Northumberland-based Thornton Brothers is one of the specialists that operators across the country call upon to upgrade their fleets for new route launches or mid-life overhauls. It is currently expanding its facility and will offer additional services as the industry adapts to meet new air quality targets.
The builders are in at Thornton Brothers’ bus refurbishment facility at Ashington, expanding the 30,000sqft of covered buildings to 40,000sqft.
The family owned company, headed by brothers George and Keith Thornton, secured planning permission for its expansion three years ago and is now confident that the volume of work is available to justify the investment.
By late August, when the framework for the new buildings had still to be erected but the groundwork was nearly complete, it had recruited seven new employees over and above the 50 already employed there and was planning to take on at least another seven.
Thorntons is one of the specialist companies that deliver a service once provided by major operators’ central works. There were no specialist companies pre-deregulation because the operators employed a wide range of skilled labour on their own premises, and the operators undertook the work the…
