text: tillingbourne bus company tillingbourne bus company was a bus company based in cranleigh , surrey . the company operated bus and coach services in surrey , west sussex , hampshire and berkshire from 1924 until 2001 . it was founded as tillingbourne valley in 1924 , and became a limited company in 1931 , taking the name tillingbourne valley services . it initially operated routes in the guildford area from a garage in chilworth using small single - deck buses painted in a maroon livery . coach hire and excursions began in 1931 , but two years later these activities split into a separate company , tillingbourne valley coaches , which operated independently for a further 24 years . until 1970 tillingbourne was owned and managed by three generations of the trice family , before being sold to trevor brown . the company changed its name to tillingbourne bus company in 1972 , changing its livery to blue and yellow , and moved to a garage in gomshall in the same year . a second garage in ewhurst was opened in 1974 . an expansion of operations in the late 1970s and early 1980s , much of it through the award of county council contracted routes , took the company 's vehicles into west sussex and hampshire as well as surrey . tillingbourne took over the services of london operator orpington & district following that company 's collapse in 1981 . these were run separately from the main company as tillingbourne ( metropolitan ) which , in 1983 , was sold to its management to form metrobus , now part of the go - ahead group . the company moved garages again in 1980 , settling in cranleigh . a new , larger garage in the same town was opened in february 2001 . deregulation of local bus services in 1986 led to further expansion , including the establishment in 1989 of a new brand , hobbit , for tillingbourne 's minibus operations . a high - quality coaching subsidiary , dorking coaches , was also operated towards the end of tillingbourne 's life . tillingbourne began operations with a single vehicle , expanding to operate around 70 buses by 2001 . a range of types were operated , including early thornycroft and dennis vehicles , and later guy and bedford products . the company 's fleet was updated in the 1990s with new volvo and optare vehicles . following tillingbourne 's closure , its fleet was disposed of , with vehicles sold to shamrock coaches , norfolk green , black prince buses , safeguard coaches , arriva guildford & west surrey and islwyn borough transport . the company was placed in administration in march 2001 , following two years of heavy losses , and closed down permanently a month later . this led to a series of service changes , which saw its operations covered by a range of different operators . other effects causing tillingbourne 's collapse included a fall in the total number of passengers using buses in hampshire and local criticism following an increase in the number of vehicles using the , later closed , arriva west sussex garage in . the sites of both tillingbourne garages in cranleigh were converted for use by other industries . history creation and early history ( 1924 - 1972 ) tillingbourne was formed in 1924 by vic smith and george trice . it was initially known as tillingbourne valley , and operated a single vehicle in a maroon livery from a garage in chilworth on a service between guildford and gomshall . smith left the company in the late 1920s , and a new route from guildford to albury park was introduced around the same time , with four vehicles owned by 1928 . the route to gomshall was extended to peaslake , and briefly faced competition from surrey hills motor services prior to their takeover by aldershot & district , who withdrew the competing route . the company 's garage was rebuilt after being destroyed in a fire along with three of its vehicles in 1928 . tillingbourne was reconstituted as a limited company , tillingbourne valley services limited , in october 1931 . following george trice 's death in 1933 , control of the business passed to his son , also called george . a coach hire and excursion business had been introduced in july 1931 ; this was split out into a new company , tillingbourne valley coaches , which operated independently until 1955 . from the early 1930s , until 1964 , the service to peaslake was run jointly with the london passenger transport board ; operation of the entire route was taken over in august 1964 , but falling passenger numbers meant that the route was cut back in frequency a year later . a new livery of maroon and grey was introduced in 1964 . george trice retired in 1948 and was succeeded by his son derek , who sold tillingbourne to trevor brown in september 1970 . in the same year , route numbering was introduced for the first time to the three routes then operated . the company made an operating loss in 1969 and 1970 , so one route , a local service in guildford , was withdrawn in october 1971 due to poor usage , and another was cut in frequency . as the chilworth garage was still owned by trice , operations were transferred to an open - air site in gomshall in early 1972 . change of name and expansion ( 1972 - 1986 ) the company 's name was changed to tillingbourne bus company in may 1972 , following the introduction of a service between horsham and colgate , with a new livery of blue , yellow and grey introduced . a new managing director , barry king , joined tillingbourne from north downs coaches in the same year . in 1974 , a small garage in ewhurst was acquired and maintenance work transferred there , although the majority of the fleet continued to be based in gomshall . in may 1976 , the company 's long - established route between guildford and peaslake was extended to cranleigh via ewhurst , and a once - daily service to and from the haven , the first bus route to serve the community , was introduced . a number of service changes saw tillingbourne vehicles operating to croydon and chichester one day a week each by 1977 , although both were withdrawn after three years . the service to colgate was withdrawn and replaced by a local half - hourly route in horsham in 1979 . in september 1980 , the company moved depots again to a larger site in cranleigh . the collapse of orpington & district in early 1981 prompted the company to launch a new operation in greater london . this was split from the main operation as tillingbourne ( metropolitan ) in july 1981 , but sold to its managerial team in 1983 . it adopted the name metrobus and continues to operate . in june 1981 , new once - weekly routes linking horsham to steyning and cranleigh / ewhurst to brighton were introduced , the second to replace a withdrawn southdown motor services service . to improve profits on the brighton route , beer was carried from the sussex brewery near to public houses along the route alongside passengers . the scheduled service operations of coach firm mccann 's were acquired , together with three vehicles , on 1 november 1982 , although some were withdrawn a year later . further expansion came in april 1985 , following over a year of consultation with county council members , regulators , when two new routes were introduced . one operated in competition with alder valley , while the other took the place of services withdrawn by other operators . following these changes tillingbourne became the only operator to serve chilworth , albury and shere . two new vehicles were purchased for the routes . at the same time , all of tillingbourne 's services were renumbered into a new two - digit sequence , to avoid confusion with london country routes . a year later , the second of the new services , circular route 23 / 25 , was reduced in frequency from hourly to two - hourly , although much of the route was covered by extending another route . another new service , linking cranleigh and godalming , was also introduced . in august 1986 , operation of a number of council - contracted services , including a route from redhill to reigate and a local route in horsham , were taken over from other companies . post - deregulation ( 1986 - 2001 ) following deregulation in october 1986 , a small number of service changes were made , with a new route from guildford to being introduced and a service to gomshall withdrawn . at the same time , a new brand name , hobbit , was introduced for tillingbourne 's minibus operations . barry king left the company in december 1986 and was replaced as managing director by chris bowler . in early 1989 , operations in horsham were reduced , following the loss of the tendered route to barns green . a new service to was briefly introduced in february 1989 , but withdrawn after two months . in july , a new service between guildford and the british aerospace site at dunsfold aerodrome was introduced . further expansion eastwards came in november 1989 , when the operation of eleven tendered routes , requiring six buses , was won from the county council . these were operated under the hobbit name . a new service linking normandy and to guildford two days a week was introduced in october 1989 . a second route to the two villages was added in 1995 . in january 1999 a new route from farnham to via normandy was launched , as was a direct service from the village to guildford . in 1998 an outstation was opened in aldershot following the award of contracted work in reading to tillingbourne . tillingbourne introduced a new tourist route in the summer of 1995 . operating on sundays for six months of the year , it provided a circular service linking guildford , godalming and cranleigh with a number of nearby rural locations not served by other routes . although similar services were operated by london & country and , the new service was designed to avoid any direct competition . the route was operated with a bristol su single - decker acquired from a bus preservationist . in september 2000 , tillingbourne controversially reduced the number of journeys on contracted route 516 , which linked dorking , leatherhead and epsom . although this was within the terms of the contract , it was criticised by residents of intermediate villages , who claimed the communities relied in particular on a cancelled morning journey . operations were moved to a new larger site , still located in cranleigh , in february 2001 . the company believed this would reduce operating costs and allow for future expansion . closure on 19 march 2001 , tillingbourne abruptly ceased operations and was placed in the hands of receivers traynor . this followed two years in which the company had lost around £ 450 , 000 . the receivers blamed the losses on increasing costs , low subsidies from local councils and falling passenger numbers . the closure left 140 staff unemployed and caused large numbers of passengers to be stranded . replacement services were organised by surrey county council and four bus operators , with the majority of routes being covered within days by temporary contracted services . some schoolchildren were forced to find other means of transport , although workings on routes 62 and 63 were covered by transport . it was initially thought that tillingbourne would be sold to another operator , with four companies reported to be interested . however , by early april 2001 , it became clear that this would not take place , as the offers submitted were lower than the value of the vehicles owned by the company . traynor was criticised by council members for refusing to keep the company operational while replacement services were being arranged . mole valley councillor hazel watson stated that the withdrawal of services at short notice was " totally unacceptable " , while shere county councillor david davis described the closure as a " local tragedy " . council leaders also denied the claim that the subsidies had been too low . related operations tillingbourne valley coaches in 1933 , the bus and coach operations of what was then tillingbourne valley services were