Primrose Coaches timetable Summer 1974 Page 4

Primrose Coaches summer 1974 timetable for Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Southport holiday service which commenced in 1973. This service was the result of the determination of Primrose to maintain its share of holiday traffic between Tyneside and the Lancashire coastal resorts. Primrose began working regular daily services from Tyneside to the Fylde Coast in May 1928. Ribble and Northern General also operated services between the two areas from the early days of coaching. In the the early 1970s (by which time both Ribble and Northern General were part of the National Bus Company) they sought to introduce a holiday service from Tyneside to Southport to which Primrose objected. After ongoing debates in the Traffic Courts the result was that Ribble and Northern General commenced a Newcastle-Southport-Ainsdale holiday service as National Express service number 353. Primrose was granted a licence to operate a parallel service which was, as the timetable states, In conjunction with Ribble Motor Services'. Basically Primrose operated all the mileage on this service but had to pay a percentage of the revenue to Ribble and they also had to pay departure fees to Ribble for the use of the bus stations in Preston and Southport.