1979 defunct 2014 headquarters llanberis service area gwynedd service type bus services routes 21 october 2013 fleet 47 october 2013 website www.padarnbus.co.uk web archive padarn bus 1 was a bus company based in llanberis gwynedd . it operated 21 routes in north wales plus three summer services in snowdonia national park . many of its vehicles and routes were acquired when it merged with larger company kmp . the operator who were being investigated by north wales police over allegations of fraud at the company closed down on 30 may 2014 . 2 3 4 contents 1 history 1.1 creation and early growth 1979 2006 1.2 expansion and closure 2007 2014 2 fleet 3 references 4 external links history edit creation and early growth 1979 2006 edit the company was founded as a taxi firm in 1979 by dafydd and darren price moving into coach hire in 1984 . 5 the name is derived from the nearby lake llyn padarn . padarn began operating a tendered route in bangor in 1989 as part of the bws gwynedd scheme . 6 it won work on anglesey a year later and launched two competing routes in bangor with new dennis darts in 1991 . 7 however in 1995 the loss of contracted work prompted the company to give up local service work although some school contracts continued . 6 in 2003 the company returned to local bus operation by winning conwy council contracted route 75 llandudno to llanfairfechan but was forced to give this up in january 2006 due to rising costs . however in october 2005 it launched its first commercial route hourly route 77 linking bangor and bethesda and quickly followed this with a similar hourly route 76 . this was reported to be at the request of local councillors unhappy with the parallel service provided by arriva buses wales . 5 later in 2006 passengers in the maesgeirchen area of bangor asked padarn to provide a service as an alternative to arriva s route ; a half hourly service numbered 71 was introduced as a result . 8 padarn now also runs route 79 from maesgeirchen to parc menai which replaced the old 79 service which was previously operated by arriva . expansion and closure 2007 2014 edit in 2007 ken williams the manager of 34 vehicle independent kmp of llanberis 9 announced that he wished to sell the business . padarn were interested in buying kmp as darren price had previously worked at the company but could not afford to buy the whole of kmp . in august 2008 arriva buses wales purchased part of kmp including seven vehicles and route 10 from bangor to caernarfon . 8 10 the remainder of kmp was sold to padarn in april 2009 . it had been intended that the deal should occur several months earlier but it had been delayed owing to a lack of funding due to the credit crunch . 11 the acquisition took the combined fleet size to 36 vehicles operating a total of 18 routes and safeguarded 50 jobs . 8 padarn bus continued to grow over the following three years with its fleet standing at 49 vehicles in july 2012 of which eight were coaches . 12 in 2014 north wales police confirmed that two people connected with the company were arrested on allegations of fraud . the company announced it would cease operations at midnight on the 30th of may blaming its closure on lost contracts following a police inquiry . 84 staff were employed at the time . many of the padarn s routes passed to other operators in the area while some were not replaced as they were already covered by existing services . 2 3 4 fleet edit optare versa at pen y pass on route s1 in july 2011 as at october 2013 the fleet consisted of 47 vehicles . 13 the bus fleet operated regular services consisted of seventeen dennis darts several of which are low floor two mercedes benz varios two mercedes benz 811ds four alexander dennis enviro200 darts six optare solos an optare versa and two volvo b6bles . double deck vehicles in the fleet were three leyland olympians four volvo olympians and a single mcw metrobus . 13 an elderly open top leyland atlantean new to plymouth citybus is used on routes s1 and s2 in the snowdonia national park in the summer . 8 padarn had bought additional vehicles at a rate of one a year between 2006 and 2008 . the kmp purchase included 26 vehicles joining ten which had previously been owned by padarn . 8 in late april 2009 the newly enlarged company bought its first new vehicle an optare versa for route 77 . 14 three integral wright streetlite midibuses entered service in late 2010 for use on contracted routes on anglesey . 15 the streetlites were withdrawn and returned to the dealer in may 2011 due to reliability issues . 16 they were replaced by three new alexander dennis enviro200s . 