in august 1986, nbc subsidiary united automobile services introduced a small number of new hail and ride town services in darlington using mercedes–benz minibuses under the 'roadranger' livery in competition with darlington transport. these services (covering firth moor and the whinbush areas initially) proved successful, so shortly afterwards united purchased more mercedes, and some dodge s56, minibuses and hugely expanded the minibus network which resulted in a doubling of services across the whole town and intense competition with darlington transport. from 1988 to 1992 many requests and attempts were made to sell dtc, all coming to nothing. "your bus", another operator set up by ex-united employees, entered into darlington in may 1993, prompting a response from united with further registrations, later described as predatory and anti-competitive by the competition commission. by 1993, with 3 competing operators, concerns had been raised over 'over-bussing' and congestion in the town centre. by 1994 all three operators were making financial losses.