The coach station

 

To be honest, an abandoned coach station wasn't high on my list of priorities. A lot of people love old vehicles, and while I can appreciate their place in the whole spectrum of forbidden tourism, I'll always be far happier in some crumbling old manor, or a cobwebbed old movie theatre. Other people seem to love abandoned vehicles. The last time I posted a car graveyard, my inbox was a cesspit of folks who looked like Jeremy Kyle guests offering me money for the location. 

But I'm not one to turn down any kind of adventure usually, unless my survival instinct pipes up and says "don't go down that storm drain today, it's raining." Pesky survival instinct. What a bloody nuisance. 

So, having had this place on my radar for a while, I decided to pop around for a mooch on a bored, rainy day. I'm sure a dozen or so disused vehicles should be interesting to some. My external shots aren't the best. It was raining and I just wanted to get inside.

 

I must admit, there is something pretty about decaying old fuel pumps.

 

So I actually don't know when this place was built, which frustrates me somewhat. It doesn't appear on maps from the 1950s , but apparently it had a mighty fine cafe in the 1970s. Well, isn't that lovely? We have a window of twenty years to speculate at. 

 

There's also the question of the signage. "Storm Petroleum" doesn't exist. The owner allegedly agreed to let the property be a scene for some film production, and the Storm Petroleum signs went up as part of that. But then the film never got produced, and there's no information about why, or what kind of film it was going to be.

It was a Mr Brown who owned this place at least in the 1990s, but then it was inherited by his son. 

You can assume that any Mr Brown I mention from here on is the son, because Daddy Brown didn't stick around. His son was on his own.

 

Mr Brown got his National O-License in 2000, which is basically the legal thingie that permits someone to run a fleet of commercial vehicles. In Mr Browns case, this meant buses and coaches. His license authorised him to be the Big Cheese of about 28 vehicles, and as such he decided to carry on his fathers business. They employed about fifteen people, and provided contract bus services as well as private hire. He was contracted to do about twelve school services, and apparently this is just one of three "bases" where the vehicles were kept. The other two were in towns to the west and east of here, putting this one right in the middle like some moldy bus sandwich.

 

 

Unfortunately, Mr Brown seemed set to fail his fathers legacy from day one. In 2002  it was reported to the regulating bodies that the coach service had an inadequate system in place for drivers reporting vehicle defects. The company as a whole was failing to adhere to vehicle inspections, meaning that the vehicles weren't being properly maintained, and were potentially unsafe. Given that the primary passengers were all the young crotchfruit of the locality, many people were understandably concerned. 

This isn't America. We expect our kids to survive a day at school.

Apparently Mr Browns annual MOT test failure rate was four times the national average, which is pretty shite. He was invited to send a written explanation for his failure to stay on top of his vehicles upkeep, and apparently he did so, and it was filed away to be referenced at a later date.

 

Some of the vehicles are accessible. They look fairly predictable for conveyance vehicles that are no longer in service. 

It's time to slip into the building itself.

 

This room was probably once the eatery where people could stop for a quick bite back in the 1970s, but now if anyone is hungry, the closest thing to food is the mushrooms growing on the piles of old coach seats. It seems a bit of a shame really. With the wallpaper and hanging pictures, it's obvious that this was quite a pleasant place once.

 

 

There was eventually a public inquiry in 2007 that looked into Mr Browns business. In particular it was focused on the maintenance of his vehicles. It turned out that Mr Brown had been making false statements about the six-weekly inspections of his vehicles, and this reinforced concerns that his coaches were not being properly maintained. 

As a result of this, he had his license reduced so that he could only operate 21 vehicles. He was also given some ultimatums. From now on he would have to carry out vehicle inspections every six weeks and fill in reports so that there was a paper trail. He would also have to have an independent contractor carry out random safety inspections. The drivers would also be subject to inspections to make sure they were doing their job right.

