Catch22 gets "Living Wage" accredited

Catch22Bus has achieved accreditation from The Living Wage Foundation for paying its staff more than the UK Living Wage rate of £7.85 per hour. All staff are actually paid in excess of £8.00 per hour, with bus drivers working for us for over 12 months now earning £8.20 per hour.

Blackpool tops the list of poor pay blackspots according to a study on the living wage and so Catch22Bus is proud of being able to achieve accreditation. Over 50% of the jobs in some Blackpool wards pay less than the living wage; the current national minimum wage is £6.50 an hour.

A spokeswoman for the Living Wage Foundation commented that "We are delighted to add a further employer to the list of Blackpool businesses that have been accredited as paying a Living Wage in an area that is typically characterised by low paid seasonal employment".

Director Philip Higgs added that "We have worked hard to develop the business over the last year and our staff are critical to that success. Paying a Living Wage is good for business, good for our staff and their families and good for the local economy".

London Trident joins the fleet

As a direct replacement for Volvo B7TL No.139 sold last month, former Stagecoach London Dennis Trident 17506 (LX51FNJ) has joined the fleet today. New in October 2001, it was one of a batch of 22 low floor Tridents and latterly operated at Catford garage where it was withdrawn in February this year. Others from the same batch are still in service with Stagecoach, for example some are in Manchester on Magicbus branded services, some were converted to open top and others allocated to reserve fleet for use as Rail Replacement or Shuttle buses for large events (such as Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and more locally the Grand National at Aintree).
"51" is likely to retain London red livery for the foreseeable future with a couple of summer corporate hire contracts requiring a 'red' bus where advertising and other branding will be applied for the duration of the contract.


17506 (LX51FNJ) during its last month of operation with Stagecoach in London.

Mwy o efeilliaid Caerdydd!

Another pair of Twins has been acquired by Catch22Bus, this time a further pair of ex-Cardiff Dennis Dart MPDs. Recently withdrawn by Select Bus of Swansea following the acquisition of this business by New Adventure Travel, T144DAX & T145DAX will join their cousins at Catch22Bus including T147DAX.
144 made the journey north to Blackpool today with 145 expected to follow next week. Like Catch22Bus, Select of Swansea has acquired a collection of Dennis Darts and all have been recently retrimmed with blue moquette seating.

[Above] 144 & 145 posed together at Select's depot in Neath, Swansea before 144 departs for the 200+ mile journey to Blackpool. [Below] The bright blue retrimmed seating on Select's Darts.

Cardiff 316 arrives in Blackpool

Ex-Cardiff Bus "Super Pointer Dart" 316 (S316SHB) has arrived with us after respray into fleet colours whilst Arriva MPD 3234 (V234HBH) was collected from their Aylesbury garage depot today and driven north to Blackpool.

Fleet Update

Today (7th April) is the last day in operation for double deck Volvo 139 (W139EON) after being sold for further use to a Staffordshire based company; it is destined to become a mobile classroom. We are looking at some newer ex-London Dennis Trident double deckers as a possible replacement. Also due to leave the fleet soon is Dart 356 (R356LER) which will be withdrawn and replaced in service by repainted ex-Cardiff Dart S316SHB.

A further MPD has been acquired, this time from Arriva The Shires and is due to be collected from their Aylesbury depot, although it latterly operated at Milton Keynes. It is their former 3234 (V234HBH).

Arriva The Shires 3234 in service at Milton Keynes in January 2015.