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Crosville Motor Services (Weston-super-Mare)

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Crosville Motor Services
Open top Bristol VRT and Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart in July 2013
ParentJonathan Jones-Pratt
Founded2011
Defunct21 April 2018
HeadquartersWeston-super-Mare
Service areaSomerset
AllianceSomerset Passenger Solutions
DepotsFormerly at Winterstoke Road, Weston-super-Mare
Fleetcirca 30 (2013)
Websitewww.crosvillemotorservices.co.uk
Yutong ZK6129H coach

Crosville Motor Services[1] operated both contract hire and stage carriage bus services between 2011 and 2018 from its base in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England. It also operated a fleet of heritage vehicles and continues to do so as 'Crosville Vintage'.

History

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Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL in August 2015
Heritage Bristol Lodekka and Bristol L5G

The original Crosville Motor Services[2] was a major bus operator, covering Mid and North Wales and North West England. The name fell out of use after that company was privatised but was resurrected by this new operator. Some of the heritage fleet were once used by the original Crosville.

Although contract and private hire work had been undertaken from 2011, Crosville's first four commercial bus routes commenced operation in April 2012. These included routes from Weston-super-Mare to Sand Bay and Burnham-on-Sea, also a sea front tour to Uphill which was operated by heritage buses on summer Sundays and public holidays.[3]

In April 2013 Crosville commenced operating a further two routes, 4 and 83.[4]

In 2016, Crosville's proprietor commenced operating services during the construction of EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C nuclear power station through a 50% shareholding in Somerset Passenger Solutions.[5][6][7] Although operated independently, there was some sharing of resources with Crosville.[8]

In April 2016, Crosville commenced operating services in Bristol and South Gloucestershire under contract to North Somerset Council.[9][10]

In July 2017, six routes were withdrawn and an enforced reduction in fleet size by the Traffic Commissioner following a public enquiry after some vehicles were found to be operating in unsafe condition. After this, the managing director, Jon-Jones Pratt, announced that Crosville would cease operation in Weston Super Mare in early 2018.[11][12] In February 2018, the company announced that it would cease all local bus services and school operations at the conclusion of services on 21 April 2018.[13][14] Following a further public enquiry by the Traffic Commissioner, Crosville's operating licence was revoked from 25 April 2018.[15] All services on the final day were operated by vehicles from the heritage fleet.[16]

After operations ceasing First West of England introduced a replacement service to Sand Bay,[17] while Carmel Bristol took over route 106 on a temporary basis.[16][18][19]

Fleet

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In January 2012 the fleet comprised 25 vehicles including modern coaches and the heritage fleet.[20] To operate its first four commercial services it added two Dennis Dart single deck buses and a part-open top Leyland Olympian from Xelabus, Eastleigh, also two Optare Solos and a Mercedes-Benz 811D minibus from Blue Iris Coaches, Nailsea.[21]

After operations ceased, four buses from the heritage fleet were retained in Weston-super-Mare by parent company JJP Holdings SW[16][22] and promoted as the 'Crosville Vintage' fleet.[23] Most of the other heritage vehicles were retained by the owner as a private collection. These were stored at five locations but planning permission was granted in 2020 to house them all at a single site in Uphill.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 5706548 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Crosville Motor Services Limited
  2. ^ Companies House extract company no 248119 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine North British Bus Limited formerly Crosville Motor Services Limited
  3. ^ "News". Crosville Motor Services. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  4. ^ Crosville awarded 2 new routes Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Crosville Motor Services 9 April 2013
  5. ^ Find out more about the south west businesses that will benefit from Hinkley Point C[permanent dead link] EDF Energy 31 July 2015
  6. ^ You think green Southern National buses no longer run in Somerset? Watch this space Archived 4 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine Chard and Ilminster News, 6 February 2016
  7. ^ Southern National Returns Bus & Coach Buyer issue 1365 12 February 2016 page 9
  8. ^ "Weston's Crosville to close its doors" Coach & Bus Week issue 1332 6 March 2018 page 8
  9. ^ Crosville awarded North Fringe Bristol Commuter Service Archived 7 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine Crosville Motor Services 1 March 2016
  10. ^ New coach operator for North Somerset commuter service Archived 7 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine North Somerset Council 8 March 2016
  11. ^ Robins, Sheridan. "Six bus routes cancelled in Weston-super-Mare". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018.
  12. ^ Millett, Briana. "Crosville ordered to scale back its operation after serious mechanical failures". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018.
  13. ^ Baker, Hannah (5 March 2018). "Crosville to end bus and school services in Weston-super-Mare". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Crosville to cease all bus operations" Buses issue 757 April 2018 page 7
  15. ^ "TC revokes Crosville's O-Licence". Route One. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018.
  16. ^ a b c "Crosville commemorates its closure with vintage day" Buses issue 759 June 2018 page 9
  17. ^ Woodsford, Henry (25 April 2018). "New bus service running in Weston after Crosville axes routes". Weston Mercury. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  18. ^ Crosville to close next month after seven years in Weston Archived 27 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine Route One 6 March 2018
  19. ^ Robinson, Sarah. "Temporary solution found for axed Weston bus route". Archived from the original on 21 March 2018.
  20. ^ "Crossville running Day 2012". Trains Ferries Busses. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  21. ^ "Revised Crosville challenges First". Buses (687). Key Publishing: 10, 54. June 2012.
  22. ^ Crossville Motor Services-closes Weston operations Archived 17 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Buyer 7 March 2018
  23. ^ "Crosville Vinatge". Crosville Vintage. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Valuable bus collection moves to Weston-super-Mare". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
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