Wallace Arnold
IndustryCoach Tour Operator
Founded1912
FounderRobert Barr (Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust)
Wallace Cunningham
Arnold Crowe
Defunct2005
SuccessorShearings
Headquarters
Leeds
,
England
Parent3i

Wallace Arnold[1] (Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust) was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators.

History

Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912[2] 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.

In February 1969, the Evan Evans tour business in London was purchased.[3] In the late 1970s, Wallace Arnold commenced operating services under the Euroways banner to Europe.[4][5][6]

By 1980 it operated 290 coaches from its headquarters in Gelderd Road, Wortley, Leeds,[2] and owned a subsidiary based in Devon.

When coach services were deregulated by the Transport Act 1980 in October 1980, Wallace Arnold was a founding member of the British Coachways consortium that competed with the state-owned National Express.[7] It left after a year and briefly ran its own service from London to Torbay.[8]

In April 1994, the company gained media attention when five of its fleet transported all of the audience members of an episode of Don't Forget Your Toothbrush to Disneyland Paris, after the two selected audience members won the "Light Your Lemon" game.

In April 2005, Wallace Arnold merged with Shearings to become WA Shearings.[2][9][10] In 2007 the Wallace Arnold name was dropped and now the company is known as Shearings Holidays.[11] 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.[12]

Wallace Arnold owned 2 stage carriage bus services, Kippax Motors and Farsley Omnibus. These were sold to Leeds Corporation in 1968.[13]

Vehicles

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.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Companies House extract company no 177672 Wallace Arnold Tours Limited
  2. 1 2 3 Brown, Jonathan (16 November 2012). "Wallace Arnold Coach Tours: Drivers to descend on Yorkshire for centenary". Yorkshire Evening Post.
  3. ↑ Evan Evans sells out Commercial Motor 14 February 1969 page 33
  4. ↑ Wallace Arnold's Spanish 'Greyhound' Commercial Motor 27 January 1978 page 28
  5. ↑ Volvo to Moscow Commercial Motor 2 February 1979 page 24
  6. ↑ WA's new timetable Commercial Motor 22 March 1980 page 24
  7. ↑ BC starts on October 6 Commercial Motor 27 September 1980 page 24
  8. ↑ Too many seats go west Commercial Motor 30 January 1982 page 13
  9. ↑ UK coach groups geared for merger BBC News 1 February 2005
  10. ↑ Merger clearance for WA Shearings Bus & Coach Professional 1 April 2005
  11. ↑ Coach operator rebrands as Shearings Holidays Travel Weekly 13 September 2007
  12. ↑ Shearings revives the Wallace Arnold brand TTG Digital 29 April 2010
  13. ↑ Laarni. "Kippax and District Motor Co. Ltd. 1924-1968". petergould.co.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  14. ↑ More for Wallace Commercial Motor 19 April 1990 page 18

Further reading

  • Wallace Arnold Days Roger Davis Ian Allan 2010 ISBN 9780711034389
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