Chase Coaches Limited operated buses under the trading name of Chase Bus Services. They operated mainly Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

 buses, many nearly 30 years old, from a depot based in Chasetown

Chasetown

Chasetown is an area in the town of Burntwood, and is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich in Staffordshire, England.Chasetown began as a coal mining village in the mid-18th century, at first known simply as Cannock Chase...

, Burntwood

Burntwood

Burntwood is a town in Staffordshire, England, lying in the Cannock Chase area approximately west of Lichfield. The town had a population of 25,674 at the time of the 2001 census and forms part of Lichfield district. The town forms one of the largest urbanised parishes in England. Samuel Johnson...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

. Bus services operated within the areas of Walsall

Walsall

Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...

, Cannock

Cannock

Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....

 and Brownhills

Brownhills

Brownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...

 within Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

 and the West Midlands county

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

.

Chase Coaches Limited was sold to Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.-Arriva Midlands North:...

 on 25 February 2007 and ceased to operate completely on 28 April 2007.

History

Chase Bus Services was setup by Graham Dodd (who also ran up to eleven coaches operating as Chase Coaches Limited) after bus deregulation

Bus deregulation

Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...

 in 1986. The livery of white, orange and brown was adopted after the purchase of some former Greater Manchester PTE Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

 buses. Prior to the adoption of the orange/white/brown livery, the fleet colours were off-white with prussian blue relief. This paint scheme probably originated from a previous Cannock area operator, Churchbridge Luxury Coaches, who ceased to operate when Graham Dodd started operating.

The first service buses were East Lancs bodied Leyland Leopard

Leyland Leopard

The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...

s. These were used on works services from around 1983 and moving onto bus services in 1986. Further Leyland Leopards once operated by Midland Red North were added to the fleet in 1987, but Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

s eventually became the standard bus type. At one stage three Bristol RE / ECW buses were operated. In the early days of bus service operation around 1987 coaches would sometimes be used on bus services, for example an AEC Reliance /Plaxton and Bristol LHS types.

Chase Coaches Limited owned 27 buses at the time of the Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.-Arriva Midlands North:...

 takeover. The majority of these were Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

s, but also included DAF SB220

DAF SB220

The DAF SB220 is a city bus chassis produced by DAF Bus International in the 1980s and 1990s.It has been superseded by the DAF/VDL SB200 and SB250.-United Kingdom :*Optare Delta*Ikarus Citibus...

/Ikarus

Ikarus Bus

Ikarus is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest, Hungary. It was established in 1895 as Uhri Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme .-History:...

 Citibus and three Dennis Dart SLF/UVG Citistar single-deckers. As part of the takeover 40 employees transferred from Chase to Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands

Arriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.-Arriva Midlands North:...

.

All the buses apart from the Ikarus and three Darts were sold off at auction. The DAF and one of the Darts have been moved to Shrewsbury depot, with Cannock garage using the other two Darts.

Arriva Midlands operated a Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

 day on 28 April 2007 to commemorate the end of Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

 operations which took in a majority of the routes operated. The last day services included an additional two Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

buses duplicating the scheduled services. However, six Nationals were retained for a further month due to a lack of vehicles.

Routes

This is a list of known bus services previously, at some stage, operated by Chase Coaches Limited under the Chase Bus Services banner:

Route	From	Via	Via	To
1	Walsall	Bloxwich	Great Wyrley	Cannock
2	The Palfrey Circular Service
2	Walsall	Bloxwich		Cheslyn Hay
3	Walsall/The Delves Circular
4	Walsall	Friar Park	Wednesbury	Great Bridge
5	Walsall	Willenhall	Bentley	Bilston
6	Walsall	Darlaston	Moxley	Bilston
7	Walsall	Wednesbury	Darlaston	Walsall
8	Walsall	Darlaston	Wednesbury	Walsall
9	Walsall	Darlaston		Bentley (Lodge Farm)
12	Lichfield			Burton
45	Walsall	Pelsall		Norton Canes
46	Walsall	Pelsall	Brownhills	Norton Canes
51	Walsall	Park Hall	Scott Arms	Birmingham
57	Burntwood	Brownhills	Aldridge	Sutton Coldfield
67	Walsall	Aldridge	Walsall Wood	Brownhills
94	Walsall	Walsall Wood	Brownhills	Burntwood
303	Cannock	Hednesford		Rose Hill
319	Walsall	Goscote	Blakenall	Bloxwich
325	Bloxwich	Willenhall	Lane Head	Wednesbury
326	Bloxwich	New Invention		Willenhall
327	Willenhall	Darlaston		Wednesbury
355	Walsall	Rushall	Daw End	Aldridge
360	Walsall	Pelsall	High Heath	Aldridge
361	Walsall	Pelsall		Lower Farm
362	Walsall	Rushall	Pelsall	Brownhills
363	Walsall	Bentley	Lodge Farm	Willenhall
364	Walsall	Beechdale	New Invention	Coppice Farm
365	Walsall	Beechdale	Bentley	Ashmore Park
367	Walsall	Aldridge		Castlefort
374	Hundred Acre Estate	Four Oaks		Sutton Coldfield
381	Walsall	Aldridge	Shenstone	Lichfield
529	Walsall	Bentley	Willenhall	Wolverhampton
560	Bloxwich	New Invention	Wednesfield	Wolverhampton
561	Walsall	Bloxiwch	Wednesfield	Wolverhampton
562	Wolverhampton	Wednesfield	Bloxwich	Burntwood
860A	Lichfield	Burntwood	Chase Terrace	Cannock
867	Norton Canes			Cannock
X55	Birmingham		Brownhills	Burntwood
X58	Lichfield			Merry Hill Centre

Coaches Operated

The following is a list of coaches previously operated under the Chase Coaches Limited banner:

Fleet	Reg	Engine	Body	Seating
251	PSU 988	Volvo B10MGL	Caetano Algarve	C53F
252	PSU 989	Volvo B10MGL	Caetano Algarve	C53F
253	PSU 906	Setra S215HD	Setra	C49FT
268	PSU 946	Volvo B10M-62	Van Hool Alizee	C49FT
269	PSU 987	Volvo B10M-62	Van Hool Alizee	C49FT
270	PSU 954	Volvo B10M-62	Van Hool Alizee	C49FT

External links

• Arriva bus UK website