Portsmouth Coach Operators-records of operators in business after WW II.
This are listed in size/date of commencement of operation.
Fleet lists will be found on a separate page in 'thecavaliercoach'
Note: Some of the information on this page has been taken from records kept by Roger Watts, to whom I express my thanks.
Byng's Coaches.
See seperate page for Byngs Coaches fleet details.
Started with horse-drawn vehicles in the late 19th century, Byng's was a family-run firm initially tradiong as Bulls Head Safety Coaches. The family owned the Bulls Head public house, as well as several other properties in Belgrave St. near Portsmouth Guildhall. After World War II, the name was changed to E. byng and Sons. In 1960 the business was purchased by Lancashire Motor Traders (LMT), a dealership based in Oldham. Up to this time the fleet had been predominantly lightweight coaches including Commers and Bedfords. This policy continued for a few more years, but with the addition of a small number of AEC Reliances joining the fleet each year. By 1968, new vehicles were all heavyweights, mainly AECs, but including 1 Bristol RELH and 1 Bristol LH. The preferred body builder had also changed during the same time from Duple to Plaxton. I joined Byng's in August 1970 as Assistant to the General Manager. He was Ted Guess, who had come to Byng's from Southdown where he had been Private Hire Manager for Portsmouth depot. Byng's work was a mix of Day Excursions and Private Hire, including work from HM Dockyard. This included provision of coaches for visiting ships from foreign Navies taking sailors on shore leave to places like London and Stonehenge and Bath. Unlike most independent coach operators, Byng's did not operate any school contracts, as being based in a large city, most school transport was provided by the local Corporation bus services. In the 1970s the Day Excursion programme still provided work for several coaches per day from April till the end of September. I recall an occasion when a private hire was cancelled at the last minute, leaving a 45 seat coach spare for the day. I rang the Excursion Manager at about 10 o'clock in the morning who put on an afternoon trip to Compton Acres leaving at 2.00p.m., and this left South Parade Pier, the starting point for Byng's excursions with almost a full load. That means 40 seats sold in about 4 hours.
LMT sold Byng's at the end of the 1971 season to Tatlock's of Radcliffe, Manchester, who replaced most of the fleet with a mixture of new and second-hand Bedfords, plus one AEC Reliance with a Harrington body, ex-Yelloways of Rochdale. Tatlock's also took over 4 of the exisitng Byngs AEC Reliances.All the acquiresd vehicles were painted in Tatlock's livery of white with black relief but lettered for Byng's. In addition to the acquisitions, a number of Tatlock's own fleet worked on loan to Byng's some semi-permanently and some for short periods.
At the end of the 1973 season, the business was sold by Tatlock's to Terry Parsons, a Portsmouth hotelier, who took over a few of the previous fleet, plus some new and second-hand coaches, again mainly Bedfords, but including 2 Volvo B58s, the first of this make for a Portsmouth operator.
At the end of the 1974 season Byng's was sold again by Terry Parsons, this time to LMT (again), but by now Joe Whitehead had retired so David Whitehead was now effectively sole owner. David kept the company for 2 more years, following which it was sold to R & M Grant of Fareham, better known by it's trading name of Hellyers, a competitor of Byng's since 1970.
Don Motor Coaches Ltd
1926 41
RX 4338. TSM B20B2/London Lorries C28D. By 7/44. Ex White Heather
FRV 312. Maudslay Marathon/Gurney Nutting FC37F. 3/56 to White Heather
KRV 632/3. Bedford SB/Du
UTP 422. Bedford SB1 Duple Super Vega C41F. -/60?. -/63. Sold to Bere regis and District. Still there -/86
Imperial
Thomas Stewart Bruce
Office:
BBK 87. Bd WTB/Du. New /38
BRV 88. Ld LZ2/Du. New /39
DBK 623.Bd OB/Du. New /47.
Business and these 3 coaches sold to BS Williams /48
Southsea Royal Blue
White Heather
White Heather was the fleetname used by the Brooks brothers . The business was started in the 1920s and operated Excursions from Southsea and Private Hire. The fleet was mainly made up of lightweight coaches, mostly
Victoria
Victoria was a 'sister' company to White Heather, being owned by Mrs E.B.Brooks, (wife of one of the Brookes brothers). Vehicles were often transferred between White Heather and Victoria
Triumph Coaches
Started in 1924 by J.G.Wyatt and Arthur Henchley.
The first vehicle recorded was a charabanc new in 1926, followed by another in 1928. In 1930 a Gilford 30-seater arrived, which lasted until 1939, when it was sold to a Portsmouth dealer. Also in 1930 a Commer Invader arrived with locally built body by Armstrong & Bryce, which was loaned to Portsmouth Cleansing Dept, and destroyed by enemy action in 1944.
In 1935, 2 Harrington-bodied TSMs were acquired ex Alexandra, Portsmouth which had been taken over by Southdown, plus a secondhand Reo.
