Julian Peddle (born November 1954)Julian Henry Peddle
Company Check is an entrepreneur who has worked in the bus industry since the early 1980s, having owned or part-owned numerous bus companies. He spent 11 years as co-owner of

Stevensons of Uttoxeter Stevensons of Uttoxeter was a bus company that operated in Staffordshire from 1926 to 1997. History On 11 September 1926, John Stevenson commenced operating a bus service from Uttoxeter to Burton upon Trent. In 1971, the business passed to Jo ...

between 1983 and 1994, having previously been its traffic manager. During the late 1990s and early 2000s he ran Status Group, a group of small bus companies spread across England which included

BakerBus BakerBus was the trading name used by the bus fleet of Bakers Coaches, a bus and coach operator based in Biddulph, Staffordshire, England. Formed as a coach operator in 1936, they grew to operate a fleet of around 50 vehicles on local bus servic ...

Choice Travel Midland, previously known as Choice Travel, was a bus company operating mostly in the Wolverhampton and Walsall areas of the West Midlands. Some services also operated in the Staffordshire and Shropshire area. History The company was original ...

and

MK Metro MK Metro was a bus company operating in Milton Keynes from 1997 until 2010. History In 1997, Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach was ordered by the Office of Fair Trading to divest of its operations in Milton Keynes and Huntingdon. This followe ...

. He was a major shareholder in

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Coaches based in Byfleet, Surrey. History ...

and Centrebus Holdings before their sale to

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

but grew up in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

studied transport management at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, working for various National Bus Company subsidiaries during holidays. He joined the co-ordination staff of

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. 62 councillors sit on Staffordshire County Council. Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council In England, local auth ...

in 1978, and after 15 months moved north to become traffic manager at 29-vehicle independent bus and coach operator Mayne's of Manchester. This proved impractical, however, so in March 1980 he moved back to Staffordshire to become traffic manager at

Current Interests & Operations

Centrebus Group

In 2000 Peddle purchased

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

based operator Lutonian in partnership with Chris Day of Red Rose Travel. Lutonian had in fact been taken over by

Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Shires & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Colchester. It is a subsidiary o ...

, but they had been forced to resell the company following a ruling by the Monopolies & Mergers Commission. The operation proved difficult to manage so the company was sold to Centrebus, a large independent formed in 2001 with its headquarters in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Peddle was impressed by the running of Centrebus and bought part of the company, which then began to grow rapidly. The

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

depot of

Sovereign Bus & Coach London Country North East was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986 and operated a fleet of around 350 buses from six garages, with its headquarters located in Hatf ...

was bought in 2004, although it was sold on to Uno in 2008. The operations of MASS Engineering in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

were taken over in 2005, while

Bowers Coaches Bowers Coaches was a bus company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. The company operated bus and coach services in Cheshire East, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester from 1952 until 2012. In its later years, it was a subsidiary of ...

was acquired in 2007. A further development came in 2008, when Centrebus teamed up with

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Centrebus Holdings. The new joint operation took over the

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

depot of

Stagecoach Yorkshire Stagecoach Yorkshire is an operating division of Stagecoach Group. It was formed in 2005 to take over the former Traction Group fleets in Yorkshire by Stagecoach Group, which took over Traction from Frank Carter on 14 December 2005; Yorkshi ...

and local independent K-Line Travel. Centrebus had initially intended to buy K-Line, whose manager Russel Arden had previously run Edinburgh Transport during its time as a joint operation with Stevensons, while Arriva had wished to buy Stagecoach's operations in the town. Arriva took a 40% stake in the joint company, which paid around £3 million to buy the two companies and used the trading name Huddersfield Bus Company for the former Stagecoach operations. During 2008, Centrebus acquired the bus operations of Woods of Leicester, in 2019 Peddle purchased the remaining shareholdings of

D&G Bus D&G Bus is a local bus operator owned by Centrebus Group and is based in Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. History D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two routes ...

from David Reeves with the operations becoming part of Centrebus Group and managed from their offices in Leicester.

Select Bus Services

Peddle is a minority shareholder of Select Bus Services who provide local bus services around Staffordshire.

