Hulley's of Baslow

[GusB]

Let's make sure that we're not drifting too far from the thread topic (Hulley's), please!

 

[M803UYA]

For the short term Hulleys could hire 1-2 buses from elsewhere and hire a couple of agency drivers too. Surely, their reputation is worth that outlay?

Exactly what the traffic commissioner will tell them at public inquiry.

 

[MotCO]

For the short term Hulleys could hire 1-2 buses from elsewhere and hire a couple of agency drivers too. Surely, their reputation is worth that outlay?

From Go-Coach perhaps? I don't know what staffing is like at Go-Coach, but if they have any spare drivers, they could send them and put them up in B&Bs.

 

[ALEMASTER]

Hulleys are running a Boxing Day and New Years Day service on route 55 - timetable on the DCC website https://www.derbysbus.info/times/tt_17_64.htm

 

[tom1649]

Hulleys are running a Boxing Day and New Years Day service on route 55 - timetable on the DCC website https://www.derbysbus.info/times/tt_17_64.htm

"Hoping to run" is probably more accurate, given recent trends.

 

[zakky1.0]

So today has brought a new excuse out on the Facebook page! Electrical faults are now causing routes to be dropped.

A very recent addition to the fleet is ex. Vision bus of Bolton YX11AEN, gaining fleet no. 8563! Strange, given the rest of the E200s fall under the 63XX numbers. Maybe this could solve the vehicle shortage, although another elderly fleet member is unlikely to do so, especially considering Hulley's shiny engineering records.

Although to the surprise of everyone, the 63 has had a full days service! I suppose a full day every 10 days isn't too shabby.

 

[m79900]

So today has brought a new excuse out on the Facebook page! Electrical faults are now causing routes to be dropped.

A very recent addition to the fleet is ex. Vision bus of Bolton YX11AEN, gaining fleet no. 8563! Strange, given the rest of the E200s fall under the 63XX numbers. Maybe this could solve the vehicle shortage, although another elderly fleet member is unlikely to do so, especially considering Hulley's shiny engineering records.

Although to the surprise of everyone, the 63 has had a full days service! I suppose a full day every 10 days isn't too shabby.

What's this about fleet numbers? Aren't Hulley's buses in the 1-30 range generally?

 

[43055]

What's this about fleet numbers? Aren't Hulley's buses in the 1-30 range generally?

Probably being renumbered to be in line with the Go-Coach fleet.

 

[Fin447]

First two digits are seating capacity (not sure if it includes standing)

 

[MasterSpenny]

What's this about fleet numbers? Aren't Hulley's buses in the 1-30 range generally?

They are according to bustimes.org, but the bus with fleet number 11 got renumbered to have the fleet number 6311.

Fleet list – Hulleys of Baslow – bustimes.org

1	YX23 OTB	55	21:15	ADL Enviro200 MMC			USB power	Flickr	Edit
3	LK09 EKU	110	17:15	ADL Enviro400	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
4	YJ11 EJA	172	17:20	Optare Solo	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
5	LK09 EKP	257	12 Dec 15:10	ADL Enviro400	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
6	YJ09 OTH	80	21:55	Optare Solo	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
7	YX09 HZJ	170	23 Oct 17:00	ADL Enviro200	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
8	YX12 DHN	172	17 Oct 17:30	ADL Enviro200	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
9	MX09 AOF	110	17:10	Optare Solo	Hulleys 110/111			Flickr	Edit
10	YJ09 MHN	80	20:55	Optare Solo	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
12	BV23 NVH	80	20:40	Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora			USB power	Flickr	Edit
13	WK11 APY	170	18:00	Optare Solo SR	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
14	YJ57 XWR	55	19:05	ADL Enviro200	Vision Bus			Flickr	Edit
15	MK63 XAU	257	16:35	ADL Enviro200	North Western			Flickr	Edit
16	LJ09 CCK	170	07:45	ADL Enviro400	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
17	MX11 CZM	257	17 Nov 16:30	ADL Enviro200	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
18	YJ11 EJD	257	3 Nov 19:08	Optare Solo	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
21	Y100 HOB	172	31 Oct 08:50	Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora	Hulleys		USB power	Flickr	Edit
25	YJ57 XWP	55	18:30	Optare Solo	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
3619	YK05 CAO	173	17:55	Optare Solo	CT Coaches			Flickr	Edit
4502	YJ09 MMO	172	16 Dec 07:40	Optare Solo SR	Go-Coach			Flickr	Edit
6311	SW64 XAR	257	16:49	ADL Enviro200	Hulleys	170	T20 JLS		Flickr	Edit
6323	YX11 CSY	172	17:30	ADL Enviro200	Hulleys			Flickr	Edit
LOAN	YJ59 GFO	257	4 Dec 07:55	Optare Versa	Go-Coach			Flickr	Edit

