Hi-Ride

[justlookingaround]

Guess there'll be no 40X running on that day, to the surprise of nobody.

[Solo1]

 
Public Inquiry (51716) held at The Public Inquiry Room, 38 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1PL on 17 December 2015 at 10:30(Previous Publication:(2242)
)PD0001044     Section 5.2 – Decisions Taken at Public Inquiries
     SN
FERDINAND PELLINGTON T/A HI-RIDE COACHES
60 HOLLY ROAD, HANDSWORTH , BIRMINGHAM B20 2DB
      
• Adverse findings sections 17 (3) (a); 17 (3) (aa); 17 (3) (b); and 17 (3) (c) of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 (the 1981 Act).
• The operator has failed to operate a local bus service registered with the Traffic Commissioner, section 26 (1) (a) of the Transport Act 1985 (the 1985 Act).
• The operator has operated a local bus service outside of the timings or route registered with the Traffic Commissioner, section 26 (1) (b) of the 1985 Act.
• Ferdinand Pellington retains repute as an operator.
• Ferdinand Pellington loses his repute as a transport manager and he no longer has the necessary good repute and professional competence that is required. He is disqualified from holding or applying for any transport manager position within the EU for a period until he attends a two day transport manager refresher course run by the FTA or by the RHA.
• A period of three months grace is granted.
• Authority is curtailed from three vehicles to 2 vehicles.
• The operator's licence is suspended from 11 January 2016 to 24 January 2016 inclusive.
• A financial penalty is imposed under section 155 of the Transport Act 2000. The penalty is £500 for each of the three vehicles authorised, total financial penalty is £1,500. Financial penalty is to be paid within a month.
      
      
   

[countryliner]

@Solo1 - Thanks for posting the information about the Public Inquiry. That is interesting to hear.

@justlookingaround - Did you or anyone else on this forum manage to see if the 40X was running on the 17/12/2015.

Do Hi Ride have any other bus drivers. What happens when this bus driver is unable to work for some reason. Does the bus just not run. It is great though that he has managed to run the company entirely by himself. I can not think of any other bus operators in the UK that are entirely run by just one person (but there might be some others).

I am guessing that Y337 FJN is probably already DDA compliant but does anyone know if S453 CVV has been converted to DDA compliant yet. Also are these the only vehicles in the Hi Ride fleet or is there another third vehicle as well. I see that they have three vehicles authorised.

Also i just have a question for the moderators - @Tony @Winston @Liverpool Street @Mike K - is there any chance that this thread can be renamed to "Hi Ride" instead of "40X" as this thread is mainly about the operator rather than being just about the route that they run and all of the other threads are named after the operator rather than the route. Thank you.

[Bryan]

......... It is great though that he has managed to run the company entirely by himself. .............

It's not great in my opinion as his actions or lack of action resulted in the Public Inquiry and the penalties / restrictions imposed.

I consider that a failure to manage the company, after all he can hardly say he was unaware of how the service was operated!

[countryliner]

@Bryan - Well it shows that it is possible to run a bus company entirely by yourself. I would say that Hi Ride have been quite a successful bus operator.

Also thank you to the moderators for renaming this thread.

[Kevin]

@Bryan - Well it shows that it is possible to run a bus company entirely by yourself. I would say that Hi Ride have been quite a successful bus operator.

Wow....
Just.... Wow.
You really think a one man operation whose livery depends on whatever the previous operator's colours were, half covered the previous operator's logo with something in a different font to read "town and Aston bus", and doesn't run at all if he's ill classes as a successful bus operator?

Oh wait.... Sorry, does he give change?.......
Take it all back, he's awesome

[Stu]

To be fair, he (Hi-Ride) has been operating that route for some years now, though back when I lived in Bearwood (around 2007-2008) it ran between Bearwood and Perry Barr.

