A Tellings-Golden Miller Caetano Enigma coach. |
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| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | London |
| Locale | Various |
| Service type | Coach tours, local and airport bus services |
| Destinations | Various |
| Fleet | 211 buses 45 coaches |
| Operator | Arriva |
| Web site | http://www.tellingsgoldenmiller.co.uk/ |
Tellings-Golden Miller (TGM), a subsidiary of Arriva, is a bus service and coach operator in the United Kingdom.
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Reputedly, Fred Varney began the Golden Miller company with the winnings from a bet made on the horse Golden Miller, which won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in 1934.[1] In 1955 his business, then comprising two coaches and a booking office in Twickenham, was acquired by F.G. Wilder & Sons Ltd. of Feltham. In 1967 Wilder bought out "Tourist Bus Service" which had one vehicle and a stage carriage licence for the number 601 service between Feltham Station and East Bedfont, which it had operated since 1955. This service was continued under the Golden Miller brand name and, in 1968, routes 602 (from Feltham to Shepperton) and 603 (from Feltham to Hanworth via Elmwood Avenue) were added. In 1970 the route from Walton-on-Thames to Walton-on-Thames station was taken over from Walton-on-Thames Motor Co. Ltd. and extended to Oatlands village as service 604. Route 605 was planned for the Claygate area but did not come into effect, and route 606 began in 1971 from Staines to Stanwell Moor and Stanwell village.[2]
In June 1985, control of Golden Miller passed from Wilder to Tellings Coaches of Byfleet, a family-run concern which had been founded by Stephen Telling in 1972.[1] Routes 601 and 603 were transferred to Fountain Coaches of Feltham from October 1985; these routes being combined as route 600 (East Bedfont to Hanworth via Feltham) in June the following year. The Golden Miller business continued to operate routes 602 and 606[3] until about 1988.
In 1989 the company was taken over by Midland Fox. A small number of London Transport contracted routes were won by the company over the following two years. However, by 1993 Midland Fox had itself been acquired by British Bus and was no longer willing to operate TGM. Stephen Telling re-acquired the company with financial support from Julian Peddle, and also took over Classic Coaches.[4]
The TGM group was established in 2003. TGM has been operating local bus services since 1995. TGM operates coaches and maintains subsidiaries in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, Surrey and the North East of England, and owns Classic Coaches, Link Line Coaches, OFJ Connections, Network Colchester, Excel Passenger Logistics and Flight Delay Services. The company previously ran bus services in South West London and north west Surrey, inheriting some through acquisition of Capital Logistics. However, these services were sold to National Express Group in 2005; as part of the reciprocal deal Tellings Golden Miller became an official National Express franchisee, running several coach routes on behalf of National Express Group. In May 2009, these South West London and Surrey bus services were sold to Abellio and now operate as Abellio London & Surrey.
The group recommenced operation of bus services in Surrey with the takeover of Wiltax in June 2007.
In December 2007, it was announced that Arriva were going to buy Tellings-Golden Miller for £10.3 million,[5] ironically bringing it back into bus operations in Colchester, which they sold to TGM in 2004.
In April 2008, TGM acquired Excel Passenger Logistics based at Stansted Airport and its associated companies Excel Gatwick and Flight Delay Services based at Manchester Airport, [6]
Later that month, the Wiltax operations at their New Haw depot were scaled down, with most routes passing to different operators. Some routes continued to be run by Wiltax, but from Tellings-Golden Miller's Heathrow depot. In September 2008, Wiltax operations at New Haw were finally stopped, with all operations transferred to TGM's Heathrow depot.
In February 2010 the Haverhill operations of Burton's Coaches, together with the name, were sold to Yellow Star Travel Services which was formed by the management for this purpose. The National Express services had been earlier transferred to the Stansted depot of Excel Passenger Logistics. Burton's ceased operating in May 2011.[7]
In February Tellings-Golden Miller was placed under the control of Arriva UK Bus with Steve Telling (Managing Director) reporting directly to Mike Cooper (Managing Director of Arriva UK Bus).
In August 2010, TGM Group took over the Arriva Shires & Essex services from Harlow garage, with a Network Harlow identity for the local routes (similar to Network Colchester).
Tellings Golden Miller no longer have a Portsmouth Depot (as of 11 January 2009), with all National Express operations being transferred to Lucketts Travel, and the Hoverbus being transferred to Stagecoach South, from the Portsmouth (Farlington) depot.
All vehicles have been transferred to TGM's other bases.
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