FITZCHARLES COACHES LTD

HISTORY

It's around 75 years since Robert Fitzcharles opened a bicycle shop in Lumley Street, Grangemouth in 1929.

Today that business is run by his Grandson, Granddaughter and Great Grandson. Throughout the four generations who have run the shop there have been many changes. But one thing is certain we still provide the same trustworthy reliable and personal service four generations later as he did then.

The business like many struggled through the war years and with not much to sell and not many to sell to we provided a lifeline to local families charging and selling accumulator batteries for their radio sets people used.

Throughout the years the shop diversified into electrical sales and installing electricity in houses. The big transformation came when we opened a garage, petrol station and started limousine hire, taxi and coach hire business. Over a period of years we simplified our business to cycle, television sales and repairs. Nowadays we only sell and repair cycles and charter our touring coach fleet.

In 1934 the taxi business was entered, and coaching was commenced almost by accident in about 1948: a hospital service had been operating using 1 taxi, but traffic grew to such a degree that 3 taxis were eventually required, and it was decided that to purchase a bus as a more economical way of running the service. The first vehicle purchased was a second-hand Guy Arab single decker service bus, and was the first of 3 such vehicles to run in this fleet. The first new coach with a Brockhouse full-front luxury body which was very similar to the Park Royal bodies being built at that time. This coach was delivered in 1950, and the company had to wait some time for it, so purchased a Bedford OB in the meantime to assist with the rapid expanding business.

2 interesting coaches were purchased in 1951, both under floor engined 41-seater with the new classis Burlingham Seagull body. 1 was an AEC Regal IV, and the other an Atkinson Alpha PL7 45H, a very unusual chassis. In the early 80's Robert Fitzcharles recalled the AEC particularly clearly "This was the first AEC that we had ever purchased, and the specification caused problems. The vehicle had an air operated semi-automatic gearbox, and the air brakes, and a failure in the air system resulted in no drive, gears, or brakes. The chassis was very heavy, which resulted in poor fuel consumption. The Atkinson was a Gardiner 5LW engine was very economical - 18 miles to the gallon was not unusual yet was just as fast as the AEC. The problem, which we had with the Atkinson, was excessive brake wear. The best vehicle of the lot was the Brockhouse-bodied Guy, which we kept for 14 years and in that time had no major repair work done to the engine which was very reliable, but on the rare occasions when repair work was necessary this was a time consuming job as many parts were almost inaccessible".

In the 1950's more Bedfords were introduced to the fleet, and apart from 1 Bedford purchased in the 1960's the fleet had been 100% Bedford ever since. With the growth of the coach fleet the taxis became less important, and the taxi was sold in 1957. The coach business became a separate company with three directors: Robert, George, Donald and George son Ronald. A third brother, Donald, was also a director but regrettably died in 1981. All the directors drove the coaches as well as assisting in the day-to-day management of the company.

So in the late 1970's the current fleet consisted of 9 Bedford's. The oldest coaches was 2 1965's Bedford SB5's with Bedford's 330 engines and Plaxton Panorama bodywork. Both these vehicles had been owned since new and despite sixteen years old were in immaculate condition, with original moquette and paintwork.2 Duple Viceroy 45-seaters were owned, 1 on a VAM5 chassis and 1 a YRQ with Duple Dominant bodywork was also operated. The remaining 4 coaches were all 53-seater Plaxtons; 2 were YRT's and 1 a YMT, the most recent coach then, a Bedford YNT.

The 1965 Bedford's had been particularly reliable machines, and had each completed 500,000 miles of trouble-free service, 1 of the pair still retaining its original engine, and it is perhaps the continued reliability of these older coaches which had influenced the more recent Bedford purchases. When new, the SB's had poor brakes, but this was cured by fitting soft brake linings as replacements, and it is now company policy to fit soft brake linings to every coach when these require renewal.

Ronald's thought of Bedford chassis and coach chassis design in general. "I feel that the basic product that Bedford make is usually good, but reliability is often low because of relatively minor design faults. I wish that chassis designers would listen to what the coach operators say about their products, and incorporate mechanical improvements to chassis far more quickly to alleviate design faults. Although we have had some frustrating problems with the Bedford chassis in our fleet in more recent years, we are convinced that the basic design are usually sound."

"The turbocharged Bedford YNT is without doubt the most powerful coach that we have ever owned. Pulling power is enormous, and acceleration is also very good. After test-driving a pre-production model, we felt that sound insulation was necessary, although in actual fact our coach is considerably less noisy than the prototype; the insulation makes it exceptionally quiet. The other problem which I encountered when test driving the prototype was the poor gearshift; it was almost impossible to make a satisfactory gear change at times, particularly a downward change. This has been cured on the new coach by the provision of 2 gates on the gear change, which makes gear selection much easier. We were a little annoyed not to get proper handbook with the coach, but have been told that this is not yet available, despite the design being conceived some time ago".

In 1982 the company changed its replacement policy due to the unreliability factor of the Bedford's with last 2 a YMT and a YNT both proving disastrous.

The decision to buy our first Volvo was a revolution in reliability and gave the company confidence to tackle long haul travel once more. In 1980 the new transport bill gave the company the opportunity to enter into package holiday and day tour excursions sold direct to the public, not without objection and a visit the traffic court to see off the opposition. For many years we had offered package holidays to senior groups, but now we could sell to the public. Throughout the 1980's all 3 brothers died and Ronald Fitzcharles became managing director and his sister Olive became director/secretary and in 1992 the 4 th generation started in the company and is the accounts manager.

Throughout the 1980's and 1990's saw the company progress from lightweight Bedford's to Volvos and DAF coaches with a mixture of Plaxton and Caetano bodies. Our latest acquisitions were 2 DAF SB4000 Ayats Atlantis coaches.

Attention to detail back in the 1930's still remains much the same as it does today in the choice of bodywork specification. We ourselves are particularly fussy about detail interior and exterior design, as we feel that an attractively finished coach will play a significant part in bringing in work to the company. The moquettes, which are chosen for the coaches, are picked for their durability as well as for attractiveness. Also nowadays with the introduction of Televisions, Videos, Coffee Makers, Fridges, Toilets, Air-Conditioning, Re-clining Seats, Seat belts, Electronic/ABS Braking, Fuel efficient/high specification engines providing the lowest exhaust emissions in Europe, Interior Clean Air Filters, Lowering suspension for easier boarding/disembarking, Fewer seats allowing for more legroom are only, but a few modifications that have taken place over the past ten years. The future looks even brighter and even more luxurious for the passenger and enjoyment for the driver. Over the next few years Fitzcharles Coaches will be slowly changing our paintwork designs to include our own royal cress. We operate a strict environmental policy recycling every possible item right down to the newspapers and glassware left by passengers and our coach buying policy ensures that we have always got the latest technology with regard to emission control. Our health and safety policy is continually being upgraded to keep abreast of all the changing legislation making Fitzcharles Coaches a very competitive company that our opposition can only admire. Our staff many of whom have decades of service and some home worked their whole lives with us who provide experience and training for the new recruits and our whole team of course are part of the family who are our ambassadors, although we have many backroom people who our customers never see but without them we could not continue to operate.

A few years ago we made a family decision not to expand our business and we have stuck to this and now run 15 full size luxury coaches with 49-seats and 1 24-seater minibus.