Arriva Fox County

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Arriva Midlands (Leicestershire)
Arriva new corporate livery - worn by VDL DB250 Wright Pulsar Gemini 4772 (35913809393).jpg
An Arriva bus in the new corporate livery in August 2017
ParentArriva Midlands
Founded6 September 1981; 40 years ago (1981-09-06)
HeadquartersWestmoreland Avenue, Thurmaston
LocaleLeicestershire
Service areaLeicester
Loughborough
Melton Mowbray
Coalville
Ashby de la Zouch
Burton upon Trent
Lutterworth
Hinckley
Nuneaton
Blaby
Market Harborough
Coventry
Service typeBus services
Depots3
Fleet200+ (March 2014)
OperatorArriva UK Bus
Chief executiveSimon Mathieson
Websitewww.arrivabus.co.uk/Midlands

Arriva Fox County,[1] trading as Arriva Midlands Limited, is a bus company operating services in Leicestershire. It is a subsidiary of Arriva.

History[]

Midland Fox Marshall BET bodied Leyland Leopard at Coalville depot
A variety of Midland Fox vehicles at South Wigston depot in 1991
East Lancs European bodied Scania L113 in Nottingham in September 2007

In September 1981 Midland Red East[2] was formed with 181 buses operating from five depots in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire as part of the breakup of the Midland Red bus company, and in January 1984 was renamed Midland Fox.[3] In 1987 it was privatised in a management buyout. Several smaller operators including Loughborough Bus & Coach Company were purchased and in 1989 it was sold to the Drawlane Group. In November 1992 it was sold to British Bus which in August 1996 was sold to the Cowie Group.[4][5][6]

In September 1996 the Sandacre Street, Leicester depot was closed.[3] In November 1997 the Cowie Group was renamed Arriva and Midland Fox was rebranded as Arriva Fox County.[3] In 2003 Arriva Fox County merged with Arriva Derby and Arriva Midland North to form Arriva Midlands.[3][4]

On 11 July 2009 the Southgates depot closed and then on 3 October 2011 the Thurmaston depot and head office moved to a new purpose built depot on Westmoreland Avenue.[7]

Arriva Fox County operated services around the Hinckley area until 26 August 2008 when the operations were sold to Centrebus Holdings, a joint venture between Centrebus and Arriva.[8] On 9 September 2013, Arriva took full control of Centrebus Holdings including the Hinckley depot, with the operation trading as HinckleyBus,[9][10] however in 2018 Arriva started a programme to rebrand all of its HinckleyBus services back into standard Arriva branding.[11]

Services[]

Arriva operate most of their services around Leicester from either Haymarket or St Margaret's Bus Stations with a number of services operating from on-street stops within the city centre. Local services in Coalville are operated from on-street stops on Marlborough Square and Memorial Square, while local services in Hinckley are operated from Waterloo Road, serviced from the depot in Barwell.

Depots[]

Arriva operates from three depots across Leicestershire in Barwell, Coalville, and Thurmaston which is the headquarters for Arriva Midlands. Until October 2021 there was a fourth depot located in Wigston, Leicester.

The Barwell depot is also the base for ArrivaClick services in Leicester.

In August 2021 Arriva announced the closure of the Wigston depot in October 2021 with most of the depots operations moving to Thurmaston depot. The depot closed on 31 October 2021, after 64 years of service to the people of Leicester, with the remaining vehicles being transferred to other depots within Arriva Midlands.[12]

Fleet[]

As of November 2020 the fleet consisted of 185+ vehicles.[13]

At the start of 2019 Arriva repainted one of their DAF DB250 Wright Pulsar Gemini's into the Midland Fox livery as a nod to Leicester's Heritage.[14][15]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 2141078 Arriva Midlands Limited formerly Arriva Fox County Limited formerly Midland Fox Limited
  2. ^ Companies House extract company no 1556557 Foxhound Limited formerly Midland Fox Limited formerly Midland Red (East) Limited
  3. ^ a b c d Midland Red Depots Archived 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine MidlandRed.net
  4. ^ a b Arriva Midlands History Archived 28 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Arriva
  5. ^ Cowie Group plc and British Bus Group Limited: A report on the merger situation Competition Commission 31 October 1996
  6. ^ Principal operating subsidiaries of British Bus Competition Commission 1997
  7. ^ Arriva Midlands Thurmaston depot and HQ moves to a new base Arriva
  8. ^ Centrebus Herts & Beds Oxford & Chilterns Bus Page 31 August 2008
  9. ^ "Arriva takes control of East Mids bus operator". 11 September 2013.
  10. ^ Hinkley Bus Arriva
  11. ^ "Services in Hinckley".
  12. ^ http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/fond-memories-one-leicesters-oldest-5813470.amp[bare URL]
  13. ^ "Fleet list" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Arriva marks Midland Fox anniversary". Route One. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Midland Fox tribute". Coach & Bus Week. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2021.

External links[]

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