 

[SCH117X]

Photographic evidence on Flickr

Hulleys Baslow 6311 SW64XAR

Explore MattyB97's 41905 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[MotCO]

First two digits are seating capacity (not sure if it includes standing)

The only other company I can think of that did this was The Kings Ferry. Does Go-Coach adopt it as well?

 

[zakky1.0]

First two digits are seating capacity (not sure if it includes standing)

Really? Do E200s really have the capacity for 63 seated ?

 

[duncombec]

First two digits are seating capacity (not sure if it includes standing)

Really? Do E200s really have the capacity for 63 seated ?

I believe Go-Coach use complete capacity (including standing), or at least that's what it used to be based on. The exceptions are the ex-Abellio E200 MMCs, which retained Abellio 834* numbers.

 

[zakky1.0]

I believe Go-Coach use complete capacity (including standing), or at least that's what it used to be based on. The exceptions are the ex-Abellio E200 MMCs, which retained Abellio 834* numbers.

Oh ok, to me that seems a very strange way to base fleet numbers, although there is never really a base for them anyway !

 

[Steve440]

Well that should help them run the services then!

 

[zakky1.0]

Hulleys of Baslow | Baslow

Hulleys of Baslow, Baslow. 6,870 likes · 167 talking about this · 109 were here. Hulleys have been operating bus services in and around the Peak District since 1921.

www.facebook.com

Hulley's facebook page is once again a very interesting read, punctures, breakdowns & bus shortages are todays blameworthy excuses, surely you cannot have 2 vehicles with punctures in the same day, slightly suspicious considering a tire takes an hour at most to change.

how do they still have a vehicle shortage with 4/5 loans from go-coach, questions really need to be asked if they are actually capable anymore.

 

[MotCO]

Hulleys of Baslow | Baslow

Hulleys of Baslow, Baslow. 6,870 likes · 167 talking about this · 109 were here. Hulleys have been operating bus services in and around the Peak District since 1921.

www.facebook.com

Hulley's facebook page is once again a very interesting read, punctures, breakdowns & bus shortages are todays blameworthy excuses, surely you cannot have 2 vehicles with punctures in the same day, slightly suspicious considering a tire takes an hour at most to change.

how do they still have a vehicle shortage with 4/5 loans from go-coach, questions really need to be asked if they are actually capable anymore.

Hopefully Austin Blackman, as engineering director, will sort them out. Always assuming that they have sufficient engineers, suitable workshop, sufficient spare parts etc.

 

[Contains Nuts]

Hulley's facebook page is once again a very interesting read, punctures, breakdowns & bus shortages are todays blameworthy excuses, surely you cannot have 2 vehicles with punctures in the same day, slightly suspicious considering a tire takes an hour at most to change.

But with bus tyres they are not the same as car tyres. Usually spares are kept at the depot already on the rims and the whole wheel is swapped, and in either case the wheel has to be re-torqued before the bus can go back out, and then re-torqued again at intervals over the following days. Not as quick a process as changing a tyre on a car.

