Arriva ColchesterCompanies House extract company no 3506989
Arriva Colchester Limited formerly Burton's Coaches Limited (formerly Network Colchester) is a bus company operating services around

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. It is a subsidiary of

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

. The company was, until March 2015, part of the

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Buses based in Byfleet, Surrey. History G ...

company, which was owned by Arriva at the time, under the name of Network Colchester.

History

Network Colchester's origins can be traced to 1904 with the establishment of Colchester Corporation Tramways, operating at its peak, four routes and 18 trams. Bus operation commenced in 1928 as Colchester Corporation Transport to replace the trams. To comply with the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October 1986. The act was created as a response to growing ...

in 1986 the assets were transferred to a new legal entity, Colchester Borough Transport. In 1993, during a bus war with Eastern National, the company was sold to

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead ...

for £1, but the new owners took on considerable debts. After discussions the bus war ended in 1994 with a share out of routes between the two companies. In August 1996

was purchased by the

Cowie Group Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational corporation, multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcy ...

, which in November 1997 was renamed

, with Colchester Borough Transport being rebranded as Arriva Colchester. The tuscan red and cream livery was replaced by Arriva corporate colours. Profits did not improve and in 2004 the company was sold to

, placed under the control of Burton's Coaches and rebranded as Network Colchester. In 2008 Tellings-Golden Miller was sold to Arriva resulting in it once again owning the Colchester services. It continues to trade as Network Colchester. In early 2010 the Burton's Coaches business was sold to Yellow Star Travel Services in a

management buy out A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or High-net-worth individual, individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts bec ...

but ownership of Network Colchester remained with Tellings-Golden Miller.

Depots

The depot was at Magdalen Street, Colchester until March 2008 when relocated to expanded premises at Heath Business Park, Grange Way in the Old Heath district of Colchester. The depot was later used by First Essex, but in November 2018 sold for redevelopment.

References

External links

Company website
{{Bus companies in East England

Bus operators in Essex Transport companies established in 1904 1904 establishments in England