Bye Bye Fishwick's

[DunsBus]

Have just heard that the long-established independent Fishwick's are to cease operations as of close of service tomorrow.

Stagecoach have just released this announcement confirming that they will be operating Fishwick service 111 from this Sunday:

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/tis-service-update-details.aspx?id=7288

Stagecoach to operate service 111 Preston - Leyland

starting Sunday 25th October 2015

Last Updated: 23 October 2015 10:00 PM

Following the news that John Fishwick & Sons bus company is due to cease trading after business on Saturday 24th October 2015, Stagecoach can announce that they will be providing service 111 with effect from Sunday 25th October. This follows special dispensation given by the Traffic Commissioner to Stagecoach to allow this to happen at very short notice.

The route will be the same between Preston Bus Station and Moss Side (old Black Bull), then will operate a loop of Dunkirk Lane, Schleswig Way, Longmeanygate, Leyland Lane, Dunkirk Lane, then normal route back to Preston. As a result, we will not be serving Golden Hill Lane between the Leyland Lane traffic lights and Tuer Street.

There will be a new timetable, offering a 12 minute frequency Mon-Sat daytimes and every 30 mins in the evenings and all day on Sundays.
Please click here to download the timetable.

We will accept all valid Fishwick's tickets and passes for travel in the short term and will advise more on tickets in due course. The full range of Stagecoach tickets will be valid for travel. Service 111 will be within the Preston ticket zone, which covers all of Leyland area.
We will not be in a position to operate any other former Fishwick's routes on Sunday or Monday, but will be in discussions with Lancashire County Council over the possibility of covering other sections of route.

Services Affected: 109, 109A, 113, 115

Originally Posted: 23 October 2015 8:27 PM

Didn't see this one coming at all. Do we know what has happened for them to close down at such short notice?

 

[robertclark125]

Havent heard much so not prepared to speculate on here.

For those wondering about the coaching side of the business, the firm did offer package holidays. By law, the package holidays must be protected by a bonding scheme. In Fishwicks case, this was arranged through an insurance company.

Taken from a downloadable brochure on their website:

In accordance with the ‘The Package Travel, Package Tours Regulations 1992’ all passengers booking with John Fishwick & Sons Ltd are fully Insured for the initial deposit and subsequently the balance of all monies paid as detailed in your booking confirmation form. The policy will also include repatriation if required, arising from the cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the insolvency of John Fishwick & Sons Ltd. This insurance has been arranged by Towergate through IGI Insurance Company Limited. In the unlikely event of insolvency you must inform Towergate immediately on 01932 334140 or alternatively in writing to Towergate, Towergate House, 22 Wintersells Road, Byfleet, Surrey KT14 7LF. Please ensure you retain your booking confirmation form as evidence of cover and value. Policy exclusions: This policy will not cover any monies paid for Travel Insurance or any claim relating to Air Flights.

What will happen to private hires is unclear, as they're not covered by this scheme.

 

[theblackwatch]

Sad news, another independent company which goes back many years consigned to the history books.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sad news, another independent company which goes back many years consigned to the history books.

A reflection on how hard it is for buses in these times of authority spending cuts and ENCTS reimbursement levels. Tough times

 

[WestCoast]

Quite shocked. Locally, Fishwick's were a name every knew for buses and coaches. Good luck to all the employees.

I think they have quite a lot of private hire contracts. Reminds me a little of when Focus Coaches of Much Hoole went under, caused quite a commotion at Lancashire County Council and at some schools!

 

[Andyh82]

Very surprising and a shock. When you consider their modern often updated very smart fleet they didn't look like they were heading this way. Usually a bus company in decline starts going rough around the edges before hand.

 

[bb21]

More independents are likely to go under in the next couple of years with added pressure on costs from many fronts.

Such a shame. It is a company I like very much whose staff were always friendly when I used them and had well cared for buses.

 

[martinsh]

I'll be in Preston tomorrow ...

 

[DaveHarries]

Just looked on Fishwicks website: nothing about ceasing trading as I write this.

