Tame Valley Travel Limited

Tame Valley Travel Limited was a short lived West Midlands bus operator initially based in Bromley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham and at the end of its existence at Bromford Bridge in Birmingham.
The company was established by two ex employees of another operator Burman Limited. Within 3 months the company had been purchased in a clandestine manner by Drawlane Transport/ Endless Holding. All dealings were via a third party firm of Birmingham Solicitors, although certain paperwork exists to tie back the ownership to the Drawlane via Midland Red North.
At the point of acquisition the companies direction was changed with a charge to compete against West Midlands Travel (WMT) disregarding any need to be profitable in the immediate future. Buses were provided via cascade from the groups companies without disclosing to that company that they remained within the group. The mainstay of the fleet were Leyland National 1's
Main services operated were:
* 28 Small Heath to Great Barr (Dyas Road)
* 51 Birmingham to Walsall (379 Walsall-Streetly)
* 55 Chelmsley Wood to Birmingham
* 94 Chelmsley Wood to Birmingham
* 145 Birmingham to Bromsgrove ( Worcestershire Sponsored)
* 39 Olton to Solihull to Dorridge via Knowle(WMPTE Sponsored)
* 196/7 Solihull to Balsall Common (WMPTE Sponsored)
The livery of the vehicles were Yellow and Green and the PTE drivers referred to them as Gerkin buses and this was adopted as a marketing tool.
The method of starting new routes was to win a contract for early morning or late eveing services then operate a full day schedule on them.
The ownership of Tame Valley Travel was however an open secret within the local bus industry and eventually a meeting between the Chief Executives of West Midlands Travel and the Drawlane Transport was held and WMT purchased the business for £1m to close it down within 4 days. The effect was for WMT to effectively remove the competition which then encouraged them to remove Smiths Your Bus who were competing effectively on Service 50.
WMT buses replaced Tame Valley buses on the 196/7 until a new operator could be found.
Many Tame Valley Travel buses were the stored at Selly Oak Garage which was a storage depot and many were never allowed onto the road again. This ensured that these buses could not be used to compete against WMT again. Some were used when WMT took over Merry Hill Minibuses.
At its demise TVT had some 50 vehicles.

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