Lucketts Travel

Lucketts Travel
Scania LK400EB OmniExpress 3.60 in the older Lucketts livery in May 2011
Founded 1926
Headquarters Fareham
Service area Hampshire
West Sussex
Service type Coach services
Fleet 103 (April 2013)
Chief executive David Luckett
Website www.lucketts.co.uk
Irizar Century bodied Scania K340EB in Worthing Coaches livery in January 2013
Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL in Portsmouth in March 2012

Lucketts Travel[1] is a coach hire and excursion company with depots in Fareham, Worthing and Southampton.

Lucketts Travel are part of Lucketts Holdings,[2] who also own fellow south coast operators, Worthing Coaches, Coliseum Coaches, Solent Coaches and Mortons Travel Limited.

History

The company was founded in 1926 by Harry Luckett as a haulage and storage company and only bought its first coach in 1976.

Harry Luckett' son joined the company in 1963 and took over shortly after in 1966 when Harry died unexpectedly. The company’s haulage business continued to grow in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with Ready Mix Concrete and Schweppes major clients.

In 1976 David purchased the company’s first coach, choosing to drive it himself. It proved a very enjoyable and successful venture and a second coach was soon purchased. By the mid-1980s the coach fleet had outnumbered the haulage fleet.[3]

In 2005 the Worthing Coaches[4] business was purchased followed in March 2006 by Flagship from Eastbourne Buses.[5][6]

In January 2009 Lucketts Travel took over operation of National Express routes from Portsmouth to London Victoria Coach Station (030), Heathrow Airport (203) and Bristol (300) from Tellings-Golden Miller.[6]

In March 2012 Coliseum Coaches was purchased with 12 coaches.[6][7][8] In March 2013, Lucketts commenced operating further National Express services; London Victoria Coach Station - Brighton (025) and Victoria Coach Station - Gatwick Airport (A3).[9][10]

Fleet

As at April 2013, the fleet consisted of 103 vehicles.[11] The breakdown was Lucketts (54 vehicles), Worthing (8), Coliseum (12) and National Express (29).

In January 2013 a new common livery was introduced. A predominantly white base is offset with a swoop- brown/orange in the case of Lucketts, red/yellow for Worthing Coaches and grey/orange for Coliseum, which also carries a stylised depiction of the Coliseum in Rome.[12] Coaches dedicated to National Express services are painted in the client's livery.

In late 2017, the Luckets Group acquired fellow coach operator, Solent Coaches, as part of their strategic expansion plans.[13]

On 16 April 2018, the Luckets Group acquired 35-coach North Hampshire firm, Mortons Travel Limited, as part of their accelerated expansion plans.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Companies House extract company no 1072023 H Luckett & Co Limited
  2. ↑ Companies House extract company no 3625708 Lucketts Holdings Limited
  3. ↑ About Us Archived 15 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Worthing Coaches
  4. ↑ Companies House extract company no 1313045 Worthing Coaches Limited
  5. ↑ Companies House extract company no 2000069 Eastbourne Buses Limited
  6. 1 2 3 Lucketts:a brief history Coach & Bus Week issue 1082 10 April 2013 page 16
  7. ↑ Lucketts buys Coliseum Archived 6 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. busandcoach.com 28 March 2012
  8. ↑ Companies House extract company no 752569 Coliseum Coaches Limited
  9. ↑ New National Express Contracts for Lucketts Travel Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Lucketts Travel
  10. ↑ New National Express Contracts for Lucketts Travel Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Business East Hants 18 March 2013
  11. ↑ More than a fleeting glance Coach & Bus Week issue 1082 10 April 2013 page 34
  12. ↑ Unified branding for Lucketts fleets Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. buaandcoach.com 17 January 2013
  13. ↑ "Lucketts Group acquires Solent Coaches as part of strategic expansion plans". www.lucketts.co.uk (Press release). Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Lucketts Group acquires 35-coach North Hampshire firm". www.lucketts.co.uk (Press release). Retrieved 28 August 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.