Iveson's Service

I have found your interesting page on Samuel Ledgard (Exors of) on the web while searching for information on a (market day?) bus service known as "Iveson's Service" which I believe ran in the Otley area (to Dacre where they may have been based). I wonder if anyone has any information on this operation. I have the reg. no. of their vehicle - YG 597, which I believe was a 14 seat Bedford.
BTW I am old enough to remember Ledgard's. I spent some of my school holidays in Leeds in the 1950s and 60s.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Roger Monk

27/01/15 - 17:12

Sorry for the delay in responding to the question, Roger, I must have missed it when you first posted it. In the post-war era there were four independents operating market day services into Otley from a cluster of villages to the north of the town. Iveson came in from their home village of Darley, Murgatroyd operated from his home base at Thruscross, and Wray from their home village of Dacre. Balme of Otley provided a link from the quaintly named village of Kettlesing Bottom.
Murgatroyd didn't start up until 1937, so it seems likely that the Thruscross link had previously been provided by another operator, but I have no details.
By 1954 Murgatroyd had acquired Iveson's service (exact date unknown - the PSV Circle fleet history which includes Murgatroyd says "At some time..."). Balme of Otley gave up their service in 1964, and then in 1967 Murgatroyd also acquired Wray of Dacre's services (they ran to Ripon market as well as Otley), becoming the inheritor of all four firms and the winner of this tontine situation.
Apart from knowing that they existed I have virtually nothing on Iveson - no vehicles passed to Murgatroyd which is probably why the PSVC reference is a bit vague.
It might be worth asking Keith Jenkinson (of Autobus Review Publications) if he has any better information, as he seems to have been a regular visitor to Murgatroyds during the 1960s - there are several of his Murgatroyd photo's in print in Autobus Review monographs.

Neville Mercer

28/01/15 - 12:57

I've not come across YG 957, but YG 952 was a Bedford WLB new to Parish (Felix motors), Hatfield.

David Hick

29/01/15 - 07:01

Thank you Neville that's a useful response on the later history of the company but I should have made it clear that my question related to the WWII years. My late father took some photos of Iveson's Service bus in July/August 1943 - on wartime film the quality isn't brilliant but I attach a scan of one of them showing the vehicle in question. In another shot the destination shows as 'DACRE'

It seems both David and I are both suffering from a 'keyboard number pressing malfunction'(!) - the registration (as can be seen in the picture) is YG 497 - not 597 as I typed in my original question.

I would appreciate any information on this vehicle - e.g. is it a Bedford, as my father recorded in his notes? Can it be clarified if Iveson was based at Dacre or Darley?
Thanks in advance for any further light that can be shed on this.

Roger Monk

29/01/15 - 14:22

I've only seen them referred to as Iveson of Darley, and the licence which passed to Murgatroyd was for a service from Darley to Otley. I have no details of the route taken though, so the Dacre destination might be explained by a short-working on the Darley run, or the vehicle might be running on loan to Wray - three of the four market day operators were based within two miles of each other.
I've checked the PSV Circle's Biblical monograph on pre-war Bedfords and there's no trace of
YG 497. Could this perhaps be a late production Chevrolet LQ or similar? I can't tell them apart from early Bedfords unless the "badging" is visible. I seem to remember that the PSVC have done Chevrolet, but I don't have a copy. Can somebody who does check this out? (Or alternatively check their registration extracts for YG 497?)

Neville Mercer

30/01/15 - 06:02

Yes, I did manage to make a mess of my last contribution, but here's a couple of observations:
The YG series of registrations were issued from March 1932, and the first Bedfords (as opposed to Bedford-Chevrolet)seem to have been registered in 8/31. The PSVC history states that the 14-seat WHB had a chrome radiator surround, where the goods version, WHG, had a painted one.
The body on YG 497 looks to be somewhat older than the chassis, or at least it is of an older style,perhaps made locally, there is no curved panel work visible. Presumably passenger entry was from the rear. A 1932 Bedford WHB ?

David Hick

01/02/15 - 07:08

Thanks to Neville and David for their further responses.
If I have understood these ok it seems that this vehicle might be either a Chevrolet or a Bedford. But, in view of the issue date of the registration, it is more likely to be a Bedford WHB. I have tried to enlarge the radiator in case it gives a better image of the badge.
I can confirm from another photo that the entrance was at the front nearside. There was a door in the back - I presume this was for emergency use as it wasn't provided with steps.

Roger Monk

01/02/15 - 14:29

Normally I would agree with you Roger, and come to the conclusion that the PSV Circle had "missed" a WHB out from their Bedford monograph. However, as the Circle has extracts of early Yorkshire PSV registrations, giving details of all vehicles registered as PSVs, this seems unlikely in this case. It seems more probable that this is a late model Chevy which had sat in a dealer's yard until 1932 (only six months after the last "Chevy badged" vehicles came off the production line) and then been first registered upon its sale to an operator. Can anybody tell us for sure?

Neville Mercer

02/02/15 - 06:52

The radiator on YG 497 is identical with that on WHB/WLB Bedfords. Chevrolet radiator surrounds have a flat front surface. The late Chevrolet and the Early Bedfords were very similar, but one of the few differences was the radiator. I do not know if the PSV Circle have a record of YG 749, and what they record it as, but if it was missed when the tax records were abstracted, and it did not come to the attention of the PSVC by other means, then it won't appear in the 1930's Bedford book. Many of the early WHBs in that book have a known chassis number, but no record of a registration.

David Hick

08/08/15 - 08:32

Having just read Neville Mercer�s comments (27/1/15) re Murgatroyds. Having had a small financial interest in Murgatroyds in the early 1960s I would like to correct a few points and add a little more info. Murgatroyd�s did indeed operate a market day service between Dacre and Otley on Mondays and Fridays and in the early 1960s also ran a short working at lunchtime on Fridays between Otley and Askwith. In addition the company operated two school services, one from Dacre to Otley via Fewston and Norwood, the other from Stainburn to Otley via Leathley. For a short while, a feeder (school) service was also operated from Menwith Hill to join with the service from Dacre at Norwood (Keith Murgatroyd�s Vauxhall Cresta car being used for this). In addition to its main base at Thruscross, Murgatroyds also rented a one-coach depot at Wharfe Street, Otley adjacent to Beecroft�s similar rented one-coach depot.
While it is correct that Wrays of Harrogate maintained a small depot at Dacre (almost opposite the former railway station), Murgatroyds took over the Thursday only Dacre to Ripon market day service a few years before 1967. While I cannot give an exact date, I can clearly remember driving this on several occasions with a Bedford OB around 1963/4. During the period 1963-65, while Murgatroyds did not undertake any holidays tours of its own, it operated several to Devon on behalf of Nelson Co-operative Society. On summer Saturdays during the first half of the 1960s in addition to its own private hires Murgatroyds regularly hired coaches to Wallace Arnold and Ledgards to duplicate their services to Blackpool (from Leeds and Bradford).

Keith A. Jenkinson

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