United Counties Omnibus - Subsequent History

Subsequent History

Stagecoach retained the name Stagecoach United Counties until 1999. After Stagecoach acquired adjacent operator Cambus, an inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading, Stagecoach had to sell the Huntingdon operations in 1997., but in 2008 Stagecoach reacquired the Huntingdon operations, now Stagecoach in the Fens, part of Stagecoach in Cambridgeshire. The remaining part of Stagecoach United Counties became Stagecoach East in 2000, trading as Stagecoach in Northants and Stagecoach in Bedford with the legal company name remaining as United Counties Omnibus Company Ltd. In 2010, the company was split with the Bedford depot merging with Stagecoach in Cambridgeshire to form a new Stagecoach East and the Northamptonshire depots merging with Stagecoach Warwickshire to form Stagecoach Midlands. However the trading names and the legal titles remain as before.

LDT was bought in 1994 by British Bus Group, itself bought in 1996 by T. Cowie (renamed Arriva in 1997). LDT's name was changed to Arriva the Shires in 1998, part of Arriva Shires & Essex.

Milton Keynes Citybus was acquired by Cambus (a privatised part of Eastern Counties), which was itself sold to Stagecoach in 1996. However, after the inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading, Stagecoach had to sell both the Milton Keynes & Huntingdon depot operations in 1997. The buyer was Julian Peddle, who formed Premier Buses and MK Metro. Peddle soon passed the Huntingdon depot operations to Blazefield and eventually sold MK Metro to Arriva in 2006. An OFT inquiry allowed MK Metro to pass to Arriva who initially ran it as a separate operation but have since started to brand buses as Arriva vehicles. Blazefield sold the Huntingdon & District operation to Cavalier Travel who sold that operation to Stagecoach in 2008. Another OFT inquiry eventually ruled in favour of Stagecoach and the operation is now managed from Cambridge.