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Go Ahead to close Hedingham Tollesbury depot

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Cesarcollie

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Hedingham have announced closure of the former Osbornes Tollesbury depot, and deregistered its commercial services, from end July.
 
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Mr Manager

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Do you have a link for this announcement ???. As nothing in notice and proceedings which would have to be done in the last edition. In order to meet the 56 day requirement.
 

TAS

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Do you have a link for this announcement ???. As nothing in notice and proceedings which would have to be done in the last edition. In order to meet the 56 day requirement.

VOSA has the following changes, which appeared on 02/06/16.

PF0000050/37 - HEDINGHAM AND DISTRICT OMNIBUSES LTD T/A HEDINGHAM OMNIBUSES, DUGARD HOUSE, PEARTREE ROAD, STANWAY, COLCHESTER, CO3 0UL
Variation Accepted: Operating between Tollesbury and Maldon given service number 95A effective from 27-Jul-2016. To amend Route, Stopping Places and Timetable.
PF0000050/74 - HEDINGHAM AND DISTRICT OMNIBUSES LTD T/A HEDINGHAM OMNIBUSES, DUGARD HOUSE, PEARTREE ROAD, STANWAY, COLCHESTER, CO3 0UL
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Tiptree and Kelvedon given service number 91A/91/91B effective from 24-Jul-2016.
PF0000050/156 - HEDINGHAM AND DISTRICT OMNIBUSES LTD T/A HEDINGHAM OMNIBUSES, DUGARD HOUSE, PEARTREE ROAD, STANWAY, COLCHESTER, CO3 0UL
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Colchester and Tollesbury given service number 92/92A/92B effective from 24-Jul-2016.

This seems to cover the withdrawal of services 91/A/B, 92/A/B and 95 (the 95A registration was previously for the 95/95A - so presumably Hedingham are retaining the school service). The other Tollesbury service, 50/A/B is an ECC contract. I don't know whether Tollesbury depot currently covers any of the other services.
 
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Mr Manager

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Thanks. I have made a few phone calls and yes Tollesbury is closing. And the services are moving to kelvedon depot.
 

Cesarcollie

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Sorry can't post a link as nothing yet in public domain in writing. As I said, commercial services deregistered, school contracts that remain after July moving to Kelvedon. Probably won't do much to stem the large losses....
 

overthewater

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Sorry can't post a link as nothing yet in public domain in writing. As I said, commercial services deregistered, school contracts that remain after July moving to Kelvedon. Probably won't do much to stem the large losses....

What large losses? mind you I still wonder why Go ahead just never had new brand for all its operations in that part of the UK ie merging with chambers
 

Cesarcollie

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A look at Companies House site shows HO lost £471k before tax (circa 10% on turnover) in year ended June 14. Accounts for y/e June 15 are overdue (should have been submitted by April this year). But no evidence to suggest things will have got better....
 

ChathillMan

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Obvious point here but Go Ahead has realised after years of trying they are throwing good money after bad in East Anglia as a whole.

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TAS

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Quite. All the East Anglian companies have their accounts for 2015 overdue, but the financials for 2013 & 2014 don't look great.
Code:
Profit/(Loss) Figures (to the nearest 1000)
Company                              2014        2013
Anglian Bus Ltd                      (£590,000)  (£804,000)                         
H C Chambers & Son Ltd                £ 30,000   (£ 36,000)
Hedingham & District Omnibuses Ltd   (£387,000)  (£ 76,000)
Konectbus Ltd                         £132,000    £-*
TOTAL                                (£815,000)  (£916,000)

*(£210) to be precise - but none of the other accounts are given to the same level of accuracy
 
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overthewater

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What on earth has gone so wrong at Anglian bus? I think there should just merge it with Konectbus and let them sort it out.
 

ChathillMan

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Clearly their management are doing something right to increase profits etc
I think Go Ahead has tried as much as possible and realised its not going to happen.

In Norwich both Anglia and Konect are jointly marketed with an excellent timetable book (at least the last time I was there a few months ago)

It comes down to two completely different markets of bus user I think, Konect works (Park and Ride helps). Anglia doesn't.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I think Go Ahead has tried as much as possible and realised its not going to happen.

In Norwich both Anglia and Konect are jointly marketed with an excellent timetable book (at least the last time I was there a few months ago)

It comes down to two completely different markets of bus user I think, Konect works (Park and Ride helps). Anglia doesn't.