Dave

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The service 111 is mentioned earlier in the thread, but don't Fishwick's run some of the 109/115/119 services?

 

[52290]

I was on the 22.30 from Preston to Leyland last night. The driver said the receivers had been called in and that today is the last day of operation. I can see the 111 route buses passing my house as usual. There has been no mention of this on local radio and news media.
My dad worked for Fishwicks as body builder when they took over Fowlers after he retired from Leyland Motors. It's a very sad day for our town.

 

[overthewater]

Didn't stagecoach compeat with Fishwick on the services to Chorley, and just recently upped the journeys?

 

[the101]

A reflection on how hard it is for buses in these times of authority spending cuts and ENCTS reimbursement levels. Tough times

Quite, and it is a sad day indeed when a company like Fishwick's calls it quits.

If the forthcoming Buses Bill and spending cuts impact the industry as hard as is expected, Fishwick's won't be the only operator to call it a day. You can only squeeze so hard until something gives way.

 

[52290]

The 109 Preston to Chorley service via Leyland is operated by Fishwicks and Stagecoach Mondays to Saturdays. This harks back to the 1950's when it was a joint service between Fishwicks and Ribble as were most
Fishwick services at that time. Earlier this month the 109 was split into two routes, the 109 and the 109A. The 109 sticks to the "traditional" route whilst the 109A goes via Eaves Lane and Chorley hospital eventualy uniting with the 109 in Buckshaw Village. Fishwicks adhere to the 109 route. On Saturdays the 115 Preston to Chorley is oprated by
Stagecoach under contract to Lancs CC after Fishwicks pulled out a couple of years ago.
As I was going for my paper a Fishwicks bus came down Golden Hill Lane and I saluted the driver and he saluted back. Tears came to my eyes.
It will interesting to see what Stagecoach do tomorrow and even moreso on Monday when the 109,115,116 (a deviant 115) and the 119 start up. Not to mention all the college contracts.

 

[ThePannier]

Sad news. Another long-established family business gone.

 

[Busaholic]

The history of Fishwick was very much intertwined with Leyland Motors, from its very beginnings until the events of the 1970s and 1980s which first saw Leyland reduced to the L part of BL and then jettisoned altogether. My late father-in-law worked for Ribble and one of its predecessors, Scout Motors of Preston, for decades and was always very respectful of Fishwick, an attitude which I believed was generally shared within Ribble ( and, believe me, he could be extremely disrespectful about Preston Corporation/Bus!). Fishwick were used to trial lots of new Leyland products over the years including the Atlantean and the Lynx and, I seem to remember, continued with conductor operation long after conversion of routes that could have gone opo. If Fishwick couldn't survive, I honestly cannot see how any of the few remaining truly independent, historic operators stands a chance in the next few years.

 

[robertclark125]

The end of Fishwicks marks the end of an era in Lancashire, namely, Fishwicks were a pre deregulation stage carriage operator. They were running services in the regulated days, and I recall reading an article about them, being innovative after D day, and running minibuses. They were van converted Mercedes 608D's, and ran under the fleetname "Fishkwicks". It proves that despite them being a traditional style operator, they also had an eye on updating things, which also leads me to saying they always had good modern kit.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The end of Fishwicks marks the end of an era in Lancashire, namely, Fishwicks were a pre deregulation stage carriage operator. They were running services in the regulated days, and I recall reading an article about them, being innovative after D day, and running minibuses. They were van converted Mercedes 608D's, and ran under the fleetname "Fishkwicks". It proves that despite them being a traditional style operator, they also had an eye on updating things, which also leads me to saying they always had good modern kit.

They were a pre Regulation operator, being around since 1907!!

As has been mentioned, they had very close links with Leyland at Faringdon with the only two UK Atlantean AN69s with one carrying Olympian style ECW bodywork. They also had Atlanteans with Fowler bodywork.