13 references edit companies house extract company no 4695535 padarn bus limited a b bbc news 84 jobs to go as padarn bus in gwynedd closes . bbc.co.uk . retrieved 2014 05 30 . a b crump eryl . padarn bus company to close . daily post . retrieved 30 may 2014 . a b jones geraint . llanberis based bus company to end services with the loss of around 80 jobs . north west wales . retrieved 30 may 2014 . a b clark rhodri may 2006 . independents on a welsh march . buses 614 32 . a b saxby bob autumn 1996 . bws gwynedd the end of an era . buses focus 42 . brown stewart j september 1993 . buses in britain . capital transport . p. 222 . isbn 1 85414 158 9 . a b c d e clark rhodri july 2009 . welsh takeover with a difference . buses 652 34 36 . companies house extract company no 2399498 kmp llanberis limited completed acquisition by arriva plc of certain assets from kmp llanberis ltd office of fair trading 18 november 2008 jobs safe as bus companies merge bbc news 21 april 2009 fuel monitoring upgrade helps padarn bus to improve stock control and reduce of ce workload fuelmanagement.co.uk 3 july 2012 a b c fleet list padarn bus new versa for padarn bus bus sales and rentals from mistral group mistral group blakemore tim february 2011 . reading the signals . buses magazine 671 24 26 . lidstone john g. july 2011 . fleet news england & wales . buses magazine 676 68 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to padarn bus bus company . www.padarnbus.co.uk web archive v t e former bus companies of the united kingdom national associated motorways blazefield holdings british bus british coachways british electric traction fraser eagle grt group national bus company thomas tilling england v t e former bus companies operating in england north west england birkenhead transport blackburn transport blue bus and coach services bluebird bus and coach bu val buses chesterbus citibus tours crosville motor services finglands coachways first chester & the wirral glenvale transport gm buses lancashire united transport jpt maynes bus maytree travel mtl north western road car company 1923 north western road car company 1986 pennine blue red & white services ribble motor services speedwellbus transdev northern blue uk north yelloway motor services north east england black prince buses busways travel services durham travel services geldards coaches jolly bus leon motors mexborough and swinton traction company northern general transport company ok motor services samuel ledgard south yorkshire transport tates travel united automobile services venture transport west riding automobile company west yorkshire road car yorkshire rider yorkshire terrier yorkshire traction midlands a2z travel barton transport birmingham city transport birmingham motor traction chase coaches first northampton glossopdale bus company go west midlands ludlows north birmingham busways people s express premiere travel probus management south notts bus company stevensons of uttoxeter travel merry hill travel your bus wesley coaches zak s buses eastern england eastern national omnibus company mk metro twh bus & coach south west england badgerline bristol omnibus company devon general greyhound motors great western railway hants & dorset motor services shamrock buses southern national sureline trathens travel services truronian webberbus western greyhound western national south east england alder valley aldershot & district traction badger vectis boro line maidstone brijan tours bygone buses cavendish motor services centra city clipper countryliner east kent road car company invictaway kent top travel maidstone & district maidstone corporation transport marchwood motorways moss motor tours portsmouth corporation transport shamrock buses southampton citybus southdown motor services thames transit thames valley traction tillingbourne bus company velvet yellow bus services greater london bexleybus birch brothers boro line london capital citybus capital logistics connex east thames buses first london grey green harris bus imperial buses london buslines london country bus services london country north east london country north west london country south east london country south west london easylink london electrobus company london forest london pride sightseeing london traveller mtl nsl buses thorpes travel london travel surrey westlink scotland v t e former bus companies operating in scotland scottish bus group central scottish clydeside scottish eastern scottish highland scottish kelvin central buses kelvin scottish lowland scottish midland scottish northern scottish western scottish other operators arriva scotland west a1 service dart buses first stop travel gibson s of moffat mckindless munro s of jedburgh oban and district scottish motor traction strathclyde buses western smt wales v t e former bus companies operating in wales companies crosville motor services islwyn borough transport national welsh omnibus services padarn bus red & white services rhondda transport company south wales transport western welsh retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title padarn bus & oldid 741252284 categories former bus operators in walestransport in gwyneddcompanies based in gwyneddhidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 26 september 2016 at 09 46 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view