Swaledale faces bus-less future
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• Swaledale is to lose its only bus link with Richmond through the news last week that the operators who have run it for more than 50 years are to cease business at the end of June.
Percival Brothers (Coaches) Ltd, which developed from a horse-drawn service in Swaledale, is to close down all its stage carriage routes from May 30. Other aspects of its extensive business will close down at the end of June.
For more than a year three of the company's stage carriage routes have been subsidized by the Department of the Environment, the North Riding county council and local authorities through whose areas they run. This was only after the firm had announced that it would have to withdraw these services because of lack of support.
The company's decision to close down was precipitated by the death in January of Mr John Lodge Percival at the age of 69. He founded the services and ran the Swaledale one at a loss for several years out of sentiment.
His widow, Mrs Helena Percival, who was the company's secretary, said: "We all regret the decision, but we have no family and there is really no-one to carry on now. I, personally, am very reluctant to do this. I have been with the company for 37 years, and it means a lot to me."
A prominent member of Reeth rural district council, whose area will be severely hit by the withdrawal of the Swaledale services, said: "This is really shattering news. It will accelerate the denudation of the dale, which has been going on for some years."
The three subsidized services are the main Swaledale one from Richmond to the head of the dale; Reeth to Arkengarthdale, which runs north from Swaledale; and Richmond to Barnard Castle. Two of the remainder were operated for civilian employees at Catterick Camp travelling from Gunnerside in Swaledale and Scorton near Richmond.
Percivals' closure will pose a number of other major problems for the Catterick area. One of the most severe will be the effect on weekend leave arrangements for men and women serving at Catterick Camp and the nearby Catterick RAF station. Percivals ran special buses to meet their needs travelling sometimes to 26 towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire.