Express Motors was established in 1908.[1] It remained a family-owned business and was owned by Eric Jones.[2] It operated a small number of local bus services alongside its main coach hire work until 1970, when the bus routes were sold to Silver Star.[3]
With bus deregulation in October 1986, Express Motors re-entered the local service market. A local route in Caernarfon was introduced in competition with National Bus Company subsidiary Crosville Cymru May. Contracted work on route 1 (Caernarfon-Blaenau Ffestiniog) was won at the same time as part of the Bws Gwynedd network. The operations of Maldwyn Jones were acquired in 1989. A competing route between Caernarfon and Bangor was introduced in 1991 but withdrawn after four years.[4]
In 2005 the company began a new route linking Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog. Two years later the Welsh Assembly Government granted free rail travel to pensioners on the parallel Conwy Valley Line, causing passenger numbers on the route to be lower than expected.[2]
The four bus services operated by Silver Star were taken over by Express Motors along with four buses in November 2010 in a move which reversed the events of 1970.[3]
As at September 2012 Express Motors operated 25 buses and 15 coaches.[5][6]
2016 crash and license revocation
In July 2016, an Express Motors coach carrying 42 children and 6 teachers from a Cheltenham School left the motorway after the driver fell asleep.[7] The coach left the A39 Motorway in France near Lons-le-Saunier and the Swiss border.[8] The bus overturned and came to a stop in a ditch, resulting in fifteen injuries, including one student who was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.[8]
After the end of Express Motors operations, a submission for a new licence under the name Express Motors (Caernarfon) was submitted by former directors of the original company.[13] It emerged during the enquiry that the original company had continued some of its operations into January 2018 without a licence.[14] The submission was rejected in February 2018.[15]
In October 2018 the owner, Eric Wyn Jones and his 3 sons also involved with the business, were jailed for fraudulently claiming over £500,000 for 88,000 journeys never taken. The sentences ranged from 6-7.5 years.[16] The men had previously been arrested on suspicion of fraud.[17]
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