Marchwood Motorways was a bus and coach operator based in Totton,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Formed as an independent in the 1940s, it was a subsidiary of the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

from 2006 until it became dormant in 2010. Its operations were subsumed by those of Bluestar, but its licence remains legally separate.

History

Marchwood Motorways was formed in the 1940s. In the 1960s, Marchwood Motorways established a subsidiary in

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

to operate services during the construction of the

Pembroke Refinery The Pembroke Refinery is an oil refinery situated on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales at Rhoscrowther in the community of Angle. It first came on stream in 1964 and was Regent/Texaco's only British refinery. The refinery occupies a prominent p ...

, requiring 60 coaches, at its peak. In the 1970s, Marchwood purchased the business of Bill Colins of

Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327, also called Rock in English, is a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he is especially invoked a ...

, including a service from Haverfordwest to

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

. This was sold, in 1982, to

Richards Bros Richards Bros Buses ( cy, Brodyr Richards) is a bus operator based in Cardigan, Wales. It has purchased many smaller bus companies over time, and currently has 65 vehicles running local bus services and school buses in south-west Wales (primar ...

. In July 2006, a major fire at the company's depot, caused by arson, destroyed three buses and offices, causing an estimated £250,000 of damage. In October 2006, Marchwood Motorways was purchased by the

with 51 buses and coaches. The company became part of Solent Blue Line. Marchwood had an unusual, but long standing arrangement, to run buses under franchise to Solent Blue Line on

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

routes 18 and 19. Most of the buses were bodied with the

DAF Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...

chassis including eleven

Wright Cadet The Wright Cadet was a low floor midibus body built on the DAF/VDL SB120 chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2006. It was sold via VDL dealer Arriva Bus & Coach. Of the 681 produced, 366 were for Arriva subsidiaries including eight for its N ...

bodied SB120s and two

East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander The East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander is the type of double-decker bus body built on the DAF/VDL DB250 chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders. The name "Lowlander" was derived from the chassis being built by a company from The Netherlands. H ...

bodied DB250s. In December 2008, the company took part in an

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

scheme to fill a coach with Christmas presents for charity. It was hoped that customers would fill the coach with up to 2,000 gifts. It continued to operate as a separate brand until 2009, with its operations integrated into

Go South Coast Go South Coast is a bus operator on and around the south coast of England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History In August 2003 the Go-Ahead Group purchased the business of Wilts & Dorset, including its Damory Coaches and Touris ...

and the company becoming dormant in 2010, however for a time in October 2013, some buses continued to operate under the Marchwood Motorways licence.

Incidents

October 2006 saw an attack on one of the company's vehicles, a stone being thrown at a school coach nearly injuring pupils. Along with Solent Blue Line, in May 2008, the company was found to have been running services to lower than expected reliability levels, and faced a fine from the Traffic Commissioner.

References

External links

Company website
(archive) {{Defunct British Bus Companies Coach operators in England Former bus operators in England Go South Coast companies Transport in Hampshire