 | |
 | |
| Parent | Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust (1926-1997) 3i (1997-2005) Shearings (2005-2007) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |
| Service type | Coach tour operator |
| Founders | Robert Barr Wallace Cunningham Arnold Crowe |
Wallace Arnold was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators.
Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912 [1] and was named after two of its founders Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe. In 1926, the Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust was founded by Robert Barr, and would continue running the company for 76 years. [2]
After having sold its Kippax Motors and Farsley Omnibus stagecarriage operations to the Leeds Corporation in 1968, [3] in February 1969, Wallace Arnold purchased the Evan Evans tour business in London. [4] In the late 1970s, Wallace Arnold commenced operating express coach services under the Euroways brand to Continental Europe. [5] [6] [7]
By the time that coach services were deregulated by the Transport Act 1980 in October 1980, Wallace Arnold operated 290 coaches from its headquarters in Gelderd Road, Wortley, Leeds, [1] and also owned a subsidiary based in Devon.[ citation needed ] Immediately following deregulation, Wallace Arnold was a founding member of the British Coachways consortium that competed with the state-owned National Express. [8] It left after a year and briefly ran its own service from London to Torbay. [9]
In 1997, Wallace Arnold was sold to the multinational private equity and venture capital company 3i. [10] This was followed in April 2005 with Wallace Arnold merging with Shearings in a £200,000,000 (equivalent to £317,695,000in 2021) deal to become WA Shearings, claiming a 14% share of the UK coach holiday market. [1] [11] [12] In 2007 the Wallace Arnold name was dropped, with the company name simplified to Shearings Holidays. [13] The merger included eight travel shops in Yorkshire, rebranded from Wallace Arnold Travel to WA Shearings. These kept the WA Shearings name until 2010, when they reverted to their original Wallace Arnold Travel name. [14]
Wallace Arnold was the largest operator of the Bedford VAL 3 axle coach. After becoming a large Leyland Leopard and Volvo B58 customer, in later years it standardised on Volvo B10M and Volvo B12Ms, mostly with Jonckheere and Plaxton bodies. [15]
The Scania Metropolitan was the first double decker bus model built jointly by MCW and Scania. It was built between 1973 and 1978.
East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
The National Bus Company (NBC) was a nationalised bus company that operated in England and Wales between 1969 and 1988. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies.
The Volvo B58 was a mid-engined bus chassis manufactured by Volvo in Sweden from 1966 until early 1982. It was succeeded by the B10M.
The Volvo B10M was a mid-engined city bus and coach chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Volvo diesel engine mounted under the floor behind the front axle. An articulated version under the model name Volvo B10MA was also offered, as was a semi-integral version known as the C10M, with the engine in the middle of the chassis.
Arriva Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing services primarily within and across West Yorkshire, although it also provides service in some parts of South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
First York operates local bus services, with a network centring around the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, which operates bus, rail and tram services across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Stagecoach Yorkshire is an operating division of Stagecoach Group.
Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in Yorkshire that operated from 1902 until 2005.
Yorkshire Coastliner is a bus company that operates both local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield.
The Harrogate Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield.
The Leyland Lynx was a stepped-entrance single-decker bus manufactured by Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B.
South Yorkshire Transport (SYT) was a bus operator that provided services around South Yorkshire and outlying areas. The company was formed as an 'arms-length' successor of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) in 1986, which was broken up as a result of the deregulation of bus services. South Yorkshire Transport operated buses in and around Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield with some services extending to Chesterfield, Leeds and Barnsley.
Yorkshire Rider was a bus company operating in West Yorkshire, England. The company was formed in 1986 out of the bus operations of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. It was later bought by the Badgerline Group, who would later become the FirstGroup, and the company trades today as First West Yorkshire.
The Northern Counties Palatine was a step-entrance 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties from 1988 to 1999 in Wigan, England.
The Wright Endurance was a step-entrance single-decker bus body on Scania N113 and on Volvo B10B chassis by Wrightbus between 1992 and 1997.
Ribble Motor Services was a large regional bus operator in North West England based in Preston.
The Alexander PS-type was a step-floor single-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders in Falkirk, Scotland and was produced from 1988 to the late 1990s predominantly on the Dennis Lance, Mercedes-Benz O405, Scania N113, Volvo B10M chassis.
British Coachways was a consortium of independent coach operating companies in the United Kingdom. Formed immediately after the deregulation of coach services in October 1980, it competed with the state-owned National Express and Scottish Bus Group on a range of long-distance routes. Initially composed of six members, it varied in size and composition over its two years of operation to include a range of ten different companies.
Shearings is a coach tour operator, part of the Leger Shearings Group, based in the United Kingdom. The tour operator brand specialises in holidays including escorted tours, unescorted tours, short breaks, self-drive holidays and river cruises throughout the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Ireland and Continental Europe.
Media related to Wallace Arnold at Wikimedia Commons