Plus don’t forget the safety aspect of jacking a bus up to change a tyre on the road. In many cases it is safer for the bus to be recovered back to the depot for repair.

 

[Flange Squeal]

The only other company I can think of that did this was The Kings Ferry. Does Go-Coach adopt it as well?

Perhaps going slightly off topic, but the subsidiaries of Lucketts Travel Group also adopted this prior to National Express takeover.

Original seating + number of coach of this type + current seating

So 480670 would be say a Levante new with 48 seats, that was the 6th Levante they owned, that has now been upseated to 70 seats.

This can make for some long fleet numbers on things like their 106 seat deckers, which their first example of is 10601106 (!)

 

[M803UYA]

Hulleys of Baslow | Baslow

Hulleys of Baslow, Baslow. 6,870 likes · 167 talking about this · 109 were here. Hulleys have been operating bus services in and around the Peak District since 1921.

www.facebook.com

Hulley's facebook page is once again a very interesting read, punctures, breakdowns & bus shortages are todays blameworthy excuses, surely you cannot have 2 vehicles with punctures in the same day, slightly suspicious considering a tire takes an hour at most to change.

how do they still have a vehicle shortage with 4/5 loans from go-coach, questions really need to be asked if they are actually capable anymore.

None of these excuses are acceptable reasons for failing to run their timetabled services. They're expected to have sufficient vehicles available to them to maintain the timetables they've registered. The traffic commissioner will take an extremely dim view of an operator cancelling services due to a vehicle breakdown - the operator is meant to have spare buses available to handle this problem. So, where are they?

 

[RustySpoons]

An apology from Facebook

www.facebook.com/hulleys1921

We’re really sorry…

Over the past few months we’ve fallen way short of the standard of service you’re entitled to expect, and that we’d like to have provided.
In the main, this has been due to either a shortage of Drivers or a lack of availability of parts to repair buses. Neither of these problems have been unique to Hulleys, but because the services we run aren’t high frequency then any missing buses are more noticeable and have a greater impact.

Everybody here at Hulleys has been working hard to put things right and we’ve taken some big steps to try to get back on track. We’ve had another pay increase - the fifth since 2020 - to improve Driver recruitment and retention, and in the last three months we’ve embarked on the most intensive recruitment campaign we’ve ever done and now we finally have enough Drivers to be able to make service.

We’ve acquired another Operator to allow us to share parts stock and improve our buying power as some suppliers will only deal with larger firms as they struggle to maintain supply due to Brexit and other issues. It has also given us access to spare buses which will help out in the short term.

We now have enough buses to provide a full service thanks to our Engineering team of Dan, Tom, Slav and Rob who I would like to take this opportunity to thank for their hard work and going well above and beyond.

Some of you may have already spoken with Anna, who joined us recently and makes sure the phone is answered and that any updates are posted on social media. I know how annoying it is when a bus is late or doesn’t show, but please don’t be abusive, it’s just not right. I’d like to thank Anna for getting our customer service house in order, supported by Courtney, George, Alan and Matt who complete the office team.
I would also like to thank our Traffic Controllers - Jerry, Lee and Martyn - for trying to make sure we provide the best service we could in the most difficult circumstances. Although many times we fell far too short, they made sure that almost without fail schoolchildren got to and from school safely - remember the October floods?

Our amazing team of Drivers have tolerated levels of abuse from a minority of customers whose frustration spilled over into unacceptable behaviour including spitting and fighting. No matter how bad we might have been at times, our Drivers will always deserve due respect and while I cannot apologise enough for our failures, I won’t hesitate in standing up for our staff who have stuck with us through some very challenging times.

I would also like to mention the Local and School Bus Teams at Derbyshire County Council - in no particular order to Alan, Andrew, Chris, Clive, Deborah, Hayley, Ian, Jamie, Jane, Paulette and Phil for their patience and support during this difficult period.

