It’s said that family businesses do well—coaching or otherwise—if they get to the fourth generation.
- The founding generation works hard and only sees real rewards towards the end of their tenure.
- The second generation sees how hard the first has worked in establishing, nurturing and developing the business, also working hard to build an even better one.
- The third generation hasn’t the benefit of watching first hand the original struggles and either treads water or lives off the fat of the business. Added to which there’s the possibility of realising assets in the form of a take-over. And, with the fall off in the numbers of family firms, many blame the relentless increase in regulations and red tape.
The Delaine has often bought East Lancs products, as in this 2006 Olympus on display at Euro Bus Expo 2006
There is an excellent summary of The Delaine’s history on its website. This 1930 historic throwback caught my eye:
“Following the introduction of regulation a licence to continue to operate excursions from Peterborough was refused by the Traffic Commissioner [plural,actually] on the ground that the dead mileage from Bourne was too great.”The Delaine can trace its history to 1890, 120 years ago. As such, it must be one of the oldest independents in the industry. It services and flourished under both regulation and deregulation. I have endeavoured to find out whether it is, indeed, the oldest. It isn’t.
The furthest back I can go is to the operator by the name of Caelloi Motors of Pwllheli, Wales, dating back to 1851, about to celebrate 160 years, and in the same family. Whereas The Delaine is famous for its array of double decks on stage carriage and local bus work, Caelloi is rightly known for its top-flight fleet of executive coaches. In the early years of this century, it was an early investor in relatively short tri-axles, on the basis that axle weight limits would shortly change. The last of these have only recently departed, in favour of cheaper to run standard layouts. Caelloi also runs bus services.
18 comments:
Chamber of Bures is Older than The Delaine
"was refused by the Traffic Commissioner [plural,actually] on the ground that the dead mileage from Bourne was too great.”
That seems undue interference. Surely they should limit their concerns to safety, matters of operator suitability and similar.
Another body for trimming by HMG?
Anonymous said...
"Another body for trimming by HMG?"
In the case of excursions, that 'trimming' was, if I recall correctly, carried out in 1980.
Delaine often unofficially refer to themselves as No. 2 with Chambers being No. 1. They presumably do not count Wales.
RC169 "In the case of excursions, that 'trimming' was, if I recall correctly, carried out in 1980." LOL
30years is a long time without a haircut.
Perhaps the new blood might get them to review their policy of driving down roads that are unsuitable for them. Perhaps this 'local community' company will now stop causing misery for the residents of Austerby (part of the local community) out of their own laziness. Hope springs eternal.
Anonymous said...
"30years is a long time without a haircut."
Well, yes - if the hair grows again. In this case, it hasn't!!!
Perhaps the new blood can do something about the insane driving. There's one driver on the 101/2 who, as well as being a rather miserable swine with the passengers, drives far to quickly and aggressively. I’m not trying to identify him but he could stand to lose a few pounds too!
re traffic commisioners comments.way way back basil williams of hants and sussex was subjected to a virtual vendetta by them always siding with the bigger operators and were partly responsible for putting him out of business.any one else out there old enough to remember??
There are some great books published about the history of Delaine too.
Everyone's got an opinion! I use Delaine to go to Stamford College and all the guys driving seem fine. Most are my grandad's age and drive like him too. I've not come across Mr Speedy-cum-Fatty that Anon 1759 mentions. As for Austerby, there is no restriction on any vehicle down there. Residents deliberately caused obstructions preventing buses from using the road a few years back with Delaine making the front page of the local rag. The police were on Delaine's side then and they, unless Anon 1339 knows otherwise, still are. Jimmy.
Why is it that Delaine persist in fitting very small, basic destination blinds that don't even include the service number?
@Neil
Delaine buses do display service numbers, as per this photo... http://adam-d.fpic.co.uk/p65822081.html
I think the main reason these blinds are fitted is to do with tradition, just like they uniquely specified four leaf doors on all the buses they bought new until the Olympuses. Having said that, their three second hand B7RLE's have LED destination equipment fitted.
Anonymous said...
"I think the main reason these blinds are fitted is to do with tradition..."
Or, perhaps, Delaine management have recognised that the older type of blinds are clearer and easier to read than the electronic type. If the network of services operated is stable, and relatively small, then there are probably very few, if any, advantages with the electronic blinds. The older type may need looking after, but that does not appear to be a problem for Delaine!
Jimmy, there may not be any restrictions along Austerby but nor are they collecting fare paying passengers, nor are they dropping them off. Anybody with even the slightest modicum of sense would avoid sticking a double decker bus along a road that is habitually congested by moronic students too ignorant to review their parking before striding off toward BGS. Delaine should know better and I dare say that they do.
So is it students or Delaine you want obliterated from your back yard? Hell, why not get rid of both! Delaine do not collect fare paying passengers when travelling along Cherry Holt Road from the depot to Bourne Grammar School - perhaps residents there ought to kick off in the same manner as Anon 0651. Your argument seems flawed on all angles. NIMBYism I'm afraid.
Jimmy, I don't recall calling for the obliteration of anyone. Just a little bit of common sense, community spirit and the addition of maybe a minute to the journey of these drivers. As for the students parking everywhere, i'm guessing you don't have this problem? If you did you might change your tune. It's easy to cry nimbyism from a position where you are unaffected. I wonder how you might feel, oh hang on, forget I said that - I already know. Pontificating prat.
@anon 11:37 - is it illegal to park down Austerby? Is there any restriction of any sort preventing vehicles from parking, waiting, loading or otherwise down Austerby? Is there a weight restriction down Austerby? Is there a vehicle type exclusion or prohibition order for Austerby?
No, no, no, no, no, no and, er, no.
Has the police been involved in buses using the road, I wonder, and if so, what was their ruling? I read the Bourne Local, so I know the answer to this one. No need to pontificate in making your response sound the opposite to what happened.
And that was years ago, man! If the local authority has yet to give the road 'residents only' parking zones I reckon they never will. Time to move on and block the headmaster's car in at BGS to show the ill feeling. Oh hang on...
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