split . the coaching unit was taken over by lionel , previously an employee of tillingbourne , and operated from a depot in chilworth under the name tillingbourne valley coaches . this company bought three second - hand coaches to run on excursions and private hire operations . after 14 years of operation it launched a bus service between guildford and blackheath . died in 1953 and tillingbourne valley coaches passed to his wife , who sold out to established operator of guildford a year later . was itself taken over by coaches in 1955 , and the blackheath service withdrawn . tillingbourne ( metropolitan ) limited in february 1981 , the long - standing operator orpington & district collapsed due to financial difficulties , so tillingbourne decided to launch a test operation of three former o & d services . these proved successful , so more services were added and two new aec reliance coaches purchased for the operation . in july 1981 , the orpington operation was given a separate licence , under the name tillingbourne ( metropolitan ) limited , with six vehicles allocated to it . by 1983 , however , it became clear that the local area management of tillingbourne ( metropolitan ) wanted to develop the business in a different way from that of the main company . on 24 september 1983 , the orpington operation 's directors , gary wood and peter larking , bought out the subsidiary to form metrobus limited . dorking coaches following the takeover of dorking coaches in the late 1990s , a coaching division was set up using the same name , under the management of former traffic manager john gaff . it operated high - quality coaches , including three air - conditioned vehicles which joined the fleet in 2000 , on coach hire and tour work . fleet the first vehicle to be bought by tillingbourne was a single - deck chevrolet with 14 seats , which entered service on the launch of the company 's first route in 1924 . it was joined by a similar overland automobile bus later in the year . two further vehicles had been purchased by 1928 , when a depot fire destroyed three of the four buses . they were replaced by second - hand buses including an 18 - seat dennis and several thornycroft a2 vehicles . from november 1934 until the outbreak of world war ii , these were progressively replaced by new buses , also built by thornycroft . the first double - deck vehicle to be bought was a bristol k type , which joined the fleet in 1959 . eight guy vixens were bought from london transport between 1963 and 1964 to replace the entire previous fleet . these were succeeded by a wide variety of types , with bedford coaches and buses the most numerous . in the 1970s , a number of second - hand bristol 's , with ecw bodies , were operated . in the period shortly before and after deregulation , a range of types were used . as well as a large number of bedford vehicles , which continued to be bought new until the late 1980s , the fleet also included the aec reliance , leyland leopard , leyland tiger and volvo b10m models , and the first two dennis lancet single - deckers to be built . the company bought its first minibus , a 16 - seat ford transit , in 1985 . the tillingbourne fleet in the late 1980s and early 1990s also included two rare dennis bought new , and a volvo b10m coach with the last plaxton derwent body built . the fleet was substantially updated shortly prior to the company 's closure . two volvo b6 single - deckers were bought in 1994 . these were followed by a number of optare products including the minibus and four of the last optare single - deckers built . the most common type in the fleet in the late 1990s was the mercedes - benz minibus ; by 1998 21 were in use out of a total fleet of 65 . tillingbourne bought its first low - floor buses , two new optare , in 2000 . legacy and subsequent history tillingbourne 's routes were taken over by a variety of local operators . arriva guildford & west surrey took over the majority of the operations in guildford and cranleigh , while the arriva west sussex division took over services in horsham . operations in and around woking were taken on by - golden miller and coaches . white rose took over the route between staines and camberley , while thames travel took over the routes into reading . following the end of tillingbourne 's operations , many of its newer vehicles were sold for further use . buyers included black prince buses , which took three optare , and islwyn borough transport , which bought tillingbourne 's optare . one of the surviving leyland tigers was bought by norfolk green . the biggest customer was shamrock coaches of pontypridd which took 27 vehicles , including the mercedes minibuses and nine optare . some vehicles remained in surrey , including two dennis dart leased from surrey county council which were passed on to arriva guildford & west surrey , and two optare bought by safeguard coaches of guildford . a fall in bus passenger numbers , between 1999 and 2001 in the areas of hampshire served by tillingbourne , was in part explained as being a result of the loss of services caused by the company 's closure . the increased vehicle requirements at arriva 's ( horsham ) garage , which took over three of tillingbourne 's former routes , led to criticism from residents in the area and the suggestion that the site should be closed and operations moved to another location . the depot , buses and operation were sold by arriva to metrobus in september 2009 , who moved all operations to their garage in crawley and closed the site . both of tillingbourne 's former garage sites in cranleigh have been converted for other uses . permission was granted in february 2002 for the smaller site abandoned shortly before the company closed down to be taken over by a plant and vehicle hire firm . the larger site used in the final few months of operation was converted for use by a mail order firm , with permission for the change granted by the local council in november 2002 .