Sargeants Coaches

Sargeants on parade.

In deepest Herefordshire, tucked in a valley more familiar to Celts and Romans than modern day travellers, lies Kington which is a small town of 3200 souls and home to Sargeants Coaches.

As befits an operator of many years standing, the depot is very traditional, sitting alongside a public footpath and sharing a vehicle right-of-way with caravans using the adjacent campground. A single storey office fronts the depot with a maintenance shed immediately behind, then a yard and at the bottom is a steam cleaning ramp and wash area.

This is the type of depot I love as it brings back fond memories. No paved areas, just rough hardcore surface in-between a selection of various size potholes which are filled with rain water and a mixture of diesel and oil floating as if a flatten larva-lamp and hypnotic patterns gently drifting in the light breeze. Men in overalls that are coated in the grime of many days' labour are under well maintained vehicles, whilst others scrub and clean oblivious to the drenching they are receiving.

Small town operators with a loyal local staff are gradually becoming a rarity, may the survivors live long and prosper.

R399 EOS, new to Parks, Hamilton (KSK 950) and YIL 1720, new to Armchair (N713 CYC), both Volvo B10M-62 with Van Hool Alizee C53F bodies parked adjacent to the maintenance shed. 

W408 UCJ Optare Excel L1180 B43F was delivered new and now resides at the bottom of the yard close to the steam cleaning ramp.

The two guard dogs keep watch over Y877 PWT an Optare Solo M920 C31F, purchased new in 2001.

A line-up of Optare products.

YJ03 UMK DAF SDB250, Optare Spectra H47/27F new to Reading Buses in 2003.

YJ58 CFG, Optare Tempo X1200 B43F, the ex Optare demonstrator, gets a scrubbing.

YJ10 MHU Optare Solo M950 B31F originally delivered to Hatts in 2010 reverses out ready for the short two hundred yard drive into Kington bus station and the 13.10 departure on cross border route 461 to Llandrindod Wells.

FX03 ECC Mercedes Benz 1223L with Ferqei (Optare import) C39F body acquired from Hatts. 

(Never enter a depot without seeking permission and never board a vehicle unless invited to do so.)