User:MonteCarlo2006/sandbox

History
The company was founded and incorporated 20th August 2015 by Trevor R Shore MBE. The company started trading when it was granted it's Standard National Public Service Vehicle Operator's Licence for 2 vehicles on 23rd June 2016. The founding vehicle was a 1967 Bristol Lodekka FLF registered KRU 224F belonging to Hants & Dorset Motor Services and based in Bournemouth it's entire operational life. After a long period of preservation lasting 36 years, the vehicle was certified as a Public Service Vehicle on 10th February 2016 The bus remains with company as it's showbus and is restored in the vehicle's retiring livery of National Bus Company poppy red with white relief between decks. The Bristol Lodekka was purchased for the purposes of Private Hire and Wedding Special type duties.

The company name was formed by using 'Dekka' from the Bristol Lodekka marque with bus added at the end.

2016
In June 2016, the Bristol Lodekka was deployed on a number of Wedding Specials and remained the sole member of the fleet.

2017
January 2017 saw the introduction of another vehicle; this being a 1992 ex China Light & Power Leyland Olympian triaxle 102 seat coach with Alexander RH bodywork. The vehicle suffered reliability issues at first so the launch of Dekkabus 1021 was postponed until March 2017. The Leyland Olympian was presented in a similar version of Alder Valley's 'LondonLink' livery applied to their Leyland Olympian coaches back in 1985 and was colloquially referred to as National Bus Company venetian blind livery. Where 'Londonlink' fleetnames would have been applied, Dekkabus fleetnames were used instead. Another notable difference was that Dekkabus had used reflective vinyl decals creating a dramatic effect at night. The Olympian was used on Private Hire, Airport Transfer, Shuttle and Conference work duties and in November 2017, the company was contracted as a supplier to First Travel Solutions for South Western Railway and Great Western Railway rail replacement bus services.

2018
After an encouraging trading year in 2017, the company decided to invest in a newer vehicle with a view to reducing maintenance costs and improve customer comforts. In May a DAF DB250LF with East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander bodywork was purchased from Blackpool Transport. Although arriving as a standard bus with very old style bus seats, Dekkabus 7101 enjoyed a full interior refurbishment and was transformed into a commuter style coach. The result being a major improvement for passengers. The same vehicle was repainted 8 weeks later into National Bus Company Venetian Blind livery but in a different colourway than the base white with red, white and black relief; instead, base grey, black and pink was applied. With the result of the interior and exterior refurbishment so favourably received by passengers, the Board decided to purchase another vehicle of the same batch from Blackpool Transport with plans to replicate the interior and exterior of that vehicle the same as 7101. 7102 was purchased in October 2018 but 45 minutes into the journey from Blackpool to Poole, the vehicle was involved in a 12 vehicle collision on the M6 motorway and was subsequently written off. The same day, the company purchased the last remaining two of the batch of DAF's over the telephone to replace their damaged 7102. A week later, Dekkabus 7103 and 7104 were collected and delivered safely back to Poole depot. 7104 was introduced into service in November 2018 while 7103 was in reserve.

2019
During 2019, the company fleet remained the same but in August 2019 a further DAF DB250LF was added to the fleet. This time, with Optare Spectra bodywork with coach specification interior. The company recorded it's best trading year to date.

2020
The start of 2020 saw the company actively deployed on Rail Replacement Bus Services in the Southampton - Salisbury area due to a severe landslip between the two cities just prior to the Covid-19 lockdown that commenced in March. The pandemic severely the coach industry however the company was regularly seen of Rail Replacement Bus Services for a variety of Train Operating Companies. By September the trio of ex Blackpool Transport DAF's were in full fleet livery. Each vehicle was painted in base grey and black with 7101 with pink relief, 7103 with yellow relief and 7104 with blue relief. These colours were chosen to represent fluorescent highlighter pens. Furthermore, an completed rear end wrap has been applied to each vehicle advertising the company's 'Devoted' Wedding Special advertising campaign.

2021 (to date)
The company has recently diversified into small vehicle operation and has introduced a minicoach into the fleet. A Volkswagen Crafter CR50 with VDL Kusters (the VDL Kusters is in keeping with the VDL DAF brand that the company has selected for the majority of the existing fleet). As the vehicle is clearly not a full sized double decker, the vehicle has been marketed as babyDekkabus to highlight the vehicle type.

Current Fleet:
1254   1967  KRU 224F  B38/32F  Bristol Lodekka FLF                                                NBC Poppy red

1601   2008  F5 ELF       C16F  Volkswagen Crafter CR50 / VDL Kusters                    Temporary livery (red) - then Grey / Black / Orange

3501   1983  6804 VC     C35F  Bristol LHS / Duple Dominant 2                                   Temporary livery (red) - then Grey / Black / Dark Blue

7101   2012  F5 HOR      C44/24F  DAF DB250LF / ELC Myllennium Lowlander          Grey / Black / Pink

7103   2012  F5 CBE      C44/24F  DAF DB250LF / ELC Myllennium Lowlander          Grey / Black / Yellow

7104   2012  F5 HDN      B44/24F  DAF DB250LF / ELC Myllennium Lowlander          Grey / Black / Blue

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