bodied volvo b10m in april 2009 founded 3 november 2007 defunct 10 january 2015 headquarters eastleigh service area hampshire service type bus services owner adam smith website www.velvetbus.co.uk black velvet travel limited 1 trading as velvet was an english bus company based in eastleigh that operated between november 2007 and january 2015 . contents 1 history 2 services 3 references 4 external links history edit velvet was established on 3 november 2007 by former go south coast manager phil stockley and in january 2008 commenced running a temporary shuttle for tesco staff . 2 on 25 february 2008 velvet took over the running of red rocket a in eastleigh which was given up by previous operator solent blue line as part of their network restructuring . 3 velvet gained a number of contracts to run other routes as well as many new commercial ventures . since the start of 2014 velvet had been withdrawing or reducing services following what is describes as a very difficult winter . on 12 may 2014 velvet surrendered the contract with hampshire county council to operate route 67 winchester west meon petersfield which moved on to xelabus and stagecoach south operation . 4 all barton peveril college routes were transferred to xelabus on 22 june 2014 5 along with the eastleigh hedge end section of velvet s a service . 6 this followed the collapse of a deal in march 2014 which would have seen xelabus take over the company . 7 on 16 july 2014 the company announced it had ceased trading with other operators stepping in to cover its services . 8 9 10 however two days later operations resumed with the company announcing on twitter that it had new owners . 11 founder and former managing director phil stockley commented that the company had not entered any formal insolvency process and that he would no longer be involved in running velvet . 12 after operating the service for two weeks on an interim basis adam smith purchased the business . 13 14 15 smith was convicted of possessing counterfeit money a month later but avoided a prison sentence as jobs at velvet depended upon him . 16 velvet s director michael bishop took over cornish independent western greyhound in december 2014 with smith becoming its managing director . 17 on 10 january 2015 velvet ceased operating with the three remaining routes passing to xelabus . 18 19 20 services edit as of july 2014 velvet operated six routes under contract to eastleigh borough council . 9 10 by november 2014 this had reduced to four . 21 references edit companies house extract company no 4994705 black velvet travel limited omnibuses meets phil stockley omnibuses 16 november 2009 february 2008 services changes bluestar 30 january 2008 bus service 67 frequently asked questions velvet barton peveril college buses upcoming changes velvet 13 may 2014 xelabus takes on velvet routes bus & coach buyer merger between xelabus and velvet falls through daily echo we regret to advise that velvet has ceased trading as of wednesday 16th july 2014 . . velvet . 16 july 2014 . retrieved 16 july 2014 . a b slominski stephen 16 july 2014 . velvet buses cease trading . eastleigh news . retrieved 16 july 2014 . a b kusi obodum maxwell 16 july 2014 . velvet bus company folds leaving passengers stranded in eastleigh and southampton . southern daily echo . retrieved 16 july 2014 . curtis joe 18 july 2014 . black velvet travel has resumed services just days after entering administration . southern daily echo . retrieved 18 july 2014 . stockley phil . comment on bluestar hands m back to velvet . southampton bus update . retrieved 23 july 2014 . buyer found for black velvet travel coach & bus week issue 1149 6 august 2014 page 8 adam smith takes on black velvet bus & coach buyer 6 august 2014 in brief buses issue 715 october 2014 page 6 black velvet travel owner adam smith spared jail route one magazine troubled western greyhound bus firm sells rest of business cornish guardian xelabus take over velvet s1 s2 and b4 services xelabus public transport service changes and news eastleigh borough council 9 january 2015 xelabus purchases black velvet assets coach & bus week issue 1172 route times velvet external links edit media related to velvet at wikimedia commons company website 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 velvet bus company & oldid 738719266 categories eastleighformer bus operators in england2007 establishments in england2015 disestablishments in englandhidden categories use british english from december 2015use dmy dates from march 2015commons 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 10 september 2016 at 17 23 . 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 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