In 1938 a new Opel 8W arrived, followed in 1939 by another similar coach.
The coaches were garaged at Rosetta Rd. (off Locksway Rd. Milton) between 1934 and 1940 (at Least)
The office was at 3 Edinburgh Rd. Portsmouth (no dates available, but was used as Managers office under Southdown ownership)
Became Triumph Coaches (Southsea) Ltd in 1946.
The business was sold in 10/47 , becoming a subsidiary of Hants & Sussex Motor Services Ltd., until that company went into liquidation in 1955.
The 2 Opels plus one of the TSMs were taken over by Hants and Sussex group, the TSM lasting 1 year, and the Opels until the end of 1949.
The 3 coaches above plus 1 OB and 1 PS1 were the initial fleet in 1947.
The fleet in following years was as follows:
48: 2 x Opel, 3 x OB, 5 x PS1.
49: 2 x Opel, 3 x OB, 10 x PS1.
50: 8 x PS1.
51: 5 x PS1, 1 x PSU1.
52: 5 x PS1, 1 x PSU1.
53: 5 x PS1, 1 x PSU1, 1 x OB.
54: 13 x PS1, 1 x PSU1, 1 x OB.
55. 14 x PS1,
Although these were the vehicles licensed to Triumph, as part of the Hants & Sussex Group, Triumph was able to use coaches from other H&S companies as required, particularly for the weekend Forces leave Services which were licensed to the company from 1951 onwards. These saw Triumph vehicles as far north as Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool, and also west to Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth.
On the demise of H & S in March 1955, Triumph was sold to Frank Ford, a Manchester coach dealer.
The 14 PS1s passed to Ford, some being sold straight away. As Ford was a dealer in new and second-hand coaches, he was able to exchange vehicles between his ‘sales’ and ‘operating’ fleets easily, so the following joined the Triumph fleet.
3x1951 AEC RegaL III/Burlingham ,1x1952 AEC Regal IV/Burlingham, 1x1951 Leyland PSU1/11/Beccols.
For the 1956 season 4x Bedford SBG/Plaxton arrived, plus 5 AEC Reliances with Burlingham Seagull C41C bodies, new to Gardener, Spennymore, plus 6 Bedford SB-Plaxton C41F, (SMB 21-6_
The SMBs were owned and licensed to Altrincham Coachways, another Ford company, but ran for at least 1 season with Triumph fleetnames. The Altrincham Coachways livery was blue/cream, and this is where the Southdown cream/blue livery for Triumph originated.
Frank Ford sold Triumph to Southdown in mid 57.
On 28th May 1957 Southdown Motor Services Ltd. acquired control, and took over completely in 1962 when Triumph went into voluntary liquidation. In 1959 the Company had bought out Unity Coaches Ltd. , Portsmouth. No vehicles were involved,the licences for Forces leave services (London, Bristol) being absorbed into those of Triumph.
Southdown ran the operation from the office at 3, Edinburgh Rd. , the majority of the coaches being based at Hyde Park Rd. Portsmouth depot with an initial fleet as follows:
6 Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1/1 with Beadle C41C bodies, new in mid/57
In addition to the 6 coaches in blue/cream, approx 10 more Beadle-bodied Tiger Cubs were allocated for Triumph work, mainly Forces weekend leave services, which needed up to 20 coaches from Friday afternoon until early Monday morning. The coaches regularly used on Forces were fitted with an additional spotlight on the offside below the headlight as most of their journies were during the hours of darkness. The coaches identified so far are 1094/6,1106/9.
In mid 58, they were joined 2 more Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1/1 with Beadle C41F bodies
In 1962, 2 more front entrance Beadle-bodied Tiger Cubs were transferred from the main Southdown fleet and repainted inTriumph livery.
Later in 1962 the first 36 ft long coaches joined the Triumph fleet, the Tiger Cubs being 30’ long. They were Leyland Leopards with 49 seat Weymann bodies.
In 1963, 2 more centre entrance Tiger Cubs were transferred from the main Southdown fleet and repainted inTriumph livery.
In 1966, another 2 centre entrance Tiger Cubs were transferred from the main Southdown fleet and repainted inTriumph livery, one of them at least having been used on Forces leave service since it was new in 1957.
Also in 1966, the last additions to Triumph were 1145-9, Weymann-bodied 41 seat Tiger Cubs which were used primarily on Excursions and a small tour programme run from Portsmouth by Triumph separately from the Southdown one.
Arrow Line
VDL 841. Bd SB3/Plaxton C41F. Ex Southern Vectis, new to Crinnage, Ventnor, IOW
TRO 718E. Bd VAL14/Duple Viceroy C52F, ex Priory, Gosport.
DAD 200/1C. Be SB5/Plaxton. Ex Ivory (Western) Ltd, Wooton-under-Edge
Top Class
Regency
Solent Coaches
Pergo
Flight Travel
Vision Travel
Aqua
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