Interestingly, historic street view images of this place do show it looking run down as early as 2008, and 2009, but clearly being used to store the excess vehicles, which are parked around rather scruffily. The cafe still looks open, and it's even possible to see a bus driver walking to his vehicle in the 2009 street view, but it's clear even back then that maintenance and appearance aren't Browns strong points. In the 2015 street view, it's possible to see a number of coach seats crammed up inside the cafe, so it seems that by then the service station was less service, more dumping ground.

 

The workshops behind the cafe are similarly cluttered and messy. Nobody has cared about this place in a long time. 

 

 

Once again, in 2017 it was brought to the attention of the powers-that-be that Brown was having issues with his maintenance, and also failing to comply with the rules regarding tachographs and the drivers hours. 

Most annoyingly for those involved, Brown had completely failed to comply with any of the ultimatums that had been imposed on him back in 2007, and was also found to have made false statements about carrying out his six-weekly vehicle inspections.The traffic commissioner was miffed, but lenient, and decided to offer him a chance to prove he could run a compliant organisation.

 

Brown had some additional ultimatums, to give him more things to ignore. From now on, he was to carry out safety checks every five weeks, as well as carry out rolling brake tests every quarter. There would be random inspections of three drivers per week, and a transport consultant would be involved to oversee everything. Unfortunately Browns license was restricted again, so that he could only operate a fleet of fifteen vehicles. It was just a shadow of the 28-vehicle extravaganza he'd inherited from his father, but surely fifteen vehicles would be easier to maintain? 

 

Rather ominously, the report did state "the operators recent history and the manner in which he gave his assurances, both in writing and orally, leave substantial doubts as to the likelihood of future compliance if left to his own devices." So it's safe to say they already knew that talking to Brown was just talking to hear themselves speak. Even back then they started coming up with contingency plans for the school routes.

 

This room had a delightful odour to it, and I guess it's pretty in its own weird way. It's a wasteland of old bus seats, sat in what is slowly becoming an indoor swamp. 

 

 

There's probably a few frogs in here somewhere.

 

 

This place started getting the attention of urbexers around 2018/2019, with many also venturing up to a bungalow behind the service station that I completely ignored on my visit. But no matter, I've seen bungalows before. I highly doubt it had anything new. But apparently it was connected to this site in some way. Is it possible it's where Brown lived once? I don't know.

 

The earliest urbexers here were a bit like vultures really, circling Browns business as is staggered onwards, waiting for it to finally collapse, before swooping in to pick it apart. Varying urbex stories tell of running into Brown, whose business was still up and running even if this middle service station was just a dumping ground. It can't really be called "Abandoned" in spite of the decay, the filth and the total lack of  fucks given. Brown seemed agreeable, depending on who you ask. Most of the time he's content to let people mooch around as long as they don't damage anything. 

 

Having said that, this is the urbex world we're talking about. It's a community that attracts the emotionally inarticulate, and while in most cases that's just your typical harmless socially awkward weirdos like me, it's also sometimes that guy who has to smash something because his friends found out his girlfriend is imaginary, and every now and then posts on this place are accompanied by a narrative like "the land owner is so mean. I only broke two windows, and he threatened to call the police."

 

An old toilet door for a coach.

 

So even as this place fell to decay and disrepair, and was crawling with urbexers, Brown continued running his bus service from his other two bases. But then in 2020, around October time, one of Browns vehicles was picking up school children, and a parent reported that their child had just boarded a bus with a flat tire and a the exhaust hanging off. 

Why would you let your child board that bus? 

The report was followed up on, and the driver denied the broken exhaust, but did admit that the bus had a puncture. However he only had six stops left, and the children he was picking up were waiting on roads without pavements, so he decided to prioritise getting them to school and then report it. Which seems reasonable, although perhaps a more efficient service might have had a backup vehicle come down to complete the run, and those children would just have to be slightly late for school. I'm sure they would have been fine with that.

The driver did get the tire changed after the school run was done, but no paperwork was completed, and this led to an investigation once again, because the total lack of a paper trail was one of the transport commissioners issues with Browns maintenance. 