We are under no illusions: we’ve got to now work tirelessly to even begin to rebuild the hard won reputation we once enjoyed, to make the Hulleys name one that people can be proud to work for and can rely upon. It isn’t going to happen overnight and there will be bumps along the road, but everybody here is committed to doing their very best.

Obviously we cannot turn the clock back, but we would like you to give us a chance to prove ourselves again. We know we’ve let people down, made people late for work, miss important appointments, ruined days out, disrupted plans, and again, I’m truly sorry.
We’re never going to be perfect, but we’re now in a position where we can give it a good go.

Alf Crofts
Managing Director

Unfortunately followed by...

Good morning, the following services are not running today. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
257 07:46 Yorkshire to LMS
257 09:10 Bakewell to Sheffield
This is due to a driver shortage. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

and...

Good morning, the following services are not running today. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
257 10:40 Sheffield to Bakewell
257 12:10 Bakewell to Sheffield
257 14:05 Sheffield to Bakewell
257 15:45 LMS to Sheffield
257 17:40 Sheffield to Bakewell
This is due to a driver shortage. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

So much for 'we finally have enough Drivers to be able to make service'

 

[MotCO]

So much for 'we finally have enough Drivers to be able to make service'

Maybe sickness or Christmasitis?

 

[SLC001]

Given that at least 1 in 20 people have Covid at present, sickness is quite possible. I have Covid and it has wiped us out for at least 2 weeks. No-one is going to thank someone coming in with a sore throat and potentially ruining their Christmas - if you have a sore throat the NHS will not want you to attend appointments at present. We regularly spend time in Bakewell and it saddens me to see Hulleys getting so much stick which may well be justified, but in a marginal bus operating area, where affordable accommodation is impossible to find, it is very much a sign of the times.

 

[Djb1]

Given that at least 1 in 20 people have Covid at present, sickness is quite possible. I have Covid and it has wiped us out for at least 2 weeks. No-one is going to thank someone coming in with a sore throat and potentially ruining their Christmas - if you have a sore throat the NHS will not want you to attend appointments at present. We regularly spend time in Bakewell and it saddens me to see Hulleys getting so much stick which may well be justified, but in a marginal bus operating area, where affordable accommodation is impossible to find, it is very much a sign of the times.

I think they probably don’t help themselves with what appears as inconsistency in cancellation reasons (if some services are cancelled due to lack of buses, move then move the allocated driver to a service that has been cancelled due to lack of driver, or vice versa……)

 

[Mugby]

Could someone please remind me: Didn't Hulleys start or intend to start a seaside service to somewhere a year or two ago?

What became of it?

 

[TheSel]

Could someone please remind me: Didn't Hulleys start or intend to start a seaside service to somewhere a year or two ago?

What became of it?

This [below] from the 'Sheffield Omnibus Enthusiasts Society' journal #679 dated July 2021:

'HULLEYS OF BASLOW' LTD with start/change dates as shown.

svc.X98 (Sheffield-Ingoldmells {Fantasy Island}) - New Saturday only provision from 3 July to 30 October. One round trip per day at 0830 ex-Sheffield, 1730 ex-Ingoldmells; running time 190 minutes. Registered in 4 sections (stopping only at the places shown): Sheffield-Chesterfield-Mansfield, Mansfield-Tuxford-Odda Farm, Odda Farm-Wragby-Horncastle, and Horncastle-Scremby-Skegness-Ingoldmells.

svc.X99 (Sheffield-Scarborough {Sandside}) - New Sunday/Bank Holiday Monday provision from 4 July to 24 October. One round trip per day at 0830 ex-Sheffield, 1730 exScarborough; running time 210 minutes. Registered in 4 sections (with stops only at the places shown): Sheffield-Rotherham-Doncaster, Doncaster-HatfieldGoole, Goole-Market Weighton-Driffield, and Driffield-Bridlington-Filey-Scarboro'.

