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The North Western Road Car Company, commonly abbreviated to North Western, was a bus operator based in
Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...
in
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
, running services in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
and Merseyside. Following its sale from the National Bus Company, the company was a subsidiary of the Drawlane Group and its successor
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 ...
, and operated services between September 1986 and January 1998. The company today trades as part of
Arriva North West Arriva North WestCompanies House extract company no 1990871
.


History


Formation

In the lead up to the deregulation of the bus industry in Great Britain, which resulted in the breakup of the National Bus Company (NBC) on 26 October 1986, the government stipulated that the NBC split their larger business units to boost competition. Of these included Ribble Motor Services, whose operations stretched across
North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...
in the counties of
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
and
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
. In March 1986, alongside a split of Cumbrian garages to fellow NBC subsidiary Cumberland Motor Services, it was agreed that Ribble's depots in
Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...
,
Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...
,
Skelmersdale Skelmersdale is a town in the West Lancashire district of England. It sits on the River Tawd, west of Wigan, north-east of Liverpool and south-west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. In 2006, it had a population of 38,813. The town is known l ...
and
Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
, located in Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester respectively, were to transfer to a reconstituted North Western Road Car Company, with the company officially being launched on 7 September at an event at the
Aintree Racecourse Aintree Racecourse is a horse racing, racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England, near to Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase, which takes place annually in April over three da ...
. The North Western Road Car Company name had previously been used by a National Bus Company subsidiary originally founded in 1923, which was based in
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
and ran operations in Cheshire,
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, southeast Lancashire and what eventually became Greater Manchester. The subsidiary was split up by the NBC in 1972, with parts of North Western absorbed by
Crosville Motor Services Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Ge ...
, Ribble Motor Services, Trent Motor Traction and the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive. Upon its formation with a fleet of 260 buses inherited from Ribble, the new North Western Road Car Company adopted a diagonal red and blue livery broken up by a grey stripe to replace Ribble's NBC corporate red livery, with white fleetnames identifying the company as 'North Western'. The new company was initially based in Bootle, with operations later moving to Aintree in 1989. In March 1988, North Western was sold by the NBC to the Drawlane Group, who organised the company to run as a fully autonomous subsidiary.


Expansion

In February 1989, the Drawlane Group purchased the English operations of former NBC subsidiary Crosville Cymru, split from its Welsh operations and running services in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, the Wirral and parts of Greater Manchester, from ATL Group holding company ATL (Western). Initially, Drawlane had planned to maintain Crosville as a subsidiary company, with buses adopting a brighter green and cream livery featuring red and black Crosville Cymru fleetnames. As Crosville's English operations bordered with both North Western's and fellow Drawlane subsidiary Midland Red North's own, however, the company was split in a November 1989 reorganisation of Drawlane's North West England operations, with depots and 80 vehicles in
Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...
,
Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
and
Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the River Weaver, south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining indus ...
being transferred to North Western. In October 1989, Drawlane agreed a deal with
Stagecoach Holdings Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Duri ...
to sell North Western's operations in
Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...
to Stagecoach Ribble, in exchange for Drawlane purchasing both
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
-based
minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...
operator Bee Line Buzz Company and Stagecoach East Midland's FrontRunner North West operation. The two companies were merged together as a North Western subsidiary operating from depots in
Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...
and Stockport, and Bee Line began transitioning from a high-frequency minibus operation to running all Drawlane Group services in south and central
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, using conventional
double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...
es transferred from Drawlane's London & Country subsidiary and other operators. Following Drawlane's initial acquisition of the national coach operator in 1991, in the spring of 1993, the bus operations of
National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...
were split into
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 ...
to allow National Express' float on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
, with North Western gaining the Welsh operations of Crosville Cymru and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
-based Amberline. British Bus' position in Liverpool was consolidated further in July 1993 with the acquisition of Liverline Travel Services, retaining the company as a subsidiary of North Western.


Rebranding and consolidation

North Western undertook a rebranding during 1994 that saw the company's initial diagonal red and blue livery replaced with a conventionally-styled red, yellow and blue livery. The rebranding saw individual branding introduced for certain services, such the
Runcorn Busway The Runcorn Busway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary ...
and 'CityPlus' for services in Liverpool, introduced alongside new Northern Counties and
East Lancashire Coachbuilders East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company went into administration for a short while in August 2007, before being bought by Darwen Group ...
bodied buses, as well as a rationalisation of the Bee Line fleet that saw 50
MCW Metrobus The MCW Metrobus is a two and three-axle double-decker bus manufactured by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) between 1977 and 1989. The Metrobus was conceived as a semi-integral product manufactured completely by MCW in both MkI and MkII variants, but ...
es leased for a three-year period from West Midlands Travel. Amid the rebranding, in January 1995, North Western expanded operations based from its
Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
depot, forming the 'Warrington Goldlines' network. North Western quickly engaged in a bus war with municipal operator Warrington Borough Transport, aiming to usurp Warrington Borough Transport's dominance through the introduction of copycat services ran by a fleet of new
Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...
bodied
Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...
s on the Warrington Goldlines network. The bus war began to de-escalate from mid-1996 after an agreement was made between the two operators to withdraw loss-making competitive services. During 1995, North Western also entered into two 'gentlemen's agreements' with larger rival bus operators within its operating area. The first of these was to co-ordinate and share services in Merseyside with its largest operator,
Merseybus Merseybus was a bus operator running bus and coach services predominantly in and around Merseyside, England. Based at Edge Lane, Liverpool, Merseybus was formed as an "arm's length" operation of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Mers ...
, and the second, a direct consequence of its acquisition of the Wigan Bus Company, was for North Western to give up its Wigan town services to
GM Buses North First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The operator was once dominant in the n ...
in exchange for services connecting Wigan and
Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...
to St Helens and Warrington passing to the operator. These and other agreements between operators were subject to a
Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...
study, which found North Western, Merseybus and GM Buses, among other Merseyside bus operators, guilty of collusion and in breach of fair trade. In August 1996, North Western's parent British Bus was acquired 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 ...
, who rebranded themselves as
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 ...
in November 1997. The North Western Road Car Company was renamed to in January 1998, with the Bee Line operation becoming Arriva Manchester and Liverline becoming a part of Arriva Merseyside.


References


External links

* {{Defunct British Bus Companies Defunct companies based in Liverpool Historic transport in Merseyside 1986 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England Former bus operators in Merseyside British companies disestablished in 1998 British companies established in 1986