Phillips of Shiptonthorpe : School Bus Operators in the Yorkshire Wolds Area

Quirky, individualistic, boot-strapping and entrepreneurial, Clive Phillips started his business in 1952 with two second-hand buses. By 1960, his fleet comprised 26 buses; by 1971, it had grown to 42 vehicles. The author describes the buses as ‘variable, to say the least’, as they came from numerous sources and were never bought new. Buses were regularly delicensed in the summer, and others bought for spares. Withdrawn vehicles were rarely sold after their hard-working lives, as pictured in many of the photos here, and instead were put out to graze, rust or be plundered for spares in fields behind the company premises. Some of the book illustrations show this enthusiasts’ Shangri-La in its shambolic heyday. As the years went by, council boundary reorganisations and economic realities took their toll on this operator, who retired in 1988 aged 67 and sold out to East Yorkshire Motor Group. The fields were cleared, the residents going mainly for scrap, and an era was over.