Former Interests & Operations

Stevensons of Uttoxeter

Peddle joined

as traffic manager in March 1980 following a job offer from the company's co-owner David Stevenson. He bought half of Stevensons on the retirement of the company's other co-owner, George Stevenson, in 1983. When Peddle joined the company they owned 33 vehicles of which four were service buses. Under Peddle's co-ownership Stevensons expanded quickly, launching a network of tendered services around

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from De ...

which required no public subsidy. They also took over two small operators, Middleton's of

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

and Erewash Travel Services, in the early 1980s; the latter was sold to

Nottingham City Transport Nottingham City TransportCompanies House extract company no 2004 ...

in 1988. In 1985 Peddle wrote a letter to the chief executive of his former employer Staffordshire County Council suggesting that he was interested in merging Stevensons with the heavily loss-making council-owned East Staffordshire operation based in

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. Th ...

. The council's transport manager agreed to this and the two companies merged in October 1985, with the council owning 49% and Peddle and Stevenson the remaining 51%. It initially faced competition from Midland Fox, but this ceased in August 1987 when Stevensons bought 40% of the company following its privatisation, with Peddle being appointed to Fox's board. Stevensons took over two depots as part of the deal. Peddle credits the large numbers of

Daimler Fleetline The Daimler Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from circa 1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983. It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric ...

double-deckers bought from

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

with making this level of expansion possible, as they were cheap to buy and easy to run. In 1989 Midland Fox was acquired by Drawlane. Fox's managing director, David Martin, arranged to move Peddle to another Drawlane subsidiary, Manchester-based

Bee Line Buzz Company North Western Road Car CompanyCompanies House extract company no 5 ...

, for 12 months in an attempt to reduce losses there. During these 12 months Peddle was able to reduce average losses from £90,000 to £3,000 per month. In January 1991 Bee Line's depot in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

was closed by Drawlane. Two of its former managers asked Peddle to reopen it. Peddle paid for a subsidiary of Stevensons, called Pacer, to be formed to take this on. It ran until September 1992, when it was taken over by

Potteries Motor Traction First Potteries is a bus company based in Stoke-on-Trent operating services in North Staffordshire, England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction. As part ...

in exchange for Potteries' routes in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

. In June 1994, following stiff competition with

West Midlands Travel National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, s ...

in the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...

, Staffordshire County Council announced it intended to sell its share in Stevensons. By this point Stevensons owned 270 buses and were the largest independent bus operator in the United Kingdom. Peddle did not want to buy the council's shares as this would have cost him £4.5 million, so he and David Stevenson instead agreed to sell the entire company to Drawlane's successor

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead ...

Rhondda Buses

In December 1991, National Welsh collapsed. Stevensons, British Bus, Potteries and Peddle himself formed a consortium called Rhondda Buses to take over the former National Welsh depot at

Porth Porth ( cy, Y Porth) is a town and a community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. Lying in the Rhondda Valley, it is regarded as the gateway connecting the Rhondda Fawr and Rh ...

in February 1992. The company initially used the license of

, a subsidiary of Midland Fox which owned the license of a defunct South Wales independent, CK Coaches. A second depot at Aberdare was also acquired but quickly sold on to Offa Demo, a company owned by Cynon Valley Travel which sold out to neighbouring

Red & White Services Red & White Services was a bus company operating in south east Wales and Gloucestershire, England between 1929 and 1978. Red & White evolved into Red & White United Transport Ltd, formed in 1937, which owned bus and road freight companies in ...

after a year. Western Travel, owners Red & White, was later sold a minority stake in Rhondda Buses. Many of the players in the consortium were themselves sold to larger groups.

Badgerline Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a manag ...

took over Potteries;

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

purchased Western Travel; and British Bus was taken over by the

Cowie Group Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

depot. The operation was closed down in 1994 when

GRT Group :''This article describes the bus group, for the Grampian Regional Transport bus company and successors/predecessors, see First Aberdeen'' GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when Gr ...

took over two large operators in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Lowland Scottish Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator in south eastern Scotland and parts of Northern England. The company was formed in 1985 and operated under the identities Lowland Scottish, Lowland and First Lowland / First SMT, until 1999 when ...

and

Midland Scottish Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from part of W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd, and operated until 1991 when it was renamed Midland Bluebird Ltd. Operation F ...

