A Surrey independent has big plans to mark its 100th birthday in March, reports Nick Larkin
Renowned independent Safeguard Coaches will be holding its Centenary celebration at Guildford Cathedral in Surrey on 16 March, and everyone is invited. Free trips will be run with classic vehicles, many provided by London Bus Museum, and will link the town’s railway and bus stations, along with the Onslow park & ride car park with the site.
The event will take place from 1000 to 1600hrs, and there will be a display of vehicles, talks on transport, stalls, and rides on miniature steam traction engines from Guildford Model Engineering Society.
The family orientated celebrations will also include mask making and a mobile farm, along with performances by Guildford’s Rock Choir and Farnham Brass Band. Broadcaster and transport enthusiast David Guest will host the event.
A limited edition Safeguard Centenary booklet will be available for £5 with all proceeds being donated to the Fountain Centre, a charity offering care and guidance to people with cancer and their families; Safeguard chose the organisation in memory of former Engineering Manager Brett Lambley.
Heritage vehicles set to run at the at the event include an AEC Regent RT and Regal RF, along with an AEC Renown and Leyland Panther.
Safeguard Coaches Managing Director Andrew Halliday said: “We are all so proud to have reached this incredible milestone. It’s a rare thing to achieve 100 years, especially in the same family’s ownership.”
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Safeguard now has two heritage vehicles. The first is well-known 1956 Burlingham-bodied AEC Reliance 200 APB, new to the operator in 1956, and which was sold to Safeway of South Petherton in 1961 and bought back from Rexquote in 2002.
Reacquired last year from Empress of Hastings was Bedford J2 with Plaxton coachwork, registration 644 HAA. This had originally been in the fleet of local operator Cooke of Staughon, taken over by Safeguard in 1966, the vehicle being sold two years later.
Safeguard: a brief history
The business traces its roots back to when Arthur Newman, a coal merchant and haulier, fitted a charabanc body to a damaged lorry and began running excursions as ‘The Safeguard Coaches.’
In 1927 he started a bus service from Guildford town centre to newly-built Aldershot Road estate, which was extended to Guildford Park and by 1929 to Onslow Village.
All this was in competition with Aldershot & District; the two operators came to an agreement in which Safeguard withdrew from Onslow but gained sole rights to serve Westborough, which the Aldershot Road Estate had become. The 1930 Road Traffic Act saw licences being granted for the local work and summer express services.
Safeguard became a limited company in 1933, the year after Arthur’s death, his mum Annie initially becoming chairman. New housing developments saw routes develop, and the Dennis vehicles used originally were later joined by Bedfords in the fleet.
Guilford routes expanded during the 1930s as housing estates developed, this trend continuing post-war. The National Bus Company era saw several services jointly operated with Alder Valley, the two operators registering some joint routes post deregulation.
Since then, Safeguard has found itself embroiled in a variety of ‘bus wars,’ the most significant not being 30 years ago but in 2018 when Arriva introduced two 10-minute frequency daytime routes creating competition on the Park Barn and Royal Surrey County Hospital services on which Safeguard operated, the independent responding with a new service 3S to the Bellfields Estate.
Arriva withdrew some of its competitive route in December 2019. Safeguard then had Covid-19 to cope with.
In December 2021 Arriva closed its Guildford depot, Safeguard taking over several routes including a Surrey County Council contract which would see its buses back in Onslow 92 years to the day they left.
Coaching has always been an important part of Safeguard’s business and several operators have been taken over, not least Cookes Coaches of Stoughton in 1966 and Farnham Coaches in 1988 – this name still being carried on some vehicles.
The bus fleet has been varied over the years, including AEC Reliances in the 1950s, various Bedfords, a 1970s concentration on Leyland Leopards and for much of the 21st century various Optares, though the most recent bus purchases are five MCV Evora-bodied Volvo B8RLEs.
Today Safeguard has 16 buses and 16 coaches plus heritage vehicles and 70 staff.
In a rare situation for an independent nowadays the company operates several high frequency town services seven days a week – route 3 from Guildford town centre to Bellfields, and services 4 and 5 to Park Barn and the hospital via different routes.
This 100-year-old is definitely more than keeping busy!
