GHA Coaches

GHA Coaches

Irizar Century bodied Scania K94IB in September 2009
Slogan	A Service Second To None or Gwasanaeth heb ei ail
Parent	Eifion Lloyd Davies
Founded	1990
Ceased operation	July 2016
Headquarters	Ruabon
Service area	Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Gwynedd, Merseyside
Service type	Bus & coach services
Hubs	Corwen, Middlewich, Ruthin, Tarvin, Wrexham
Fleet	257 (October 2013)
Website	www.ghacoaches.co.uk

GHA Coaches was a bus and coach operator serving North East Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. It also operated bus services extending into Telford & Wrekin, Staffordshire, Gwynedd and Merseyside.

GHA Coaches ceased trading after entering administration on 13 July 2016. Former GHA services are now operated by a variety of operators including Arriva North West, Stagecoach, High Peak and D&G Bus.

GHA Coaches was founded by Eifion Lloyd Davies in 1990 and originally based in Corwen before moving to Ruabon in the mid-1990s. It later expanded with the purchase of a number of other local companies, including:

Despite being founded in north east Wales, only about half of the bus services run by the company at the time of closure were in this area. Services extended as far north as Manchester and Rhyl, to Hanley and Telford in the east, to Shrewsbury in the south and to Barmouth in the west.

Many coaches were inherited with the purchase of Hanmers Coaches, though as with the bus operations, the coach fleet expanded rapidly. Most coaches carried a livery of silver with red and burgundy stripes and the GHA Coaches name; some were in a similar livery with a white base and the Vale Travel name; some carried a plain yellow livery for school work.

The most common use for the coach fleet was school transport, and GHA had a number of high-capacity coaches dedicated to this work. Coaches were also used for private hire and occasional day trip and holiday work.

GHA's headquarters were at Ruabon. Other depots were at Tarvin, Ruthin, Shrewsbury and Winsford. Vehicles also operated an outstation at Betws Gwerfil Goch.

As at June 2015 the fleet consisted of 325 buses and coaches.

In October 2014 GHA launched a 'GHA Gold' brand on the 88 Knutsford to Wilmslow to Altrincham route. They acquired four new Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses which have WiFi, leather seats, wood effect flooring, a passenger information system and one table on each bus. These vehicles carried branding for the route. They were funded by Waters Corporation as part of a public transport commitment in order for them to get planning permission for building a new large employment site just outside Morley Green. Two of the buses are now owned and operated by Redline buses of Aylesbury who kept the Gold service branding, using them on their service 21 in and around Milton Keynes.