From the same society's journal #680 dated August 2021:

The inaugural journeys on coastal svcs.X98 & X99 - on 3 & 4 July respectively - were run using new Volvo B8RLE/MCV no .21 (Y100HOB).

And (finally) from the same society's journal #682 dated October 2021:

svc.X98 (Sheffield-Ingoldmells) - It was announced on 7 September the service was with- drawn with immediate effect. However, because there were holders of period return tickets still on the east coast, the 1730 ex-Ingoldmells did run on the 11th . svc.X99 (Sheffield-Scarborough) - Service withdrawn; last ran on 5 September.

Hope this helps.

 

[bussnapperwm]

This [below] from the 'Sheffield Omnibus Enthusiasts Society' journal #679 dated July 2021:

'HULLEYS OF BASLOW' LTD with start/change dates as shown.

svc.X98 (Sheffield-Ingoldmells {Fantasy Island}) - New Saturday only provision from 3 July to 30 October. One round trip per day at 0830 ex-Sheffield, 1730 ex-Ingoldmells; running time 190 minutes. Registered in 4 sections (stopping only at the places shown): Sheffield-Chesterfield-Mansfield, Mansfield-Tuxford-Odda Farm, Odda Farm-Wragby-Horncastle, and Horncastle-Scremby-Skegness-Ingoldmells.

svc.X99 (Sheffield-Scarborough {Sandside}) - New Sunday/Bank Holiday Monday provision from 4 July to 24 October. One round trip per day at 0830 ex-Sheffield, 1730 exScarborough; running time 210 minutes. Registered in 4 sections (with stops only at the places shown): Sheffield-Rotherham-Doncaster, Doncaster-HatfieldGoole, Goole-Market Weighton-Driffield, and Driffield-Bridlington-Filey-Scarboro'.

From the same society's journal #680 dated August 2021:

The inaugural journeys on coastal svcs.X98 & X99 - on 3 & 4 July respectively - were run using new Volvo B8RLE/MCV no .21 (Y100HOB).

And (finally) from the same society's journal #682 dated October 2021:

svc.X98 (Sheffield-Ingoldmells) - It was announced on 7 September the service was with- drawn with immediate effect. However, because there were holders of period return tickets still on the east coast, the 1730 ex-Ingoldmells did run on the 11th . svc.X99 (Sheffield-Scarborough) - Service withdrawn; last ran on 5 September.

Hope this helps.

Wasn't the cancellation also at the same time as the X1(?) debacle?

 

[TheSel]

Wasn't the cancellation also at the same time as the X1(?) debacle?

Yes. From that same October 2021 journal (and to give more context):

'Hulleys of Baslow' issued a statement on 7 September explaining that some new drivers - expected to start on the 6th - had decided not to join the company and that others remained on sick leave or had gone off sick. To maintain the core route network with the reduced resources available, the following changes were implemented by the 9th: svc.170 (Chesterfield-Bakewell) Friday & Saturday evening journeys withdrawn (last ran on the 4th); svcs.X1 (Manchester Airport-Ashbourne) & X72 (Chesterfield-Matlock) withdrawn; svc.X57 withdrawn between Manchester & the Airport on Sundays, and svcs.X71, X98 & X99 were withdrawn completely (qv); svc.X70 reduced to 2-hourly on Sundays. Note that the withdrawal of svc.X1 prompted a return to the 'pre-X1' situation with the re-instatement of contracted running: svc.108 (Ashbourne-Leek), from 9 September by D&G Bus Ltd; svc.109 (Macclesfield-Leek) from 10 September by Goldstraw ("Aimee's Travel", Leek).

 

[Deerfold]

Could someone please remind me: Didn't Hulleys start or intend to start a seaside service to somewhere a year or two ago?

What became of it?

It ran for Saturdays in Summer 2021 to Inelmells from Sheffield. It was the X98.

PC0003407/70 – bustimes.org

PC0003407/67 – bustimes.org