus North West custody following its previous loan to the LTT collection. In this view it was posed at Mereside and clearly shows the NBC inspired Poppy Red and White front echoing its early days at Trent. (Philip Higgs)

大巴士在黑澤

The biggest bus in Blackpool has now entered service on SeaFront 12 in its eye-catching Wallace & Gromit advert livery for the Pleasure Beach's new "Thrill-o-matic" ride. This 102-seater bus is the first of two ex-Big Bus open tops to join the fleet of CBNW for the 2013 season. It originated as one of arouund 80+ tri axle Metrobuses delivered to China motor bus (CMB) back in 1988. Its first day of use on SeaFront 12 was Friday 21 June.

102-seater MCW Metrobus 69 on SeaFront 12

 

A Cracking Contraption!

The finishing touches are being put to former Big Bus Tours MCW Metrobus open top F69SYE and its wrap for Wallace & Gromit. 69 is now looking superb in its stunning advert livery that will certainly turn heads this summer on SeaFront 12. F69SYE last carried passengers back in 2009 and it is expected to start operating on 12s during mid-June.