The origins of GHA is centred on the village of Betws Gwerfil Goch near Corwen where John Lloyd Davies (grandfather of the current Directors) first owned a bus mainly used to transport local people to and from work. His son Eifion Lloyd Davies first involved himself with buses in about 1983 when he purchased a minibus to work a school contract. This contract did not last too long so he returned to concentrate on his scrap business but in 1988 he purchased his first full size bus – DBX548W – a Bedford YMQ with Duple bodywork. This bus is still owned by the company and is kept in store – hopefully to be preserved. This coach and another were then used on a contract travelling to Wrexham. Eifion Lloyd Davies and his wife Rhianon undertook the work and used a car to travel back home to Betws GG until the afternoon when they returned to Wrexham to complete the contract. They had three sons Gareth, Hefin and Arwyn and their initial letters is the origin of the name GHA Coaches. Hefin is a civil engineer and has not joined the family business but Gareth and Arwyn joined the business in 1995 having been involved in the car trade. They are today the principal directors and very much the driving force of the ‘Group’.
Another aspect of the name GHA is that in welsh ‘gwasanaeth heb ei al’ means ‘service second to none’ which is a motto the company has adopted.
By 1996 a depot had been established in Wrexham near the former Gatewen colliery and the fleet had grown to include numerous double deckers, coaches and minibuses. The first of two new minibuses were purchased that year and given the personalised registrations of N2GHA and N3GHA. These two Mercedes-Benz 709D with Marshall 29 seat bodies are still in the current fleet although they are mainly used as spare buses in favour of the more modern low floor vehicles.
August 2000 saw the first takeover when the well established business of W J Hanmer and Son of Southsea was taken under their wing. Some seven vehicles were transferred together with the depot at Southsea. A large part of the Hanmer business was private hire work which enabled GHA to expand in this area. The distinguished livery of Hanmers was retained for some time and some subsequently acquired vehicles were given this red and white and gold livery. None of the buses transferred now retain the Hanmers livery having been given the silver GHA coach livery but one minibus remains with the Hanmer livery (as of March 2013). This minibus, however, was one added to the fleet after the acquisition of Hanmer.
A further Wrexham area acquisition was that of the vehicle and service of Chaloners of Moss. This firm had operated the Wrexham to Moss and Summerhil service since the early 1930’s. Whilst only one vehicle was owned by Chaloners and transferred a further vehicle was put into the Chaloners livery (R3GHA) to be used on the service. However this livery is no longer used after the two vehicles involved were withdrawn from service.
In 2004 the ‘Group’ strengthened their operations in the Vale of Clwyd and took over the services and depot of Cloion Coaches in Ruthin from where GHA Coaches continue to operate. Whilst only one vehicle was transferred – which did not last long in the fleet – the move did establish a strong foothold in the area and is the operating centre for a number of Vale of Clwyd services including the prestigious X50-X52 route which runs hourly from Rhyl to Wrexham.
2007 was the year that the Bryn Melyn company joined the ‘Group’. This company has retained its own identity with its distinctive fleet livery. Recently the depot was moved a short distance to occupy the next unit to the main company but Bryn Melyn still retains its own management under the general direction of Arwyn and Gareth Lloyd Davies who are the Directors of the company.
In 2007 the company moved to the much needed larger current base in Ruabon which includes state of the art maintenance, repair, bus painting and bodywork facilities.
The next significant acquisition came in 2008 when the vehicles, services and work of Vale of Llangollen Travel Limited joined the group. Again this company has retained its identity operating as a separate company within the Group. However a number of facilities are shared including depots and there is often seen vehicles from either company working services of their sister company. The former Vale of Llangollen Travel company had established a working base in the Cheshire area at Waverton with a number of local contracts and the Group have very much expanded on this initial foothold.
In 2011 the Cheshire operations were centred at the current depot of Tarvin and by that time a number of services and school and other contracts had been established including operations centred at Nantwich and the 88 Connect service working from Knutsford to Altringham. The dead mileage associated with this service must be close to breaking records and at one time the buses involved and drivers were based in Ruabon.
Further acquisitions occurred in 2011 – the contracts and five vehicles of J O Travel who operated in Ponciau was the first to occur.
Shortly afterwards came the acquisition of R S Travel involving some eight vehicles and a depot in Middlewich. This base was used as an operating base for a while and closed in August 2013 on the opening of the Winsford depot.
At about the same time the Group took over a number of local Wrexham based services from Pats Coaches and four buses transferred.
A recent acquisition came at the end of 2012 when the company Dobsons Buses Limited joined the ‘Group’. This involved certain contracts in the Northwich area together with an operating licence involving 8 vehicles and 9 vehicles actually transferred. Some of these vehicles were immediately withdrawn from service.
April 2013 saw the contracts and staff of the family concern Rogers of Graigfechan being transferred to GHA. Only one vehicle joined the fleet – a Mercedes / Plaxton Cheetah -S490UAK.
A new depot was opened in Winsford in August 2013 and the operations from the former R S Travel depot in Middlewich transferred to the new depot
In 2014 GHA continued to expand its local bus operations into Cheshire with award of contracts in the Crewe and Congleton Area. The company was also awarded the prestigious contract to operate the Traws Cymru service between Wrexham and Barmouth by the Welsh Government. This service which is part of the Traws Cymru network will receive brand new high specification buses in spring 2015.
