1: Western National Ltd
In 1982 The Western National Omnibus Company Ltd announced plans to split itself into four separate new companies and so Western National Ltd, Devon General Ltd, North Devon Ltd and Southern National Ltd all look to the road on 1 January 1983. Thirty years on, much has changed of course, and after various takeovers, reorganisations, renamings, and a conversion to a coach operator, just one of those four companies continues to trade.
That one is Western National Ltd which, after several changes of name, we now know as First South West Ltd. It hasn’t been plain sailing, mind, and it’s ‘patch’ has radically changed over the years. Initially it was set-up to cover Cornwall and the south-west corner of Devon, including Plymouth, Tavistock and Totnes. Subsequent events saw it expand with the acquisition of North Devon in 1999 but what had been a bullish, optimistic 1980s and early 1990s was to give way to a torrid twenty-first century where pressure to deliver the returns that First Head Office demanded, saw round after round of service cuts and minimal investment. This opened the door to competitors, particularly in Cornwall where it seemed that every cutback led to the replacement tenders being picked up by Truronian or Western Greyhound, allowing both, but particularly Western Greyhound, to develop a comprehensive network, strengthened by commercial initiatives and a fine eye for clever scheduling and great customer service. In 2009 Truronian would be purchased, probably as much to stop anyone else getting their hands on it as for anything else.
In North Devon, it was Stagecoach who picked up sufficient tenders to open a base in Barnstaple and started competing commercially to keep vehicles occupied during the day. When First decided it was all too much, they tried to sell to Stagecoach, only to have the deal blocked, so Stagecoach upped the competition and First walked away.
As already mentioned, back in the 1980s things had looked so much more hopeful. There had been the bright new (some would say garish) white/red/yellow/blue stripey livery (which gained the nickname ‘Captain Birdseye’ as the red, yellow and blue stripes were reminiscent of those used on fish finger boxes at the time, although to be pedantic, Birdseye’s stripes were actually red, white and blue www.thegreatbritishdiet.co.uk/Images/Birds%20Eye/Fish%20F. There was the Cornwall Bus & Coachways identity. Then came the more restrained but still smart, blue-and-cream-with-red-stripe livery. Then the ‘Badgers and Flags’ blue/white/red livery (officially, apparently, the flags were actually tickets but the name had already stuck) and the FirstGroup-era simplified white-with-blue-skirt-and red stripe livery, which had the blue and red reversed for North Devon. Lots of liveries, all very blue and not a hint of traditional green but at least the final livery did lead very neatly into First’s ‘Barbie 2’ non-low-floor livery, for which Western National appeared to have dispensation not to use the allegedly very expensive pink-fade vinyls for a while. Some would say that was an improvement! The love of blue didn’t stop at just liveries but destination blinds too.
Anyway. away from liveries and back to the early days, no-one should forget (try as we might!) the enthusiastic influx of Mercedes ‘Hoppa’ minibuses and along with new ownership from Plympton Coachlines backed by Badgerline, in 1987, the company embarked on a number of takeovers (such as Grenville, Harveys and Roberts – lots more liveries!), not to mention a full-on bus war with Plymouth Citybus.
In Plymouth, that 1988 bus war required plenty of extra buses which were either brand new off-the-peg dealer stock or second-hand acquisitions from the likes of Devon General, Southampton Citybus or fellow Badgerline Group subsidiaries. One of the ex-Devon General buses was 2856 (SFJ 136R) a Leyland National seen here on Royal Parade in 1988.
The bus war didn’t last, of course, and Badgerline eventually took full-control (later merging with GRT Bus Group to form FirstBus), although two further attempts to gain ground in Plymouth would occur some years later. Ugobus would fizzle out seemingly all by itself and the final attempt, brought on by First’s daft announcement of its Plymouth operations being ‘nearly in closedown mode’, caused Stagecoach and Citybus to register over some core First routes and First to compete more heavily on city routes. However the damage was done and Plymouth depot was sold to Stagecoach in September 2015.
At the same time fortunes were improving in Cornwall where Western Greyhound’s previously keen eye was now well off the ball and alongside suffering two arson attacks, WG got itself into an almighty mess from which it would never recover, allowing First to have pretty much all of west and mid Cornwall to itself again. Some way away, over in Somerset, another part of First – First Somerset & Avon – was fighting its own battle in Taunton and Bridgwater against a competitive onslaught from Webberbus. By now, though, a new management ethos throughout FirstGroup was giving a lot more control back to local managers and Taunton and Bridgwater was identified as an ideal location to try a new approach, leading to a new network, a new livery and a whole new identity. Like Devon & Cornwall, the Somerset operations had suffered from years of cuts and under-investment and the First name had become somewhat tarnished. The result was ‘Buses of Somerset’ with a two-tone green livery and control was switched to Devon & Cornwall’s management team with the two depots later being added onto that company’s licence.
Nearly thirty-three years since the creation of Western National Ltd from WNOC’s split, Cornwall has expanded, struggled and bounced back, North Devon was acquired and closed down, Plymouth and South Devon died a death of a thousand cuts leading it to be sold off and parts of Somerset have been added…. but the company survives. I doubt anyone could have predicted many of those events back in 1982!
