GHA Coaches in Administration

[Bletchleyite]

Personally I find it garish and cheap. The "logo" font also looks like the owner's 5 year old son did it in Word.


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[Robertj21a]

Personally I find it garish and cheap. The "logo" font also looks like the owner's 5 year old son did it in Word.


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I expect Julian Peddle would be quite pleased at that !.

I think the richer orange and blue that they changed to some time back is a big improvement on their earlier, weaker, colours.

 

[the101]

Did the TC manage to do anything about the ownership of RJs of Wem being transferred from one of the brothers to another family member on the day of the inquiry?

Seemingly not, given that the PI concerned GHA and the two brothers only. However, as has (I think) already come out, both the other outfits have already been called to PIs of their own, and the TC is obviously very well aware of what the situation is.

I imagine that, unless anything else comes out in the meantime, the PIs for RJ's and the RML business will end up with some kind of stipulation on the licences that neither brother has any involvement whatsoever, but it is difficult to see what else could be imposed. It is also worth noting that an operator in the East Midlands had such a condition attached to its licence concerning one individual, who to my knowledge remains heavily involved - just not in an official capacity.

I could scarcely believe, when reading the TC's written decision, that both brothers turned up for the GHA PI without legal representation...hock:

In anyone's book, that would have been £300 per hour well spent on Backhouse Jones's services.

The written decision also does Stephen Bryce no favours at all.

 

[northwichcat]

Government cuts or the management ethos of Cheshire East Council? Wishing to operate everything at arms length so that they can be in control (by specifying the contract terms) yet not accountable (it is the arms length company who are responsible for x, y and z). Just as the DfT has no involvement whatsoever in the railway rolling stock market (not) or the current Southern dispute.

I don't think they originally planned to sell off the buses, otherwise why did they bother introducing a new Cheshire East livery when the councils were spilt opposed to keeping the buses in the old Cheshire Rider livery?

No idea why you don't like it. I find it refreshingly bright and cheerful - it adds a lot of colour to places like Luton, Leicester, Stevenage etc, why shouldn't it also add colour to places in/near the Peak District ?

I imagine the reason for High Peak having the same livery as Centrebus is so they can easily transfer buses between the two operations if required.

Quite a few Manchester United players have crashed their cars in Paul Sidorczuk's local area so maybe having bright orange buses puts the bus passengers and driver at lower risk from an idiot footballer crashing in to the bus?

 

[Robertj21a]

I imagine the reason for High Peak having the same livery as Centrebus is so they can easily transfer buses between the two operations if required.

Quite a few Manchester United players have crashed their cars in Paul Sidorczuk's local area so maybe having bright orange buses puts the bus passengers and driver at lower risk from an idiot footballer crashing in to the bus?

Yes, the joint holding in High Peak allows for the buses to be painted in 'Centrebus' livery and quite a few transfer between Dove Holes and Leicester, Luton, Stevenage, Saxby etc as and when necessary.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No idea why you don't like it. I find it refreshingly bright and cheerful - it adds a lot of colour to places like Luton, Leicester, Stevenage etc, why shouldn't it also add colour to places in/near the Peak District ?

"Pound shops" also seem to like garish livery colour schemes, but they are not the same of retail establishments as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, whose corporate images seem to fit in very well with the type of shoppers in their area remits.

"Google" my local areas of Prestbury and Alderley Edge, which will give you an idea of why my views are so pronounced on this matter of tasteful livery.

jcollins certainly was well on the mark with his recent mention of the most excellent "Cheshire Connect" livery, that once was seen on the service 19 Macclesfield to Prestbury service. The "Sapphire" branded Arriva buses that are seen on the service 130 Macclesfield to Manchester service are another example of a tasteful livery.

 

[Robertj21a]

"Pound shops" also seem to like garish livery colour schemes, but they are not the same of retail establishments as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, whose corporate images seem to fit in very well with the type of shoppers in their area remits.

"Google" my local areas of Prestbury and Alderley Edge, which will give you an idea of why my views are so pronounced on this matter of tasteful livery.

jcollins certainly was well on the mark with his recent mention of the most excellent "Cheshire Connect" livery, that once was seen on the service 19 Macclesfield to Prestbury service. The "Sapphire" branded Arriva buses that are seen on the service 130 Macclesfield to Manchester service are another example of a tasteful livery.

Thank you, but I don't need to Google Prestbury or Alderley Edge as I know the area anyway. Nothing like as snobby as parts of Surrey, but they still make a bit of an effort to be similar !
I'm very pleased to see 'tasteful' and/or traditional liveries - I'm also very happy to see bright and cheerful (not garish) liveries. It's all in the eye of the beholder. Nothing wrong with High Peak's livery.

 

[the101]

How terrible it must be for a member of the nobility like Sidorczuk to have to share 'his' areas with garishly-painted buses and the peons that might use them. It must be quite ghastly. As for "pound shops" (sic), well, encountering them must be a real bind, mustn't it, old bean?

:roll: :roll:

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

As for "pound shops" (sic), well, encountering them must be a real bind, mustn't it, old bean?

:roll: :roll:

Indeed, something of a "culture shock"...

 

[childwallblues]

Is there a pound shop in Prestbury?

