Fraser Eagle was a group of companies in the United Kingdom specialising in passenger transport, travel and logistics. Services included pre-planned and emergency coach and taxi services nationwide, corporate travel, event transport, incident management transport and destination management services. These services were provided mainly to the corporate sector. It provided coach tours and independent travel agency services to the consumer sector. The company was placed in

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in March 2009.

History

The company started out as an

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

based coach company in 1919, transporting holidaymakers to the coastal resorts in England and Scotland. The company was formed by Harold Williams and Ward Knowles, and they later expanded to include tours and excursions across Europe. The company expanded rapidly in the 1990s, when it began providing coaches to the rail industry when train services were disrupted, quickly becoming the United Kingdom's leading provider of rail replacement services, a business which exploded in the wake of the disruption following the

Hatfield rail crash The Hatfield rail crash was a railway accident on 17 October 2000, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. It was caused by a metal fatigue-induced derailment, killing four people and injuring more than 70. The accident exposed major stewardship shortcomi ...

, and the long running modernisation of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

.Kevin Dean, Fraser Eagle
''North West Enquirer'' It also managed, plans, and provides replacement coaches in non emergency situations (railway engineering works etc.), acting as a transport

broker A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither ...

with a database of 5,000 coach and taxi suppliers nationwide. Among others, Fraser Eagle provide replacement transport for

Virgin Trains West Coast Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise fro ...

, winning a £12m three year contract to provide Virgin with around 100,000 taxis a year. Concern has been expressed from both suppliers and clients about the future commercial viability of Fraser Eagle, particularly in February 2009 when it announced 50 of their 170 staff were being laid off, the closure of Fraser Eagle Cars division and that they would be ending their sponsorship of Accrington Stanley earlier than contracted. Although claiming this was a result of the financial downturn and increased competition, it seems apparent the story runs deeper with allegations of insolvent trading for several months and many of Fraser Eagle's regular suppliers refusing to take any work on until arrears have been settled, some of which date back to Summer 2008. These concerns were realised when the company filed for administration on 10 March 2009.

Grand Central

In 2004, Fraser Eagle purchased a 79% shareholding in Grand Central. This was sold in March 2007 to two former managers of

Prism Rail Prism Rail was a British passenger rail company formed in July 1995 to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail. It expressed interest in eighteen franchises, was shortlisted for twelve and was ultim ...

, backed by a private equity group.

Other businesses

The group also managed Fraser Eagle Worldchoice Travel Agent, and Fraser Eagle Cars. They were based in

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Calder, Lancashire, River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, Lancashire, England. It is located north west of Burnley, and north ea ...

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 ...

, employing 180 full time staff. They also had offices in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. Fraser Eagle Cars was established in December 2006.

References

External links

* * {{Defunct British Bus Companies Former coach operators in England Transport companies established in 1919 Transport companies disestablished in 2009 Transport operators of the United Kingdom 1919 establishments in England 2009 disestablishments in England