Glenvale Transport - History

History

In February 2000 Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings Ltd was acquired by Arriva Passenger Services plc. The Drawlane Group, which had renamed itself British Bus and had sold to Cowie (which renamed itself Arriva) had acquired the North Western Road Car Company Ltd in March 1988. In turn North Western had gained substantial parts of the former Crosville and Ribble operations and acquired or created other companies - most notably Amberline, City Plus and Liverline in Liverpool, Beeline Buzz Company and Star Line Travel in Greater Manchester, Dee Line, Leigh Line, Little White Buses in West Lancashire, Runcorn Busways, South Lancashire Transport in St Helens, Warrington Gold Line and Wigan Bus. By the year 2000 Arriva North West Ltd (North Western) had built up a substantial presence in many parts Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and West Lancashire. The acquisition and subsequent merger of the former MTL companies now known as Arriva Merseyside Ltd into Arriva North West Ltd gave Arriva a dominant position on Merseyside and in Liverpool in particular.

As a result, the Competition Commission ruled that as a condition of the sale of MTL to Arriva and to preserve competition within the Merseyside bus market - Aintree-based CMT Buses being the only major competitor in Liverpool at that time - Arriva had to divest one of the former MTL garages to a new buyer within one year and not compete with that buyer for a period of three years. The bus corridors of South/East Liverpool were lucrative and had experienced more competition than those to the North of Liverpool and it was Liverpool's Gillmoss depot on the East Lancashire Road that Arriva offered for sale. The sale of Gillmoss, however, would turn out to be a rather protracted process. Its most profitable routes - 12/13 (Stockbridge Village Circular - Liverpool), 14 (Croxteth - Liverpool) and 53/55 (Thornton/Old Roan - Liverpool) were allowed to remain with Arriva Merseyside/North West and were transferred to its Green Lane and Bootle depots. It is unknown whether this deterred prospective buyers but an early buyer did emerge in the form of Go-Ahead Group plc who considered Gillmoss as similar to its Go North East operation and therefore almost came to an agreement to buy Gillmoss towards the beginning of 2001. However at the 11th hour Go-Ahead pulled out of the deal, opting instead to acquire Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd as it had more strategic fit with its Metrobus subsidiary in Surrey and West Sussex.

Arriva was having difficulty selling Gillmoss and put a proposal to the Competition Commission to re-invest in Gillmoss if it were allowed to keep the depot. The Competition Commission refused and the search for a buyer continued. In the Spring/Summer of 2001 a number of bids began to emerge. The first of these came from Merseyside's largest independent operator, CMT Buses, who were looking to strengthen their position on Merseyside. The second bidder was Singapore-based DelGro Corporation, which purchased stock-market listed Metroline a siginifcant contractor to London Buses and in turn had purchased MTL London in August 1998. The third was an unknown consortium which at the time was shrouded in mystery and was revealed to have come from Stagecoach Holdings plc. However a fourth bid emerged, fronted by ex-MTL managers Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell. This was Glenvale Transport Ltd/(GTL) and it successfully acquired Gillmoss and took over from Arriva in July 2001.