 

[northwichcat]

"Pound shops" also seem to like garish livery colour schemes, but they are not the same of retail establishments as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, whose corporate images seem to fit in very well with the type of shoppers in their area remits.

A lot of shops have attracted new markets in recent years. Waitrose offering free coffees, introducing an 'essential' range and price matching on branded products has attracted less affluent shoppers. On the other hand Aldi has introduced a 'Specially Selected' range and gets some branded alcohol products on end of the line clearance deals, attracting the more affluent shoppers - some can't get enough of the cut price Champagne and Port! Waitrose have also opened new shops in some of the less affluent places, while Aldi have gone for the most affluent places.

There's people in Knutsford who are objecting to the former Mr Chips takeaway being taken over by Dominos, saying they don't want a big brand and want a locally owned Fish and Chips place. Although, Mr Chips was a locally owned Fish and Chips place and it's closed down due to a lack of demand, not helped by them selling not properly cooked food on some occasions!

Anyway this has nothing to do with the demise of GHA Coaches.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Is there a pound shop in Prestbury?

Not at all, but I note that branches of "The Works" and a very cheap card shop that opened directly opposite to Clintons have appeared in the pedestrianized shopping street in Wilmslow...

 

[northwichcat]

Not at all, but I note that branches of "The Works" and a very cheap card shop that opened directly opposite to Clintons have appeared in the pedestrianized shopping street in Wilmslow...

Terrible isn't it? I purchased a Sky at Night book for £5 from The Works instead of for the £12.99 RRP from Waterstones meaning I purchased from a British owned chain rather than a Russian owned chain and could spend the £8 saving in another shop. :roll:

 

[AnonymousUser1]

"Google" my local areas of Prestbury and Alderley Edge, which will give you an idea of why my views are so pronounced on this matter of tasteful livery.

.

presumably one wishes to reserve orange for the bug-eyed sunglasses wearing RRSport / Q7 steering wheel operative WAGs ...

 

[6Gman]

Not at all, but I note that branches of "The Works" and a very cheap card shop that opened directly opposite to Clintons have appeared in the pedestrianized shopping street in Wilmslow...

Wilmslow has gone down badly in recent years...

 

[northwichcat]

Wilmslow has gone down badly in recent years...

I've posted a new thread here: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2741638 with a reply to your post as this has nothing to do with GHA Coaches.

 

[Deafdoggie]

It's also strange they refer to D&G Bus when that's just a trading name of Rolling Solutions Limited.

Ah! That might explain why Rolling Solutions ceased trading and became D&G bus!

 

[northwichcat]

Public inquiry to be held in to RJ's of Wem Ltd and RML 2418 Ltd on 5th December in Birmingham. Those are the two Shropshire operators which GHA took over and then the two former GHA directors started to trying to run Wrexham area services on after GHA collapsed. Then after the two former GHA directors got banned they transferred ownership to one of their wives.

 

[Observer]

Another auction ended this week which included buses, support vehicles, garage equipment and destination screens among other things:
https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/.../landwood-manchester/catalogue-id-landwo10034

35 items still unsold, guess there'll be another round until everything is gone. Did notice that they were trying to sell a 8 seat Ford Transit minibus CW03 XBD (which didn't sell), which was being used by RJ's of Wem recently so how exactly were they able to use that only for it to get auctioned off anyway?

 

[rich.davies]

I've seen on Facebook, that RJ'S of Wem and the other company have had there licences revoked from the 19th of December. Can anyone confirm this??

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[northwichcat]

I've seen on Facebook, that RJ'S of Wem and the other company have had there licences revoked from the 19th of December. Can anyone confirm this??

Posted elsewhere that at the public hearing this morning their licences were revoked due to a lack of financial standing but the TC will allow them to continue to operate services for 2 more weeks to allow Wrexham council to award emergency contracts for the services they run.

 

[Observer]

Hopefully that will be the end of them for good. I'm sure nobody wants to find out that down the road they manage to get another license through various means and start things again.

Plenty of other companies have managed to get around bans but seems these people couldn't all because they didn't have the cash to keep it going.

 

[northwichcat]

Hopefully that will be the end of them for good. I'm sure nobody wants to find out that down the road they manage to get another license through various means and start things again.

Plenty of other companies have managed to get around bans but seems these people couldn't all because they didn't have the cash to keep it going.

Gareth Lloyd Davies and Arwyn Lloyd Davies are both banned from being directors of any bus company by the Welsh TC. They tried to get around that ban by resigning as directors of RJ of Wems and RML2418 Ltd and appointing Gareth's wife Sally Ann as director. However, the West Midlands TC wasn't happy with that. Sally Ann as no previous experience of bus operations while Arwyn's wife was company secretary of GHA - presumably why she didn't take over the companies.

The different TC is down to them trying to reuse old licences they acquired when they GHA over Shropshire Bus & Coach which were registered in the West Midlands Traffic Area.

 

[Observer]

It appears that the former GHA directors have now resorted to selling what's left of the assets on eBay as Davies Motors:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/daviesmotors70/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

I checked the Bidspotter page and seemingly all these were sold...but perhaps to them which is now worthless seeing as those other licenses are being revoked?

 

[northwichcat]

According to Ron's Buses and Coaches blog site the net amount raised from selling the assets of GHA Coaches was £0.9m. The unsecured creditors will get 3p for every £1 owed.