Following the short-notice closure announcement by Hulleys of Baslow, other operators have stepped in to replace local services, though some routes remain to be covered
Derbyshire operator Hulleys of Baslow officially closed its doors on Wednesday 26 March after over 100 years of service, though following the announcement of its closure and the appointment of Administrators Leonard Curtis, services ceased sooner than anticipated on Tuesday 25, with local operators stepping in to cover routes at short notice prior to emergency replacement contracts starting on Thursday 27.
Following the initial announcement, Derbyshire County Council said it ws doing all it could to find new operators for the services it supports financially, and that it was hopeful that other bus companies would step in to take on the routes that Hulleys operates commercially, stating: “Hulleys also ran a number of commercial services. The council doesn’t have a formal role in finding new operators for these services as they are privately operated and run, and have to be registered with the Traffic Commissioner. The council will support residents in finding alternative travel options in the meantime, but hopes these services can be picked up soon by new operators.”
Local news outlets reported that on the Tuesday evening, Police attended the depot to keep the peace, with reports of drivers and recovery vehicles blocking access to the premises at Calver Road in Baslow, with staff claiming the company owed them wages and payments. A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said: “We received a report at 1.50pm today that vehicles were blocking the entrance at Hulleys of Baslow, in Calver Road and that those driving them had refused to leave. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.”
Derbyshire Council later reported that it had found replacement operators for its tendered services, which were set to start on Thursday 27 March and run to the previous timetables. Both High Peak and Stagecoach announced an intention to take over commercial route
170, with some variations, the former registering its interest first, before later withdrawing following Stagecoach’s announcement.
Replacement operators
High Peak said in a statement: “It had been our intention to replace the existing Hulleys service which has ceased to operate, ensuring continuity for passengers by serving both Hollymoorside and providing a direct link to Chesterfield Hospital. We had planned to provide local employment opportunities for Hulleys’ drivers, with the longer-term vision of operating from Baslow to maintain stable local employment.
Despite being the first operator to be granted short-notice approval by Derbyshire County Council, subsequent approval was also granted to Stagecoach for a competing registration of the service. Stagecoach’s version does not align with the existing Hulleys service, omitting key connections such as Hollymoorside and Chesterfield Hospital.”
Managing Director of High Peak Buses David Brookes added: “It’s disappointing that it has come to this. The service we had planned was designed to ensure vital community links were maintained, and it’s surprising that a competing registration for a service that does not provide these connections has been granted. The route cannot sustain two operators, and as a local operator, we are not prepared to engage in a bus war with Stagecoach, a company backed by an international investment fund. We regret having no other option but to withdraw our service.”
Derbyshire County Council’s Executive Director for Place Chris Henning said: “We were sorry to hear that Hulleys are to cease trading this week, both for the company and its employees but also the many residents and communities their bus services visited. We have done all we can over recent months to support them through a very challenging period. “We have been concerned about the reliability of their services for some time and took the decision a few weeks ago to find other operators for the ones that the council pay
for, in the hope that this would enable them to concentrate on their commercial services. Sadly this has not turned out to be the case. We are pleased that we have new operators for our services and are hopeful that the commercial routes they ran will be picked up very soon. We also hope that the rest of our local bus companies will be able to offer jobs to those employed by Hulleys.”
Stagecoach services
Stagecoach announced that it was to take over service 63, between Chesterfield and Matlock, under contract to Derbyshire County Council, as well as its decision to run a ‘slightly adjusted’ daytime service 170 from Chesterfield to Bakewell, including school journeys. Commercial Director at Stagecoach Yorkshire John Young said: “When we heard the very sad news about Hulleys closing, our team here at Chesterfield worked extremely hard with Derbyshire County Council colleagues to look at where we could support customers in the Peak District area. We’ll also accept any valid Hulleys ticket on our services to support customers affected.”
Speaking on LinkedIn, Stagecoach Yorkshire Managing Director Matthew Kitchin said: “It has been a fast moving couple of days in North East Derbyshire following the sad news that long established and well respected independent bus operator Hulleys of Baslow
is closing its doors. The dust is a long way off settling yet with quite a lot still up in the air but we have implemented contingency plans to support communities in the Peak District and ensuring continuity of service on several routes.
“Following Hulleys’ closure yesterday afternoon, from this morning we’re operating two new routes, the 170 from Chesterfield to Bakewell on a commercial basis and the 63 from Chesterfield to Matlock under contract to Derbyshire County Council. We’d been working on contingencies for this day for some time and our proposals had been discussed with the appropriate authorities but you don’t know it will happen, nor the manner it happens, until it actually happens.
”We’re in a good position for drivers and vehicles with a surplus of both but there is a limit as to what any operator will be able to sensibly commit to and we have committed to run what we think we can sensibly deliver at this stage with the option to do more if required by calling in additional resources elsewhere. A number of Hulleys drivers are joining our Chesterfield team and the door is open for more to apply. We have around a dozen vacancies over the coming months with various other planned uplifts, including the return of Peak Sightseer for its third season.
“We have a very healthy pipeline of new drivers and have generally never struggled to recruit at Chesterfield but we’ll never turn away good quality applications from PCV drivers, particularly with such a short notice uplift in work. In the meantime drivers from our other depots will be enjoying the delightful change of scenery for a short period. It is incredibly sad to see the end of a very well respected and long serving independent bus company and I wish all those involved well for the future, many of whom have either worked for us or alongside us over the past few decades.”
Still not replaced
At the time of writing, in addition to the services taken over by Stagecoach, CBW understands that routes 6 and 55, both operated commercially, still had not been replaced, whilst Andrews of Tideswell has taken over operation of tendered routes 172, 173 and 178, as well as the Monday to Saturday journeys on part-tendered route 257. Sunday services on that route will be operated by South Pennine Community Transport, whilst Hulley’s share of the commercial routes 271/272, shared with First, will be taken over by High Peak. Ashbourne Community Transport began operating routes 110 and 111, initially reported to be using a pair of Mercedes-Benz minibuses to provide sufficient capacity.
