Title: Independent Bus Operators in Derbyshire
Author: Neville Mercer
Publisher: Venture Publications
ISBN: 978-1-905304-78-3
Specification: 235mm x 165mm, 192pp, softback
Price: £20
Neville Mercer’s latest Super Prestige profile of a county’s independents taps a rich seam of interest in Derbyshire, territory that embraces the rural beauty of the Peak District, the coal mining communities of the northeast and the manufacturing industry around Derby.
Although the core subject matter is the independent sector, he sets its story within the context of the dominant larger operators, which carved out territories bound by area agreements of where each abutted against its neighbours. This part of the story also contains some informative dialogue on the establishment figures who financed and formed the BET-owned companies in this part of the East Midlands.
Perhaps of greatest interest are the larger independents, almost all of whom sold out to their larger neighbours in postwar years.
An exception to that fate is Hulleys of Baslow, still around today after various changes of ownership and identity, but still independent. Its colourful past saw it exercise an eye for a bargain and make a rare purchase of ex-Midland R…