The 2020 investigation was particularly brutal, and that's to be expected. Whereas before it was just transport commissioners voicing their concerns at Browns vehicle maintenance, now it was parents reporting that children were on an unsafe vehicle. That's a whole safeguarding can of worms, as well as a potential news scandal. 

During the investigation, Brown was found to be operating several vehicles that were under Sorn, which is a bit of a transport no-no. Some were also being used without an MOT. The report mentioned unsatisfactory maintenance records, and an inadequate operating centre with vehicles parked all over the place, including in nearby laybys. 

 

Of the ultimatums Brown had been issued with in 2017, the only one that he had actually complied with was the one about rolling brake tests. Brown seemed to think that the transport consultant had been pretty useless, and the pandemic hadn't really helped him stay on top of things, which is fair enough and might have actually brought his case some weight had it only been taking into consideration the circumstances from the 2017 report onward, but these were issues that had been going on since 2007 and as the report did say, letting Brown off the hook would be unfair on companies who actually do follow the rules.

The report wasn't entirely negative though. It acknowledged that while back in 2007 his annual MOT test failure rate was four times the national average, now it was only twice the national average. I guess that's better than nothing.

After the investigation, in July 2021, Browns O-License was revoked, and he was disqualified from holding one for five years. So I guess we can expect his triumphant return in 2026. However even then he would need to resit a transport management course and appear before a transport commissioner to determine whether or not he deserves it. From what I read, it's not just a case of breaking the rules but also breaking their trust. There definitely seems to be a personal aspect to it. People don't like being lied to. People especially don't like giving someone a chance, risking their own reputation for someone, and then having it thrown in their face.

 

Brown appealed the decision, but it was just flat-out dismissed. I guess now his other places will end up just as derelict as this place.

Out of curiosity, I decided to take a look on street view, and sure enough his main office now has a to-let sign in the window. I guess he's fucked. I do kinda feel sorry for him, but on the other hand he was issued some clear directions on what to improve on, and he failed to do any of it over the space of a decade. Clearly when it came to transport management he was out of his depth.

 

 

Now onto the best part of any abandoned building, the toilets.

 

Still in better condition than the toilets in some pubs and clubs.

 

 

The wooden towel rail gives it an oddly homely vibe. 

 

 

Lastly, I noticed a garage with three cars parked up in it. I'm not sure what they're doing here, but given all the years that urbexers have been coming here now, it seems strange that they're as complete as they are. And also, why has this place not been properly secured?

Fortunately thanks to the internet, I was able to look up the number plates of the vehicles, and give us some idea of how long they've been here.

 

This Honda was manufactured in 1996, and its MOT expired in 2015.

 

 

A note in the window informs us that it has a fractured fuel pipe. Clearly at some point it was dropped off here to be repaired, but that never happened.

 

 

The porsche is a bit of a relic, manufactured in 1979 and untaxed since 1989. But the fact that there's a lot number written on the windscreen would indicate that it was put up for auction.

 

 

And lastly we have this fossil. This car is from 1958. 

 

 

 

Even as someone who doesn't much care for cars, I do like the interior of this one. Vintage vehicles just have a vibe that's missing from the newer models.

 

As mentioned before, some people have been coming here to vandalise, and the police are starting to take notice. Hopefully someone gets these things to safety before they're stolen or ripped to pieces. 

 

As far as adventures go, this wasn't really my favourite, but I wanted to tick it off the list before I move onto more interesting things. People who enjoy old dead vehicles might like this one though! When I went to that car graveyard with Jess years ago, I could have drowned a gerbil in all her drool. Different strokes for different folks. I do find it a little bemusing that the urbexers were here before the company was even finished dying though, although we saw that a lot during Covid, with any business closure being treated like feeding time at the zoo. 

 

My next blog posts will be, in my opinion, better than this one. There's a cinema and then some cute little cave dwellings. And of course, I have my invasion of Europe on the horizon.

In the meantime, in a vain attempt against an algorithmic hellscape to make sure that you don't miss an update, follow me on Instagram, Vero, Reddit, and the lesser social media sites, Facebook and Twatter.

Thanks for reading!