Off Topic Western Greyhound depot fire

[winston]

Off Topic, but may be of interest to some planning on holidaying in Cornwall,

Western Greyhound has suffered a massive fire at its Summercourt Depot near Newquay and has lost up to 37 buses (a third of its fleet), it appears to be most of its double decker fleet plus some/all of Truro Park & Ride Merc Citaro's plus new various Solo's including some Solo SR's

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Massive-Western-Greyhound-depot-Summercourt-near/story-18970433-detail/story.html#axzz2TAIdxQmX

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22506806

[Justin Tyme]

Sad news indeed for a much respected operator.  The management know what they're doing, though, and I'm sure the firm will recover in time.

First Devon & Cornwall have announced that they will accept Western Greyhound season tickets on common sections of routes for the next few days.  Considering that the two operators have been in competition for several years, this is a significant gesture which has gone down very well: -

http://www.westerngreyhound.com/

An occasion when we can say "Well done First!"

[winston]

Sad news indeed for a much respected operator.  The management know what they're doing, though, and I'm sure the firm will recover in time.

First Devon & Cornwall have announced that they will accept Western Greyhound season tickets on common sections of routes for the next few days.  Considering that the two operators have been in competition for several years, this is a significant gesture which has gone down very well: -

http://www.westerngreyhound.com/

An occasion when we can say "Well done First!"

Certainly seems to have earned First Group a few brownie points with the travel public

Would Western Greyhound's insurance cover just the loss of the vehicle or the loss of revenue to the business whilst replacement vehicles are being sourced?

[BU07 LGO]

any news on if their enviros were destroyed?

[winston]

any news on if their enviros were destroyed?

Both gone by the looks of it, see below

Losses destroyed by fire as posted on another forum:

Provisional losses that I am aware of:

259 - Bristol VR
401 - Enviro 400
402 - Enviro 400
440 - Dennis Trident
442 - Dennis Trident
444 - Dennis Trident
445 - Dennis Trident
450 - Volvo Olympian
452 - Volvo Olympian
453 - Volvo Olympian
467 - Volvo Olympian
473 - Volvo Olympian
475 - Volvo Olympian
498 - Volvo Olympian
499 - Volvo Olympian
DSU 107 - Dennis Javelin training bus
5 Citaros (4x P&R + 207)
2 Solo SR's (fleet numbers unknown at the moment).

The balance is made up of Solo's and Vario's - unsure of fleet numbers.

The two 'new' buses are the SR's - I am not aware of any new buses being delivered recently apart from a couple of demonstrators.

[gac_uk]

Certainly seems to have earned First Group a few brownie points with the travel public

Would Western Greyhound's insurance cover just the loss of the vehicle or the loss of revenue to the business whilst replacement vehicles are being sourced?
[/quote]

That would depend upon whether WG have 'business interruption' insurance cover. They are a quality operator and I'm sure they will be okay

[winston]

Certainly seems to have earned First Group a few brownie points with the travel public

Would Western Greyhound's insurance cover just the loss of the vehicle or the loss of revenue to the business whilst replacement vehicles are being sourced?

That would depend upon whether WG have 'business interruption' insurance cover. They are a quality operator and I'm sure they will be okay
[/quote]

Thanks Geoff, from a interview with Mark Howarth & reports elsewhere I understand they do have this cover, Mark seemed reasonably upbeat considering the considerable loss to his business. WGL appear to have lost most of the double decker fleet & many newer single deckers /midis, it will take a while for them to rebuild the fleet to what it was. I'm sure they'll come out fighting......

[BU07 LGO]

any news on if their enviros were destroyed?

Both gone by the looks of it, see below

Losses destroyed by fire as posted on another forum:

Provisional losses that I am aware of:

259 - Bristol VR
401 - Enviro 400
402 - Enviro 400
440 - Dennis Trident
442 - Dennis Trident
444 - Dennis Trident
445 - Dennis Trident
450 - Volvo Olympian
452 - Volvo Olympian
453 - Volvo Olympian
467 - Volvo Olympian
473 - Volvo Olympian
475 - Volvo Olympian
498 - Volvo Olympian
499 - Volvo Olympian
DSU 107 - Dennis Javelin training bus
5 Citaros (4x P&R + 207)
2 Solo SR's (fleet numbers unknown at the moment).

The balance is made up of Solo's and Vario's - unsure of fleet numbers.

The two 'new' buses are the SR's - I am not aware of any new buses being delivered recently apart from a couple of demonstrators.

Thats a shame :( I have a model of 402 (http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/cmnl/dd/6000/ukbus6027.htm)

Hopefully they are able to recover

[Kevin_Brum12]

Awful news for the firm.   Despite all of the competition rhetoric, the industry does have a knack though of helping each other and pulling through in times of crisis.  Strathcylde Buses suffered a similar fire at one of its depots (Larkhill?) in the early 1990's and operators across Scotland assisted by loaning vehicles.

So, if any spare NXWM vehicles are seen heading down the M5 in the next few days we know where they are going!

[winston]

For anyone interested, here's a full list of what vehicles were lost posted on UK bus fleetnews:

Merc/Plaxton Beaver: 564, 566, 572. (3)
Citaros: 201, 202, 204. 205, 207. (5)
Solos: 816, 818, 819, 910, 912, 931, 951, 952, 958, 982, 988. (11)
E400s: 401, 402. (2)
Tridents: 440, 442, 444, 445. (4)
Olympians: 450, 452, 453, 467, 473, 475, 498, 499. (8)
Bristol VR: 259. (1)
Training bus: raining bus: DSU 107. (1)

Totsl lost: 35

Additionally Solo 931 has been badly burnt and assessors are currently working on
whether it is repairable.

[Ashley 4569]

I've used Western Greyhound buses on family holidays in that area, cracking bus company, terrible this has happened. I hope they can recover from the situation. I do agree that Firsts kind gesture is a suprise after the issues theyve had the last few years

[Trident 4609]

Me and my mom used Western Greyhounds 547 service from Hayle in Cornwall where we were staying to St ives and they are a great company. Clean buses, friendly driver who talked to me and my mom about my knoweledgw of buses.Plus they have a good range of buses.

Lets hope they can recover. :(

[Rob H]

Myself and my family went to Newquay 3 times (May 2008, May/June 2009 & July 2010 to be exact) and we rode on almost every route they had but the regular Routes that we used were the 587 & 597 and sometimes when got on a 597 from Truro it went into the depot for a Driver Change but there is one Journey that I really liked was the 590 from Newquay to Falmouth which was worked by either 444 or 445 there was one occasion when we got on 441 on route 583 to Truro because we just missed the 597 and the driver that operated that 583 working he came from Maypole

I just hope they do recover because they're a Fantastic Bus Company and who ever set the depot alight they ought to be ashamed of themselves

[nitromatt1]

Is it known whether it was malicious or accidental?

[nx4737]

From WG's Facebook page, various companies have loaned them buses.