Hutchinson

Legal name:- Henry Dennis HUTCHINSON

Operators licence no:- PG0007259/SI [5]

address: “Newlyn”, Padeswood Road, Buckley, Flintshire, CH7 2JW

depot: Station Road, Buckley CH7 3AY

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 few years the service operated including an 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.

Dennis Hutchinson's son Andrew also operated a private hire mini bus which was mainly used for a school contract.

The business has declined over recent years as Dennis approaches retirement. He manages the business alongside a significant role in local government where he is 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 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 and has not been re-instated.

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

In 2020 the yard used 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 the two current vehicles. Andrew Hutchinson, son of Dennis Hutchinson, also operated from the site in Mount Pleasant owning two minibuses which were used mainly on a school contract. Andrew gave up this private hire business at the time of the move and his two vehicles (included below) were sold.

Fleet History

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 'Links' column - where available - there is a link to a photograph of the vehicle. The photo will open in a new window.

Chassis and body numbers can be seen by scrolling to the right.