Hadleigh Bus Depot

Hadleigh Bus Depot is a bus garage in Hadleigh, east of London. It is used by First Essex buses who operate many of the routes in the county of Essex and especially in the South East of the county. It has the depot code HH.

Contents

History

It was originally used by Westcliff on Sea Motor Services, before that company was absorbed into Eastern National. In July 1990, the south Essex and London activities of Eastern National became part of a new company, called Thamesway. At that time, Eastern National was under ownership of its management,having been sold off by the National Bus Company in 1986. In 1990 it passed to Badgerline Holdings. In 1999 Badgerline and GRT Holdings joined to form First. After the formation of First, the company became one whole unit again; First Essex.

Location

The depot is located on London Road, Hadleigh, just west of the shopping centre and about 6 miles from central Southend. The depot is immediately to the east of a roundabout where the A13 London Road/Kiln Road meets the B1014 Benfleet Rd and A129 Rayleigh Road.

Description of depot

It is currently the main depot for First buses serving the Southend area, following the closure of the depots at Southend (Prittlewell) in 1992; Southend (London Road) in 1987, and Canvey in 1978.

The depot consists of a large garage/workshop building, with an enquiry office on the London Road frontage. There are two yards, on the east and west sides of the complex. Buses enter the depot from the east, and pass through a wash and fuelling point on this side of the garage. Buses mainly exit from the west side.

At 2009, Hadleigh has an allocation of mostly single deck Dennis Darts, but with a few double deck Leyland and Volvo Olympians. This equates to approximately 65 vehicles.