Darlington Bus War

The Darlington Bus War refers to a series of events between 1986 and 1995 in the UK bus industry in the town of Darlington, northern England, culminating in the wholesale entry of Stagecoach Group onto the Darlington bus scene, and the collapse of Darlington Corporation Transport.

In November 1994, the events in Darlington and in other areas prompted the Director General of Fair Trading to request the Monopolies & Mergers Commission to investigate the supply of bus services in the North East.

As a result of bus deregulation in 1986, the National Bus Company (NBC) as the largest regional bus operator was split into pieces and sold off, and municipal bus companies were being put into stand-alone companies, with many being privatised. In March 1986 the bus operations of Darlington Borough Council (DBC) were incorporated as the Darlington Transport Company Ltd (DTC), although not initially sold.

In August 1986, NBC subsidiary United Automobile Services introduced a small number of new hail and ride town services in Darlington using Mercedes–Benz minibuses under the 'Roadranger' livery in competition with Darlington Transport. These services (covering Firth Moor and the Whinbush areas initially) proved successful, so shortly afterwards United purchased more Mercedes, and some Dodge S56, minibuses and hugely expanded the minibus network which resulted in a doubling of services across the whole town and intense competition with Darlington Transport. From 1988 to 1992 many requests and attempts were made to sell DTC, all coming to nothing. Your Bus, another operator set up by ex-United employees, entered into Darlington in May 1993, prompting a response from United with further registrations, later described as predatory and anti-competitive by the Competition Commission. By 1993, with 3 competing operators, concerns had been raised over 'over-bussing' and congestion in the town centre. By 1994 all three operators were making financial losses.

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