Centra was one of many operators of London Buses

London Buses

London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London that manages bus services within Greater London, UK. Buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme...

. They were the transport division of Central Parking Systems of UK Limited (CPS) who acquired the assets of Wimco Group Coaches Limited (which has been trading as Mitcham Belle) in August 2004. The company ran its last passenger services on 19 May 2006.

In a separate operation, Centra also ran buses in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 and around Heathrow

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 and Gatwick airports, after purchasing Thames Bus in October 2003. This division lasted two years before being sold to Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark is a luxury coach and corporate cars business, which is part of the Rotala group. It is based in the English Midlands and has depots around the country, including one at Heathrow Airport.- History :...

 in 2005.

London

Centra had 2 bus garages: Streatham Road, which operated Mitcham Belle coach operations which also passed into Centra's hands until they closed this depot, and moved the coach operations to a new site on the Willow Lane Industrial Estate, which was also going to be used as a bus garage to replace the Beddington Depot, and Beddington Mitcham Belle bus operations.

Beddington garage held 53 buses, and ran a number of London Buses

London Buses

London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London that manages bus services within Greater London, UK. Buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme...

 routes. It was originally opened by Mitcham Belle; the yard was taken over in 2004 by Central Parking Systems under the Centra name following poor performance and a history of poor public relations. A huge overhaul of buses and other issues was undertaken by Centra; however, despite trying its hardest, it was unable to improve the reliability issues. Some of the drivers that had been taken on from Mitcham Belle were notoriously bad. This led to the loss and subsequent early surrender of the route 127 contract to Metrobus

Metrobus (Go-Ahead Group)

Metrobus is a bus operator with routes in south and south-east London, and parts of Surrey, Kent, West and East Sussex. The company operates many routes on tender from Transport for London. Formed through a management buyout of Tillingbourne Ltd...

.

On 21 April 2006 it also lost its 152 route, although the handover to new operator Travel London

Travel London

Travel London was a bus operator in London which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In May 2009 the company was sold to NedRailways, now called Abellio...

 was delayed by problems sourcing enough vehicles.

Rumours abound in some circles that Centra were looking to sell off the bus operation to concentrate on their traditional operations of parking and courtesy buses. It was confirmed as the company consulted on redundancies at their Beddington Lane depot.

Centra ceased their London bus operations on 19 May 2006 when its buses ran on the 200, 201 and 493 routes for the last time. The following day, London General

London General

London General is a bus company operating in Surrey ang Greater London. It is owned by the Go-Ahead Group and operates most buses under contract to London Buses...

 began operating the 200, East Thames Buses

East Thames Buses

East Thames Buses was the only government owned bus operator of London Buses. It was sold to London General in 2009.-History:East Thames Buses was formed in 1999 to take over the services operated by the failed Harris Bus Company...

 the 201 and Armchair the 493, Centra's London based coach operations operated out of the a new on the Willow Lane Industrial Estate in Mitcham, the coach operation operated for a few more months before being sold to Wiltax in August 2006.
The following bus types used at Beddington:

• Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer
  Plaxton Pointer
  The Plaxton Pointer is a successful single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Plaxton and latterly built by Alexander Dennis.With the launch of the Dennis Dart in 1989, Plaxton's subsidiary Reeve Burgess made the Pointer body on the short 8.5 m...
  
  
• Dennis Dart SLF/Caetano
  Salvador Caetano
  Grupo Salvador Caetano, SGPS, SA is a Portuguese holding based in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal that controls some enterprises on vehicle assembly, components and distribution business....
  
   Compass
• Optare Solo
  Optare Solo
  The Optare Solo is a low-floor midibus manufactured by Optare in Leeds, UK since 1997. The name "Solo" is a play on the low-floor status of the bus, the manufacturer believing its vehicle having an entrance that is "so low" from the floor, namely 200 mm with kneeling suspension.The innovative...
  
  
• MCW Metrobus
  MCW Metrobus
  The MCW Metrobus is a double decker bus model manufactured by MCW from 1977 until 1989, with over 4,000 examples built. The original MkI model was superseded by the MkII model in 1981/1982, although production of the original MkI continued for London Transport until 1985...
  
