Crosville in
Weston-super-Mare
Whilst the Crosville operations in Wales and the North West ended in 1990s there was a resurrection of bus and coach operations under the Crosville banner for a period of some 7 years in the area of Weston-super-Mare. This page briefly describes the story.
Following the demise of Crosville a number of vehicles that had once been part of the fleet were preserved by various enthusiasts. Some of these were simply kept for showing at various rallies and road runs but some were actually used in operational work such as weddings, private hire, T.V. and film shoots and also as Passenger Service Vehicles on commercial heritage routes.
A businessman from the Weston-Super-Mare area of the South West of England, Jonathan Jones-Pratt not only used former Crosville vehicles in such ways but ran them under the ‘Crosville’ name.
His first former Crosville vehicle so used was KG118 (KFM767) a Bristol L5G / ECW (B35R) which had been new in March 1950.
KG118 (KFM767) at Kingsbridge in September 2012 Photo courtesy Tony Moyes
He obtained an Operating Licence for one vehicle in 2011 although later that year the licence was increased to 5 vehicles. A number of other preserved vehicles were added to the fleet that had been part of such companies as Southern Vectis, Bristol Omnibus Company, Hants and Dorset and London Transport.
LEU263P is a Bristol VR and was 8622 in the Bristol Omnibus Fleet. It was new in July 1976 and was converted to open top in 1986. After a period in the Channel Islands it came to Crosville at Weston-super-Mare in February 2011. Photo courtesy Carl Berry
Former Southern Vectis 573 ((YDL318) a Bristol FS6G / ECW (H33/27RD) came to Weston in July 2011 and is still in the town with Crosville Vintage. (Photo courtesy Keith Newton)
Former Hants and Dorset 1523 (DEL893C) is a Bristol FLF6B / ECW (H38/22F) and it joined the 'Crosville' fleet in Weston in 2011 - it is seen in Burnham-on-Sea in 2012 (Photo courtesy Keith Newton)
The expansion of the business was rapid and in January 2012 a company was formed using the former name of the original company – Crosville Motor Services Limited. The Operators Licence for this company was initially 20 vehicles but this increased later.
In April 2012 the new Crosville company registered a number of commercial bus routes including Weston-super-Mare to Sand Bay, West Wick and Burnham-on-Sea and a sea front service from the Grand Pier to Uphill. In the following year of 2014 further services were added.
To undertake the new services a fleet of second hand buses and coaches were acquired. Initially a number of these were given the cherished registered numbers including 'CMS' e.g. Y23CMS, F17CMS. However this practice did not last long
Y22CMS was a MAN / Noge coach originally YN05BXK and was with the company between 2011 and 2013 Photo courtesy Carl Berry
Crosville's 320 (MX07BAV) an Enterprise Plasma passes 327 (CN07FTC) a VDL SB200 / Plaxton Centro in Weston-super-Mare Photo courtesy Carl Berry
The Crosville depot in Weston-super-Mare with some of the fleet - Photo courtesy Carl Berry
Optare Solo CKZ9869 was originally S105LBL and carried the fleet number 300 in the Weston-super-Mare Fleet. It later worked in North Wales for Express Motors.
Photo Courtesy Carl Berry
V125LGC was number 400 in the Weston-super-Mare fleet. It came in October 2013 having been new to London Central in January 2000. It spent some time with First in Scotland. Photo Courtesy Carl Berry
By June 2015 the fleet had increased to 40 vehicles on the licence. Further services were undertaken when the company began operating contracted service for North Somerset which took the buses of the company to Bristol and part of South Gloucestershire.
In addition to the buses operated the company also had other types of interesting vehicles. A Sentinel Steam bus, GT 2827, was acquired in 2015. It was new in 1931 as a dropside lorry and later a tar sprayer. It was rescued for preservation and converted to a passenger carrying vehicle and for a number of years saw use in Whitby, North Yorkshire before arriving in Weston-super-Mare.
Photo courtesy Keith Newton
Crosville also operated two Land-trains (W675/6 PHW) which operated from 2014 along the promenade in Weston-super-Mare from Knightstone Island to the Tropicana.
Landtrain W675PHW being operated by Crosville - Photo Courtesy Carl Berry
In addition to the large fleet of more modern vehicles the heritage fleet was expanded and in addition to the number of former Crosville vehicles there were many others from a number of operators of great interest to enthusiasts.
DFG81 (891VFM) joined the Weston-super-Mare fleet in December 2011. The Bristol FSF6G was new to Crosville in June 1962 and was converted to open top in 1977. It is still remains in Weston as part of the Crosville Vintage fleet.
(Photo courtesy Keith Newton)
KW175 (LFM756) is a Bristol LL6B / ECW (B39R) and is seen here at the Weston-super-Mare railway station. It is still remains in Weston as part of the Crosville Vintage fleet.
(Photo courtesy Keith Newton)
In 2017 the size of the fleet was reduced due to the Traffic Commissioner reducing the Operating Licence to 29 vehicles.
Not long afterwards in February 2018 the company announced that they were giving notice that they would be ending their local bus and school transport services on Saturday, April 21. They also indicated that their last day of working would be by heritage vehicles and the proceeds for the day would be donated to charities.
Most of the fleet was dispersed but a number of vehicles from the heritage fleet stayed in Weston-Super-Mere owned by Jonathan Jones-Pratt.
For a while a company Crosville Vintage Limited made available heritage buses for hire to members of the public. Currently Jonathan Jones-Pratt has a fleet of 9 former Crosville buses, 5 of which have been restored and are made available for TV and film work but they are NOT available for hire to carry passengers at corporate events, weddings etc. In addition to the Crosville vehicles there are some 8 other vintage buses. Further details can be found <<here>>
Jonathan Jones-Pratt also has a business, Image Coachworks Limited, which carries out restoration of his fleet and offers similar services to others. The Facebook page for this company at <<LINK>> contains posts of the vehicles being restored.