Dudley's Coaches

Dudley’s Coaches has it’s origins in 1938 when Ernie Dudley decided to form his own motor vehicle repair business on land adjacent to his parents' house in Radford near Inkberrow. In 1954 the company had its first proper involvement in passenger transport when an orange Cheverolet school bus was purchased to take children from Abbots Morton and Radford to Rous Lench School. In 1960  the first public service  specification vehicle, a 14-seater Karrier with Reading body, was purchased. In 1968 Ernie's son Christopher left school and joined the company. In 1973 the fleet colour changed to blue and white. In 1976 the company's first new large coach was purchased a 53-seater Ford R1114 with Plaxton Supreme body. This also heralded a change in the company colour scheme once again and the current company livery of green and cream was adopted.  In 1986 the coach fleet and business of Royal Motorways of Redditch was purchased. The amalgamation of the two fleets led to changes at the Radford premises as a larger parking area had to be made at the rear of the workshop. In 1988 new offices were built on the site, replacing the then redundant original workshop. Royal Motorways was an old established coach operator based in Studley Road in Redditch. Like Dudley’s it had a fleet of Ford coaches though in the years immediately before the takeover by Dudley’s the Company had purchased a number of Leyland Leopard based coaches. In May 2002 Dudley’s purchased the Redditch based Kingfisher Coaches business and as a result four coaches joined the Dudley’s fleet though two of the vehicles were soon replaced. Dudley’s Coaches has continued to use the former Arthur Street based of Kingfisher Coaches in Redditch as an outstation. Currently the fleet consists of 21 coaches, the majority of the vehicles are Volvos with Plaxton bodywork. In 1998, Dudley's Coaches celebrated their 60th anniversary, and in recognition, painted two coaches using a special livery of coloured swatches, showing the Dudley's fleet colours across the ages. The company also operates vehicles in both the Royal Motorways and Kingfisher Coaches liveries. In July 2004 following the decision to end bus operation by Warners of Tewkesbury (who traded as the Boomerang Bus Company) their Pershore local bus service passed to Dudley's together with the Dennis Dart vehicle they used. During March 2010 Dudley's took delivery of their second new coach since the company was formed in the shape of DC10CED. The vehicle is named Tanworth Tourer II the signifance being the founder of the company Ernie Dudley was born in Tanworth. The first new coach purchased by the company UWP96R remains in the fleet as a preserved vehicle.