Exactly my point. Given that it's the same MD with shared back office, I believe.
 

smtglasgow

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What were Go-Ahead up to when they moved into East Anglia? Were they banking on First pulling out? Have they taken decent businesses and let them wither, or were Hedingham, Chambers etc struggling already (and if so, what on earth were Go-Ahead thinking of when they bought them)? Anglian seemed to be thriving as an independent, but the last few years have seen round after round of cuts and reorganisation – the fleet must be less than half the size it was a few years ago. Is it more likely that Go-Ahead rather than First are looking for an exit strategy?
 

TheGrandWazoo

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What were Go-Ahead up to when they moved into East Anglia? Were they banking on First pulling out? Have they taken decent businesses and let them wither, or were Hedingham, Chambers etc struggling already (and if so, what on earth were Go-Ahead thinking of when they bought them)? Anglian seemed to be thriving as an independent, but the last few years have seen round after round of cuts and reorganisation – the fleet must be less than half the size it was a few years ago. Is it more likely that Go-Ahead rather than First are looking for an exit strategy?

As always, I would guess it's a complex mix of things. I don't know the operations that well but some of the issues are of public record or are common to the industry....

Go Ahead went into East Anglia as part of their strategy to expand their business and grow revenue. However, they also wanted to grow margin and East Anglia isn't great territory. That margin may also be higher than in the past because of the differing demands of shareholders vs private ownership. Factor in reductions in local authority support (tenders and ENCTS remuneration) and it gets trickier

Then you also have First who had obviously retreated over time. They have the nucleus of the best operations and territory. However, they have now had the chance to rebase the local business so that it's more competitive and also has invested in the local fleet (albeit perhaps modestly in FEC). They are nibbling at Angliabus in particular.

Lastly, they will have had to spend a fair amount of management time and money integrating a number of businesses together. Hedingham, in particular, had a number of depots that were relatively small and this closure, sad as it is, reflects the opportunity to rationalise, reduce the cost and cash in on a nice development site in a popular part of the world.
 

90sWereBetter

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Lost somewhere within Bank-Monument tube station,
What were Go-Ahead up to when they moved into East Anglia? Were they banking on First pulling out? Have they taken decent businesses and let them wither, or were Hedingham, Chambers etc struggling already (and if so, what on earth were Go-Ahead thinking of when they bought them)? Anglian seemed to be thriving as an independent, but the last few years have seen round after round of cuts and reorganisation – the fleet must be less than half the size it was a few years ago. Is it more likely that Go-Ahead rather than First are looking for an exit strategy?

Anglian were the bees knees when Go Ahead bought them in 2012, it's incredibly disappointing to see them be run this hard into the ground. I think the PVR for Anglian is now 32, which is a drop of over 60%. The route 61/route 7 combination, which had a monopoly on Kessingland/Southwold and was giving First's X1 a real challenge in 2011/2012, is now in major decline. First have brought back the 99 and effectively won back Kessingland, whilst the 7 hasn't stood a chance against the new X1 fleet from 2013.

In addition, Anglian's 88 corridor (Halsworth-Bungay-Poringland-Norwich) has been struggling, and it is very telling that apparently when First launched their Charcoal Line 40 service on part of the route, it achieved its six-week targets in the first three days of operation - source http://busandtrain.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/changes-in-yarmouth-lowestoft.html . I honestly can't see Anglian lasting much longer before Go Ahead pull the plug.
 

Robertj21a

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Anglian were the bees knees when Go Ahead bought them in 2012, it's incredibly disappointing to see them be run this hard into the ground. I think the PVR for Anglian is now 32, which is a drop of over 60%. The route 61/route 7 combination, which had a monopoly on Kessingland/Southwold and was giving First's X1 a real challenge in 2011/2012, is now in major decline. First have brought back the 99 and effectively won back Kessingland, whilst the 7 hasn't stood a chance against the new X1 fleet from 2013.

In addition, Anglian's 88 corridor (Halsworth-Bungay-Poringland-Norwich) has been struggling, and it is very telling that apparently when First launched their Charcoal Line 40 service on part of the route, it achieved its six-week targets in the first three days of operation - source http://busandtrain.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/changes-in-yarmouth-lowestoft.html . I honestly can't see Anglian lasting much longer before Go Ahead pull the plug.


So, at least it shows that competition works - it doesn't always go in favour of the new arrival with shiny buses. FEC has, for once/at last, responded by creating or adjusting routes to cater for passenger demand and they deserve credit for achieving something that most people (including me) just assumed FEC couldn't do.

If I recall correctly, Chambers was already a bit of a basket case, albeit an interesting one, well before GoAhead rather surprisingly bought it.
 

TAS

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Hedingham are to continue operating the affected services (91/92/95) with support from Essex County Council (see here). There appears to be largely the same number of journeys per day on each route, but at different times.
 
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