Wigan Coachways

[Nicholas]

RE: Wigan Coachways
Yes, Coachmasters were based in Rochdale but ran a lot of tendered school services in Wigan, Leigh and Bolton. The 456 was designed to fill the void outside of school times, running via a combination of the 471, 582 and 600 routes.

First bought out the bus part of Coachmasters, with Coachmasters retaining the coach side of the business. The 456 was withdrawn as a consequence - after all it was duplicating services even if it was a through route - and the Schools Unit established at Ince. They retained the yellow base livery, just removing the red/grey vinyl stripes (and of course changing the fleet names), running it as "First Schools".

The buses were withdrawn once they reached their 15 years, replaced with the mass influx of Arrows.