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HOGG INTERNATIONAL The Boston coach and bus
firm who
grew through a number of acquisitions |
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| Starting
from a base at their filling station at Benington, to the north of
Boston in Lincolnshire, the firm commenced operations in 1958 with a
new Austin Kenex minibus. This was followed a few months later by
a 30-seater Commer Comamndo coach, acquired second hand. By 1962
the fleet stood at five vehicles and continued to grow in subsequent
years. With operations until then having been primarily schools and private hire work an opportunity for expansion occurred in 1978 when the nearby business of Sharp of Boston was acquired, with their eight vehicles, garage premises, works contracts for Fogartys and the bus route to Freiston. This was Hogg's first foray into bus operation, but was not to be their only one as the following year another long established bus and coach business was bought, that of H H Milson of Coningsby Founded in 1923, a range of bus services were run from the Coningsby depot with their fleet of nine vehicles (see tables below for details, including the routes previously operated by Gosling of Mareham-le-Fen.). During the 1980s second hand Bristol MWs, REs and LHs were putchased as favourites for the bus services. With legilsative changes and express service deregulation in 1980 Hogg introduced a twice weekly service from Boston and Spalding to London (this would be continued by Brylaine until 1999). In 1981 the service was extended back to start from Skegness and increased to daily operation. In 1982 the fleet numbered fifteen and with an increasing amount of touring work being undertaken the name was changed to Hogg International. At the peak in 1987 the fleet numbeed thirty five. In 1990, with the proprietor's retirement beckoning, the business founded in 1958 by Brian Hogg, with its depots at Peck Avenue in Boston, at Benington and in Coningsby, was sold to Boston based operator Brylaine after thirty two successful years.
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