  
• Volvo Olympian
  Volvo Olympian
  The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engine double decker bus built by Volvo at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was first built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian....
  
  /East Lancs Pyoneer
  East Lancs Pyoneer
  The East Lancs Pyoneer is a type of double-decker bus body built on the Volvo Olympian, Dennis Arrow and Volvo B10M by East Lancashire Coachbuilders. The name continues the pattern of using 'misspelt' product names, started by the Cityzen.-History:...
  
  
• Volvo Olympian
  Volvo Olympian
  The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engine double decker bus built by Volvo at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was first built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian....
  
  /Northern Counties Palatine
  Northern Counties Palatine
  The Northern Counties Palatine is a step-entrance double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties of Wigan, UK. It was built mainly on Leyland Olympian and Volvo Olympian chassis, although some were also built on DAF, Volvo B10M Citybus and Scania chassis...
  
   1

Surrey

The Surrey operations at a depot in New Haw

New Haw

New Haw is a village in Surrey, England about 25 miles to the southwest of London. It is located near the communities of Byfleet, West Byfleet, Woodham, Weybridge, Addlestone and Ottershaw....

, near Addlestone

Addlestone

Addlestone is a town in the borough of Runnymede in the county of Surrey, England.Immediate surrounding towns and villages include Weybridge, Ottershaw, Chertsey, and New Haw. It is near Junction 11 of the M25 motorway and is served by Addlestone railway station on the Chertsey Branch Line. It also...

 It ran Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....

 routes 22 ( Dorking to Newdigate only), 28 (Sunday only), 38, 71, 72 (school service Brooklands to Old Woking and return and Saturday afternoons), 81, 218 (Sunday only), 400, 442(Sunday only), 456 (Sunday only), 472, 516, 547, 548, 549, 690, 698, 801, 803, 833, E303, and Jet Coach.

The Surrey services started after purchasing Thames Bus in October 2003. Two years later, in 2005, the operation was sold to Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark is a luxury coach and corporate cars business, which is part of the Rotala group. It is based in the English Midlands and has depots around the country, including one at Heathrow Airport.- History :...

, part of Rotala

Rotala

Rotala is an Alternative Investment Market listed company, which owns a variety of UK transport operators.Rotala was set up in 2005, with the main intention of acquiring or gaining majority interest in businesses within a number of areas.-Surrey Connect:...

, and was operated with Surrey Connect branding. After a period of being operated by Wiltax, most of these services are now run by Travel Surrey

Travel Surrey

Travel Surrey was a bus operator in Surrey which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. It was given its own brand name from 1 September 2007. In May 2009, the company, along with Travel London, was sold to NedRailways...

.

It used a number of vehicle types:

• Dennis Dart
  Dennis Dart
  The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
  
  /Plaxton Pointer
  Plaxton Pointer
  The Plaxton Pointer is a successful single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Plaxton and latterly built by Alexander Dennis.With the launch of the Dennis Dart in 1989, Plaxton's subsidiary Reeve Burgess made the Pointer body on the short 8.5 m...
  
  
• Volvo B10BLE
  Volvo B10BLE
  The Volvo B10BLE is a low-entry city bus chassis which was popular in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and Australia. It was launched around 1992 with the engine mounted on the rear overhang of the bus. It was the successor of the citybus version of Volvo B10B and is used as a base for single-deck...
  
  /Wrightbus
  Wrightbus
  Wrightbus is an independent coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus. Based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.-History:...
  
  
• TransBus Enviro300
• Mercedes-Benz Vario
  Mercedes-Benz Vario
  The Mercedes-Benz Vario is a heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. Originally launched as the T2 in 1986, the Vario gained its current name when it was facelifted in 1996. The T2 van itself succeeded the Mercedes-Benz L van series.The bodyshell remained relatively unchanged since production...
  
  /Plaxton Beaver
  Plaxton Beaver
  The Plaxton Beaver, originally known as the Reeve Burgess Beaver, is a minibus body built by Plaxton. It was built at the Pilsley, Derbyshire factory of Plaxton's Reeve Burgess subsidiary from 1987-1991, at Plaxton's main Scarborough factory from 1991, and from 1995 at Anston in South Yorkshire.The...
  
  
• Mercedes-Benz Citaro

External links

• Transport for London