[Steveminor]

I believe it's over 20 years that he's operated that route & done it all single handidly so anyone that criticises a man that has done that for so long is bang out of order.  This man deserves a lot of respect as he has survived head on competition with first petes travel & central connect & we'll he's still there when the others have all gone or left the route.
Let's see anyone else do that on their own.

[Trident 4194]

He must be a very intelligent man

[countryliner]

@Steveminor @Trident 4194 @Stu @Kevin - I completly agree with @Steveminor about this. He has been running Hi Ride and operating this bus route for such a long time now and as @Steveminor pointed out many other bus operators no longer even exist anymore. It can be a very hard job to run a bus company and the fact that he has done it all by himself is amazing. I think that he has done an excellent job with his company. I have been on his route 40X service quite a few times and it is an excellent service that i have absoulutly no complaints about at all. So i think that Hi Ride have actually been very successful. He deserves praise and respect not criticism for what he has achieved.

[Bryan]

I believe it's over 20 years that he's operated that route & done it all single handidly so anyone that criticises a man that has done that for so long is bang out of order.  This man deserves a lot of respect as he has survived head on competition with first petes travel & central connect & we'll he's still there when the others have all gone or left the route.
Let's see anyone else do that on their own.

My thoughts on this comment is ................................................................!

PS the person criticising the operator and raising the penalties and restrictions was the Traffic Commissioner!

[fleetline6477]

I'm fairly sure that before he started on the 40X he ran on the 70 Birmingham - Oxhill Road in the late 80s early 90s after WMT turned the 70 into the 76.  The operator in question ran a yellow and black minibus of some sort.

I agree that he deserves everybody's respect to have worked hard as a sole trader on the 40X for so many years, acquiring different vehicles over the years and seeking to provide more modern buses. Whether what he has done in working alone so long is good practice is another question. I think too many operators begun by one person - Travel Express, AMPM Travel, Sandwell Travel have run into difficulty when they have expanded and not had the resources to maintain the vehicles and employ staff. I think deciding to operate into Birmingham City Centre has probably made him more visible.

I don't know of any other company that has worked in this way for so long. Central Logistics / Redwing Contracts operated for about 10 years with a father and his 2 sons firstly on the 17 and then switching to the 88E, I'm only aware of them operating the same 3 or 4 green Ivecos and a white Merc over those years. The outcome of a TC inquiry finished them off.

There was also another company around Bloxwich area called Vichester that ran a coach and a minibus on private hire and school contracts. I believe that was a long standing company operated by 2 brothers. Haven't seen them for a while the brothers may have retired.

Fair play to anybody who in a very competitive and tough industry is prepared to work hard at creating an identity, a route and sticking to it. 

[PM]

Is it a busy route though? I don't remember a Central Connect attempt to compete against it?

[countryliner]

@Bryan - Many bus operators all over the UK get called to Public Inquiries by the Traffic Commissioner but it does not mean that they are a bad or unsuccessful bus operator.

@fleetline6477 - Thank for the info. That is interesting to hear. He has certainly done a good job with Hi Ride. I believe that Hi Ride have had 5 buses (Y337 FJN / S453 CVV / K131 LGO / H678 YGO / G447 LEP) and have had 1 coach (ANA 403Y).

@DiamondDart - I am sure that it must be busy enough as the route has managed to operate successfully for such a long time.

[PM]

@Bryan - Many bus operators all over the UK get called to Public Inquiries by the Traffic Commissioner but it does not mean that they are a bad or unsuccessful bus operator.

@fleetline6477 - Thank for the info. That is interesting to hear. He has certainly done a good job with Hi Ride. I believe that Hi Ride have had 5 buses (Y337 FJN / S453 CVV / K131 LGO / H678 YGO / G447 LEP) and have had 1 coach (ANA 403Y).

@DiamondDart - I am sure that it must be busy enough as the route has managed to operate successfully for such a long time.

I guess there's a difference between a route that can support a sole trader and a big company with far bigger overheads. It can't be a dead duck though