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Wallace Arnold
Preserved Plaxton bodied Leyland Leopard
in September 2008
ParentBarr & Wallace Arnold Trust (1926-1997)
3i (1997-2005)
Shearings (2005-2007)
Founded1912
Defunct2005
HeadquartersLeeds, West Yorkshire, England
Service typeCoach tour operator
FoundersRobert Barr
Wallace Cunningham
Arnold Crowe

Wallace Arnold was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators.

History

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Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912[1] and was named after two of its founders Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe. In 1926, the Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust was founded by Robert Barr, and would continue running the company for 76 years.[2]

After having sold its Kippax Motors and Farsley Omnibus stagecarriage operations to the Leeds Corporation in 1968,[3] in February 1969, Wallace Arnold purchased the Evan Evans tour business in London.[4] In the late 1970s, Wallace Arnold commenced operating express coach services under the Euroways brand to Continental Europe.[5][6][7]

By the time that coach services were deregulated by the Transport Act 1980 in October 1980, Wallace Arnold operated 290 coaches from its headquarters in Gelderd Road, Wortley, Leeds,[1] and also owned a subsidiary based in Devon.[citation needed] Immediately following deregulation, Wallace Arnold was a founding member of the British Coachways consortium that competed with the state-owned National Express.[8] It left after a year and briefly ran its own service from London to Torbay.[9]

In 1997, Wallace Arnold was sold to the multinational private equity and venture capital company 3i.[10] This was followed in April 2005 with Wallace Arnold merging with Shearings in a £200,000,000 (equivalent to £377,194,000 in 2023) deal to become WA Shearings, claiming a 14% share of the UK coach holiday market.[1][11][12] In 2007 the Wallace Arnold name was dropped, with the company name simplified to Shearings Holidays.[13] The merger included eight travel shops in Yorkshire, rebranded from Wallace Arnold Travel to WA Shearings. These kept the WA Shearings name until 2010, when they reverted to their original Wallace Arnold Travel name.[14]

Fleet

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Wallace Arnold was the largest operator of the Bedford VAL 3 axle coach. After becoming a large Leyland Leopard and Volvo B58 customer, in later years it standardised on Volvo B10M and Volvo B12Ms, mostly with Jonckheere and Plaxton bodies.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Brown, Jonathan (16 November 2012). "Wallace Arnold Coach Tours: Drivers to descend on Yorkshire for centenary". Yorkshire Evening Post. Leeds. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  2. ^ Hotten, Russell (15 October 1994). "Family feud at Barr & Wallace Arnold". The Independent. London. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Kippax and District Motor Co. Ltd. 1924-1968". Local Transport History. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Evan Evans sells out". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 14 February 1969. p. 33. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Wallace Arnold's Spanish 'Greyhound'". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 27 January 1978. p. 28. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Volvo to Moscow". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 2 February 1979. p. 24. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  7. ^ "WA's new timetable". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 22 March 1980. p. 24. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  8. ^ Millier, Noel (27 September 1980). "BC starts on October 6". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. p. 24. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  9. ^ "Too many seats go west". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 30 January 1982. p. 13. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  10. ^ Meyer, Harriet (24 January 2005). "Coach duo try to revive merger deal". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  11. ^ "UK coach groups geared for merger". BBC News. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  12. ^ "Merger clearance for WA Shearings". Bus & Coach Professional. 1 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  13. ^ Dennis, Juliet (13 September 2007). "Coach operator rebrands as Shearings Holidays". Travel Weekly. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  14. ^ "Shearings revives the Wallace Arnold brand". TTG Digital. 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  15. ^ "More for Wallace". Commercial Motor. 19 April 1990. p. 18. Retrieved 13 July 2014.

Further reading

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Media related to Wallace Arnold at Wikimedia Commons

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