CHRISTOPHER CARTER talks to Paul Landymore about his proud years nurturing Cooks Coaches from a small rural coach company to a significant West Country bus operator catching the eye of Stagecoach. The major group struggled to make a success of its tenure, dissolving the company and ending its journey.
Riding London buses growing up in Finchley and Baker Street, Paul Landymore dreamt of running his own network, conjuring up the name Landylines –a play on his surname. Interested in bus operations, he attended the City of London Polytechnic 1976-80 where a Business Studies degree course specialising in transport included a six-month placement at Hants and Dorset. Its manager recommended the National Bus Company management training scheme, leading to two years at South Wales Transport, rubbing shoulders with James Freeman and Roger French before short stints at Midland Red North and City of Oxford.