Tellings-Golden Miller

In 1993, British Bus wished to sell Tellings-Golden Miller (TGM), and because of Peddle's involvement with TGM during the Rhondda Buses venture its former owner Stephen Telling approached him with a view to reacquiring the company. Peddle agreed to fund the buyout and took a minority share in the company. He also provided the money for TGM's takeover of Annfield Plain based Classic Coaches and smaller stakes in Burton's of Haverhill and The Linkline. TGM joined Peddle's Status Group on its formation in 1999, and he continued to own 28% of the company even after Status was broken up.Tellings Golden Miller: How TGM floated to expand
Supply Chain Digital The company released 30% of its shares on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

in 2003, and quickly bought the remaining shares in Burton's and The Linkline, as well as acquiring the former

Arriva Colchester Arriva ColchesterCompanies House extract company no 3506989
...

operation. However, Peddle's share had reduced to just over 20% by April 2006 as much of the company had been released on AIM. He bought a further 50,000 shares in TGM in May 2006 and another 55,000 shares in October 2006. In December 2007,

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. Choice Travel 31 N31 EVT

In 1997, Peddle took over two former Cambus depots at

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

and

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

. These had been acquired along with the rest of Cambus by

in 1995, but the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

had instructed Stagecoach to sell two depots to reduce its dominance in the region. They also stipulated that both depots must be sold to the same buyer. Peddle proved to be the only interested party and duly took over the operation in June 1997. The operations were quickly rebranded as

in Milton Keynes and Premier Buses in Huntingdon. However, Peddle was unable to fund new vehicles for both, and sold Premier to Blazefield Holdings in 1998. MK Metro was owned by Peddle for nine years, during which time passenger numbers increased by 120% and the company became profitable. Between 1998 and 2003 alone ridership rose by 63% following the introduction of new buses and ticketing schemes. However, Peddle ultimately sold the company to

in 2006, citing disagreement between authorities as a major factor.

Choice Travel

Following Stevensons' sale Peddle had set up a company called Metropolitan Omnibus to run on many former Stevensons routes in the West Midlands. In 1997 Metropolitan was taken over by

, who Peddle bought a small share in. He also bought minority shares in

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

-based Border Buses. All three of these companies joined Peddle's Status Bus & Coach on its formation in 1999, as did TGM and their subsidiaries Classic Coaches and Burton's, MK Metro and coach company The Londoners. The aim was to reduce costs by buying vehicles and supplies in bulk at cheaper costs while retaining local control. Few others agreed that this was practical and the group broke up, selling BakerBus to its management, Border Buses to Northern Blue and closing The Londoners altogether. In 2005 Choice Travel's managing director Tom Young wanted to retire, and with no obvious successor in the company it was decided to sell the company to independent

, based in nearby Adderley Green. However, in 2006 Peddle purchased a minority stake in D&G following the death of its co-founder Gerald Henderson. around the same time Peddle also bought a 30% stake in South Lancs Travel. Peddle's shareholding in South Lancs Travel was sold to

Rotala Rotala plcCompanies House extract company no 5338907
Rot ...

in 2015. In December 2019, Peddle purchased the remaining 74% in D&G Bus.

Midland Classic

Peddle was a shareholder of Burton-upon-Trent based bus company

Midland Classic Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala. History Midland Classic Midland Classic was founded in July 2005 by ...

until August 2022 when it was sold to

Rotala Rotala plcCompanies House extract company no 5338907
Rot ...

Group

Preserved vehicles

Peddle owned preserved

Leyland PD3 The Leyland Titan was a Front-engine design, forward-control chassis with a front-mounted engine designed to carry double-decker bus bodywork. It was built mainly for the United Kingdom market between 1927 and 1942, and between 1945 and 1969. ...

PAX466F with

lowbridge A lowbridge double-deck bus is a double-decker bus that has an asymmetric interior layout, enabling the overall height of the vehicle to be reduced compared to that of a conventional double-decker bus. The upper deck gangway is offset to one side ...

Massey Brothers Massey Brothers (Pemberton) Limited was a building and manufacturing company operating through much of the 20th century. It was formed in 1904 by the brothers William, Isaac and Thomas Massey, timber merchants and building contractors based in Pemb ...

bodywork, new to Bedwas & Machen UDC, later operated by

Rhymney Valley The Rhymney Valley () is one of the South Wales valleys, with the Rhymney River forming the border between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Between 1974 and 1996 a Rhymney Valley local government district also existed (one ...

, and preserved in the livery of Stevensons, with whom it operated during Peddle's time as manager.News
Cardiff Transport Preservation Group PAX466F is now owned by the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group and has regained its original Bedwas & Machen UDC livery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peddle, Julian Alumni of Loughborough University Living people People in bus transport 1954 births