THE Hanson name was once synonymous with holidays for Huddersfield people.
The off-shoot from the well-established Hanson haulage company took thousands of holidaymakers all over the UK and also to the south of France.
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The fleet started with sharabangs in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and grew during the 50s and 60s – and you’ll see plenty of photographs of Hanson coaches from those eras inside today’s All Our Yesterdays.
Hanson also ran single decker and double decker buses in Huddersfield under the Huddersfield Joint Omnibus Committee until 1969 when they became part of Huddersfield Corporation Transport Department.
David Peace joined them as a driver just before the switch and in the early 1970s became Hanson’s traffic manager.
In 1974 the coach company became part of West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive which sold it to coach firm Abbeyways in 1979.
But David – who is now 69 and lives in Edgerton – was keen to keep the Hanson name and so set up Hanson Europa in the early 1980s. Under his leadership the fleet increased to 12.
It took people to all the favourite seaside destinations from Torquay to Filey, Scarborough to Blackpool and on busy summer days they would need to hire even more coaches as up to 20 could be off on a day trip.
The company also ran two coaches to the south of France twice a week to pick up and drop off passengers.
Hanson’s finally became part of Abbeyways again in 1988.
David recalls: "In its heyday when you wanted a coach in Huddersfield you had a Hanson’s it was that well-established.’’
