Burnley & Pendle - History

History

The Burnley, Colne and Nelson Joint Board was set up in 1933 to merge the three municipals of those towns, comprising at that time of both tramway and bus operations. The thirties were the twilight years for tramway operation, and the tramways were progressively abandoned, closing completely in 1935. "Burnley buses" continued to operate the old tramway routes, however, including penetration of the nearby towns of Padiham, Nelson and Colne. The undertaking provided a brisk and reliable service on these and other routes throughout the war years and the following decades. In 1974, upon Local Government Reorganisation, the surviving bus operation was renamed Burnley and Pendle, jointly owned by Burnley Council and Pendle Borough Council. In 1986 Keith Ludeman became managing director of what was then the bus company with the worst service record and industrial relations, but after turning a £1million loss to a £1million profit he returned to London to join London Regional Transport.

In 1988 Stagecoach bought Ribble, and soon started buying up companies in Ribble territory. In 1996 Pendle Council put its share up for sale after much fighting. GM Buses (North) and Preston Bus both put in strong bids, but Stagecoach beat them both. The deal was finished by the end of January. Burnley Council was livid, and stated strongly it would never sell its share.

Stagecoach put up a multi-million pound investment plan for Burnley and Pendle, but Burnley Council could not meet its share unless it cut other council services. It eventually took a massive U-turn and sold its share to Stagecoach. Although most buses were rebranded as Stagecoach Ribble, many buses had Stagecoach Burnley and Pendle logos.

In November 2001 Stagecoach sold its failing East Lancashire operations to the Blazefield Group. Soon two companies were formed. What had been Burnley and Pendle once again became Burnley and Pendle while the former Ribble services became Lancashire United. Blazefield has made a number of improvements, including replacing many of the Stagecoach buses - which were relatively old - with new Blazefield-standard buses, these originally being Wright bodied single deckers.

On 4 January 2006 Blazefield was sold to Transdev. Transdev has since added Blackburn Transport and Northern Blue (also based in Burnley) to its portfolio of East Lancashire companies.