Hutchinson

BACKGROUND HISTORY

Dennis Hutchinson was initially involved in road haulage when in 1997 he started his passenger transport business with the purchase of a couple of minibuses.

In 1999 he purchased his first full size coach.

The main service undertaken by the business was the Buckley local service known in the area as the 'Shopper'. Various buses were used over the years on this service including an Optare Alero and later a Solo that was obtained new in 2008.

Unfortunately the contract for this subsidised service was lost to GHA Coaches in 2014 and therefore the Solo was sold to P and O Lloyd. However the contract was won again in July 2015 and the Solo was purchased back from P and O Lloyd by which time it had lost its Flintshire green livery in favour of a white livery..

Dennis Hutchinson's son Andrew also operated private hire mini buses which were mainly used for school contracts.

The business declined over the years as Dennis approached retirement.  He managed the business alongside a significant role in local government where he was a Councillor on both Flintshire County Council and Buckley Town Council.

In early 2019 the Local Authority significantly reduced the Buckley Town service (21A/B) and replaced it with the LT4-6 services which only operated on certain days.  The Hutchinson firm remained the operator of the service but instead of using his own vehicle the Council provided a minibus for use.   In early 2020 the service was further reduced and on days when it did not operate the firm operated a Demand Responsive Service on behalf of the Council. This Demand Responsive Service was not successful and was suspended in 2020.

In addition to the service work the business also operated a school contract and a small amount of private hire work.

In 2020 the yard used as the depot in Mount Pleasant Road, Buckley was sold for development and therefore the base for keeping the small fleet was moved to a yard in the Station Approach, Buckley.  This move was completed in 2021 and at the same time the fleet was reduced to two vehicles.  Andrew Hutchinson, son of Dennis, who also operated from the site in Mount Pleasant, gave up this private hire business at the time of the move and his two vehicles (included in the historic list below) were sold.

The Buckley town service was converted to a "fflecsi" (Demand Responsive) service in August 2022 and the contract for running the service was awarded to another operator, (Wrexham Prestige Taxis). The fleet therefore reduced to one and Dennis Hutchinson continued to drive this bus conveying pupils from and to the Welsh and Catholic schools in Mold.  He did this until he finally decided to retire from the bus industry in early 2024 at the age of 80.

HISTORIC FLEET LIST

The table below gives a list of all recorded vehicles known to have been with this operator.  I am indebted to David Donati for his dedicated work in compiling this data and enabling me to present it.

In the right hand column - where available - there is a link to a photograph of the vehicle.  The photo will open in a new window.  Links in CAPITAL LETTERS suggest the vehicle is seen when with the operator.

Chassis and body numbers are to be found on the right hand side of the table below. You may need to scroll to see them.

© Ron Hughes and David Donati - any reproduction should give credit to the originator and may require permission.