1: Western National Ltd
In 1982 The Western National Omnibus Company Ltd announced plans to split itself into four separate new companies and so Western National Ltd, Devon General Ltd, North Devon Ltd and Southern National Ltd all look to the road on 1 January 1983. Thirty years on, much has changed of course, and after various takeovers, reorganisations, renamings, and a conversion to a coach operator, just one of those four companies continues to trade.
That one is Western National Ltd which, after several changes of name, we now know as First South West Ltd. It hasn’t been plain sailing, mind, and it’s ‘patch’ has radically changed over the years. Initially it was set-up to cover Cornwall and the south-west corner of Devon, including Plymouth, Tavistock and Totnes. Subsequent events saw it expand with the acquisition of North Devon in 1999 but what had been a bullish, optimistic 1980s and early 1990s was to give way to a torrid twenty-first century where pressure to deliver the returns that First Head Office demanded, saw round after round of service cuts and minimal investment. This opened the door to competitors, particularly in Cornwall where it seemed that every cutback led to the replacement tenders being picked up by Truronian or Western Greyhound, allowing both, but particularly Western Greyhound, to develop a comprehensive network, strengthened by commercial initiatives and a fine eye for clever scheduling and great customer service. In 2009 Truronian would be purchased, probably as much to stop anyone else getting their hands on it as for anything else.
In North Devon, it was Stagecoach who picked up sufficient tenders to open a base in Barnstaple and started competing commercially to keep vehicles occupied during the day. When First decided it was all too much, they tried to sell to Stagecoach, only to have the deal blocked, so Stagecoach upped the competition and First walked away.
As already mentioned, back in the 1980s things had looked so much more hopeful. There had been the bright new (some would say garish) white/red/yellow/blue stripey livery (which gained the nickname ‘Captain Birdseye’ as the red, yellow and blue stripes were reminiscent of those used on fish finger boxes at the time, although to be pedantic, Birdseye’s stripes were actually red, white and blue www.thegreatbritishdiet.co.uk/Images/Birds%20Eye/Fish%20F. There was the Cornwall Bus & Coachways identity. Then came the more restrained but still smart, blue-and-cream-with-red-stripe livery. Then the ‘Badgers and Flags’ blue/white/red livery (officially, apparently, the flags were actually tickets but the name had already stuck) and the FirstGroup-era simplified white-with-blue-skirt-and red stripe livery, which had the blue and red reversed for North Devon. Lots of liveries, all very blue and not a hint of traditional green but at least the final livery did lead very neatly into First’s ‘Barbie 2’ non-low-floor livery, for which Western National appeared to have dispensation not to use the allegedly very expensive pink-fade vinyls for a while. Some would say that was an improvement! The love of blue didn’t stop at just liveries but destination blinds too.
Anyway. away from liveries and back to the early days, no-one should forget (try as we might!) the enthusiastic influx of Mercedes ‘Hoppa’ minibuses and along with new ownership from Plympton Coachlines backed by Badgerline, in 1987, the company embarked on a number of takeovers (such as Grenville, Harveys and Roberts – lots more liveries!), not to mention a full-on bus war with Plymouth Citybus.
In Plymouth, that 1988 bus war required plenty of extra buses which were either brand new off-the-peg dealer stock or second-hand acquisitions from the likes of Devon General, Southampton Citybus or fellow Badgerline Group subsidiaries. One of the ex-Devon General buses was 2856 (SFJ 136R) a Leyland National seen here on Royal Parade in 1988.
The bus war didn’t last, of course, and Badgerline eventually took full-control (later merging with GRT Bus Group to form FirstBus), although two further attempts to gain ground in Plymouth would occur some years later. Ugobus would fizzle out seemingly all by itself and the final attempt, brought on by First’s daft announcement of its Plymouth operations being ‘nearly in closedown mode’, caused Stagecoach and Citybus to register over some core First routes and First to compete more heavily on city routes. However the damage was done and Plymouth depot was sold to Stagecoach in September 2015.
At the same time fortunes were improving in Cornwall where Western Greyhound’s previously keen eye was now well off the ball and alongside suffering two arson attacks, WG got itself into an almighty mess from which it would never recover, allowing First to have pretty much all of west and mid Cornwall to itself again. Some way away, over in Somerset, another part of First – First Somerset & Avon – was fighting its own battle in Taunton and Bridgwater against a competitive onslaught from Webberbus. By now, though, a new management ethos throughout FirstGroup was giving a lot more control back to local managers and Taunton and Bridgwater was identified as an ideal location to try a new approach, leading to a new network, a new livery and a whole new identity. Like Devon & Cornwall, the Somerset operations had suffered from years of cuts and under-investment and the First name had become somewhat tarnished. The result was ‘Buses of Somerset’ with a two-tone green livery and control was switched to Devon & Cornwall’s management team with the two depots later being added onto that company’s licence.
Nearly thirty-three years since the creation of Western National Ltd from WNOC’s split, Cornwall has expanded, struggled and bounced back, North Devon was acquired and closed down, Plymouth and South Devon died a death of a thousand cuts leading it to be sold off and parts of Somerset have been added…. but the company survives. I doubt anyone could have predicted many of those events back in 1982!