Adrian Morton takes a trip on one of Darrens Excursions, a well-known owner-operator from Flint in North Wales
Until I moved north in 2018, I had heard little of the name Darren Beacher but remember seeing this owner-driver in his trusty ex-Shearings Van Hool-bodied Volvo B10M. After getting to know some of the local operators on my new home turf, I was invited to join a Facebook group called ‘Taff in a DAF,’ with Darren now onto his second DAF-powered Van Hool after selling the B10M.
With nearly 900 members I began to appreciate just what a stalwart of the industry Darren is. It’s not just a group consisting of friends, bus and coach enthusiasts and drivers but also some highly respected owners of coach companies throughout the country, including the renowned Peter Bibby, who is in fact a regular contributor. I suppose you could say, in reality, it is indeed one large group of friends. Darren created the site in 2019 and to use his words, it is a page to post ‘photos of various coaches out on their travels in our fair country.’ Darren is the sole administrator and there are around 10 posts a day.
There is often a lot of banter and occasionally someone will post some wonderful pictures of years gone by. That might only be 10 or so years ago but it evokes many memories and shows just how much vehicle designs and liveries have changed. Reciting how he has become known as the ‘Taff in a DAF’ Darren explained that it was a chance meeting in a coach park with Alan Cartwright of A & P Travel, who said to him ‘hello, here’s that Taff in a DAF’ and from that day forward the name just stuck.
It was time to pay this Darren a visit, who I’d only met briefly once before last year, so on a Thursday in early August, I joined him on one of his excursions, a visit to Knowsley Safari Park in Liverppol. Darren’s current vehicle is a 51-seat 2011 DAF-powered T915 Van Hool integral, registered YJ11 GHY. The coach has passed through many operators during its 13 years. New as an Arriva, Cleckheaton, hire vehicle, it first went to Eirebus in Dublin where it was re-registered 11-D24942. On return to the UK in May 2013 it reverted to its original registration mark before going on loan to City Circle, Newbridge, then Edinburgh Coach Lines from June 2014, Metcalfe Coaches of Carlisle from September 2015, and Soyuz of London from March 2017.
Darren purchased it from Arriva Bus & Coach in February 2019. Although it has been through the hands of many owners, she is in remarkable condition and the majority of those listed are well-known for their high standards. Prior to that Darren ran a very similar 2004 DAF SB4000 VanHool T9 new to Fishwick of Leyland that also passed through many hands, as another ex-Arriva hire coach.
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