Together with Pennine going, two of the most historic operators have disappeared in fairly short order. It's a tough place for operators and we haven't seen the last of this thanks to various govt moves

 

[Busaholic]

The end of Fishwicks marks the end of an era in Lancashire, namely, Fishwicks were a pre deregulation stage carriage operator. They were running services in the regulated days, and I recall reading an article about them, being innovative after D day, and running minibuses. They were van converted Mercedes 608D's, and ran under the fleetname "Fishkwicks". It proves that despite them being a traditional style operator, they also had an eye on updating things, which also leads me to saying they always had good modern kit.

An outfit calling themselves United Transport (absolutely unconnected to any established N.E. England operator) introduced about 75 minibuses to the Preston area under the brandname 'Zippy' and competed with both Preston and Ribble for about a year around 1988, so I guess Fishwick felt obliged to join in the fun. In the end Ribble bought them out, I suspect for not a huge amount.

 

[theblackwatch]

An outfit calling themselves United Transport (absolutely unconnected to any established N.E. England operator) introduced about 75 minibuses to the Preston area under the brandname 'Zippy' and competed with both Preston and Ribble for about a year around 1988, so I guess Fishwick felt obliged to join in the fun. In the end Ribble bought them out, I suspect for not a huge amount.

I've found a picture of a 'Fishkwick' minibus at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ewood_eddie1968/4353707021

United Transport also ran them in Manchester under the 'Bee Line Buzz Company' name. The Minibus revoloution of the mid-1980s was something which most major outfits got involved with, so it's unsurprising Fishwicks felt the need to join in and compete.

 

[TAS]

An outfit calling themselves United Transport (absolutely unconnected to any established N.E. England operator) introduced about 75 minibuses to the Preston area under the brandname 'Zippy' and competed with both Preston and Ribble for about a year around 1988, so I guess Fishwick felt obliged to join in the fun. In the end Ribble bought them out, I suspect for not a huge amount.

Ah, one of my favourite coincidences of transport history. United Transport was the name for what was left of Red & White after its British bus operations were nationalised. United Transport was itself owned by British Electric Traction (BET), who had owned Ribble (and a number of other bus operations) until it was nationalised.

 

[LeylandLen]

Only having lived in Leyland for the last 6 years i really appreciated the 111 service as well as other associated services.
As it is a a 12 minute service frequency during the day, I would like to know where Stagecoach get there vehicles from to run the service at short notice. Are some drivers transferred from Fishwicks to Stagecoach ?The Stagecoach single deck buses used are familiar ones used on other local Stagecoach services.

 

[theblackwatch]

Only having lived in Leyland for the last 6 years i really appreciated the 111 service as well as other associated services.
As it is a a 12 minute service frequency during the day, I would like to know where Stagecoach get there vehicles from to run the service at short notice. Are some drivers transferred from Fishwicks to Stagecoach ?The Stagecoach single deck buses used are familiar ones used on other local Stagecoach services.

I suspect they can manage this week due to it being half term, so there is no requirement for vehicles to do school runs. That gives them a few days breathing space to sort things out. Over here in Yorkshire, one operator which did a lot of school work, Geldards, went 'bust' one Friday last month. Come Monday morning, several other operators had stepped in to cover all the school work - see http://www.generationm.co.uk/News/TravelDisruptionPage/ . It was a good example of everyone pulling together to keep things going.

 

[Y961 XBU]

I suspect they can manage this week due to it being half term, so there is no requirement for vehicles to do school runs. That gives them a few days breathing space to sort things out. Over here in Yorkshire, one operator which did a lot of school work, Geldards, went 'bust' one Friday last month. Come Monday morning, several other operators had stepped in to cover all the school work - see http://www.generationm.co.uk/News/TravelDisruptionPage/ . It was a good example of everyone pulling together to keep things going.

Bang on, since theres a PVR reduction for School Holidays plus a couple of loans from Preston and Gillmoss Depot they will be ok for this week, Am told the Gold Enviro 300s at Rock Ferry will enter service on Friday and this will release the former First Group Wright Eclipses over to Preston for the 111 from then on