Pilkingtons Accrington/pilkingtonbus/Boomerang Travel

[Aaron Ashton]

Unsure if there is a dedicated thread for this company, as someone in the loop, I have decided to start a thread =)

 

[Ant158]

Pilkingtons have an interesting fleet of well presented buses. They seem to be one of the few non group bus service operators in Lancashire. Have heard they have won some more Clitheroe tendered work. How many buses do they have?

 

[Aaron Ashton]

I've worked there on 2 seperate occasions and presentation has always been one of the key things. Currently vehicles off the top of my head are:-

Mercedes-Benz/Mellor Strata
2 On Order for July delivery

Optare Solos (inc SR)
YJ08PGV M710SE
YJ60KFP M710SE
YJ06YRL/YSO/SB58BUS M780SL
KY63VTJ/KX15BMY M710SE (SR)
YJ64DSE/PK16BUS M7900SE (SR)
MX09MKG M890SR (SR)

Darts
R9/15/16/T9PLK/LX06EZU (8.8m)
GX06DXC/KX56JYY (10.7m)

Volvo B7TLs
06-D-30534/5/7/PK56AGO (prev. 06-D-30536) ALX400 former Dublin Bus
X659LLX (Plaxton President)

Dennis Tridents
T654/9KPU/V622DJA/W442XKX (low-height ALX400)
LG02FCM/O/U/FEO (full height ALX400)
R12/4/8/20PLK (full height Plaxton/Transbus President prev. LR52KXO/KWW/SN51AXZ/Y)

DAF/VDL DB250LF
W372VGJ (full height ALX400)
YJ51ZVF (low-height Optare Spectra)
FD02UKJ (low-height East Lancs Lowlander Myllenium)

Volvo Olympian
P607CAY (Northern Counties Palatine)

PK56AGO and 06-D-30537 are in a new livery which was an edited version of one I designed (which is how it should be as on SB58BUS....which is still slightly incorrect) all others are in my previously designed livery apart from P607CAY.

 

[Thomas31]

Are Pilkingtons the ones who avoided the DDA by removing seats so their buses could be described as minibuses?

 

[Aaron Ashton]

Are Pilkingtons the ones who avoided the DDA by removing seats so their buses could be described as minibuses?

Nope, they were one of the only operators to start buying old early Low Floor buses before DDA was made compliant. M&M Coaches removed the standing capacity which meant they could be classed as coaches so they wouldn't have to comply until ironically this year....

 

[Ant158]

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of competition in east Lancashire these days. Pilkingtons have calved out a nice little niche with the contracted services and other routes Transdev can’t be bothered with. Really like their traditional red and cream livery.

Ilike the Mellor Strata, but somehow it doesn’t have that ‘proper bus’ feel the Solos and Darts do. Wonder if Ribble Valley routes will get any route branding.

 

[Aaron Ashton]

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of competition in east Lancashire these days. Pilkingtons have calved out a nice little niche with the contracted services and other routes Transdev can’t be bothered with. Really like their traditional red and cream livery.

Ilike the Mellor Strata, but somehow it doesn’t have that ‘proper bus’ feel the Solos and Darts do. Wonder if Ribble Valley routes will get any route branding.

I designed the logo and liveries they currently use, I have a Ribble Valley branding in mind although I'm not sure it will be used.

 

[GusB]

I do hope that the OP is up-to-date with the forum rules:

Forum Rules

General Rules It is your responsibility to ensure all your contributions to this forum are respectful, appropriate, relevant, legal and accessible. All the rules below apply to all contributions in all areas of the forum, if any content causes you concern, please alert us to it, by reporting...

www.railforums.co.uk

If you wish to advertise, promote or fundraise on the forum, you must first obtain permission by contacting us.

 

[Geeves]

Did Pilkingtons go bust at one point and come back? I seem to remember a bus war with Rossendale on the 464 at one point, saying that First GM were also on the 464 around that time too.

 

[Stan Drews]

Did Pilkingtons go bust at one point and come back? I seem to remember a bus war with Rossendale on the 464 at one point, saying that First GM were also on the 464 around that time too.

I think there’s been a few incarnations, although think they’ve all been the same family. I seem to recall some trouble with the TC during the dark days, but I’m sure others more local will have better recollections.
However, the current operation certainly seems to have learnt from any previous mistakes.

 

[Aaron Ashton]

Pilkingtons Coaches was the original company set up by Ray Pilkington after starting with taxis that company was banned at some point in 1990 (unsure why). He then used Pilkingtons (Accrington) Limited which was incorporated a year earlier in Feb 1989. Ray used that license, he also used R.M.J Pilkington (Ray, Mary & John) as a license in addition to the PAL one. They competed fiercely with Rossendale on the 464 and Blackburn Transport on the 46 (Accrington-Blackburn...Pilkingtons used P46 between Acc-Bla in addition to 464 between Bla-Acc-Has-Raw-Bacup)

Beverley Bell revoked their licenses in 2004 stating "dangerous buses and a hazard to health".....yet they let them operate SCHOOL SERVICES for another 3 months?.....(work that out).....Alan/John/Ian/Leon Pilkington used the PAL license again from 2006/7 operating school services and Service 20 (Accrington-Ossy-Blackburn) and 20D (Accrington-Blackburn direct) this time using the King Travel name (pilKINGton) using ex-East Yorkshire Optare Excels S289/91RAG in EY livery. Acquired also were 2 Plaxton Beaver2 from Lakeland T436EBD/V389SVV operated in Lakeland livery with King Travel fleetnames added (for Service 20D). Additional Olympians were also used around this time.

A short time later, a red and grey livery (based loosely on the London Central livery) was used before a return to red and cream. Pilkingtons were then selected to operate LCC Service 114 Preston-Chorley (Using Darts VU52UEJ/DK05FWB). They gave up the tendered service and started operating in Accrington again when Transdev bought Northern Blue/Accrington Transport and withdrew. They acquired S276AOX/T297/311UOX in 2010 along with other buses. 2015 saw the arrival of DA51XTC/D/DG52TYP and others. The fleet now stands as stated above so it's come a long way from Nationals/Olympians/Titans/Deltas/Greenways/Merc 709Ds > Optare Excel/Merc 814Ds > Tridents/B7TLs/Solos/Darts. Alan started another license Boomerang Travel Limited late 2010s with the intention of using the BTL license for tendered work and the PAL one for commercial work. The PAL license has since been surrendered and everything now runs off the BTL license which trades as Pilkington Bus (stylized pilkingtonbus)

 

[RustySpoons]

Good writeup. I always wondered what the Boomerang license was all about. I recall a few buses carrying the Boomerang fleet name at one point.

 

[David Verity]

For more information (and pictures) see Fleet in Focus in the July issue of Buses magazine