Out on our travels

This week, the sun was shining so our good friend Hilary popped by with his wonderful 1955 Austin Healey 100M.

And whilst out on our travels to Bentwaters Park we were greeted at the entrance by this incredible TE7870, one of two historic buses available to hire by local firm Buckland Buses.

Buckland Coaches is a small local operator of coaches and buses in East Suffolk. A fleet of 53- and 57-seat coaches is operated on private hire and school contract work.

In addition, a number of historic buses and coaches are used. The oldest dates from 1929 and it is one of the oldest buses in the UK still licensed for carrying passengers.

The business was formed by Tony Buckland in 1989 in Staffordshire, moving to Suffolk in 1991. In the 1960’s he had worked for the former Eastern Counties Omnibus Co. before joining the Metropolitan Traffic Area Office in London with responsibility for bus and coach Road Service Licences. After a period with the Driving Test Booking Service and the Road Research Laboratory, in 1970 he joined what is now the Britannia Building Society as computer manager. In 1988 he resigned as Head of Administration and began restoration of the first vintage bus in the collection.

Suffolk County Council operated historic bus services in the early 1990’s and on summer Sundays the vintage bus was used on tourist routes. The business then expanded to include conventional vehicles. Home-to-School contracts began in 1996.

In addition to Home-to-School work, the business meets the transport needs of many schools in the Woodbridge and Ipswich areas and occasional vintage bus services in connection with events in Felixstowe and Woodbridge. The historic vehicles are used extensively during the summer months.