Hadleigh Bus Depot is a bus garage in Hadleigh, east of London. It is used by First Essex buses who operate many of the routes in the county of Essex and especially in the South East of the county. It has the depot code HH.
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History
It was originally used by Westcliff on Sea Motor Services, before that company was absorbed into Eastern National. In July 1990, the south Essex and London activities of Eastern National became part of a new company, called Thamesway. At that time, Eastern National was under ownership of its management,having been sold off by the National Bus Company in 1986. In 1990 it passed to Badgerline Holdings. In 1999 Badgerline and GRT Holdings joined to form First. After the formation of First, the company became one whole unit again; First Essex.
Location
The depot is located on London Road, Hadleigh, just west of the shopping centre and about 6 miles from central Southend. The depot is immediately to the east of a roundabout where the A13 London Road/Kiln Road meets the B1014 Benfleet Rd and A129 Rayleigh Road.
Description of depot
It is currently the main depot for First buses serving the Southend area, following the closure of the depots at Southend (Prittlewell) in 1992; Southend (London Road) in 1987, and Canvey in 1978.
The depot consists of a large garage/workshop building, with an enquiry office on the London Road frontage. There are two yards, on the east and west sides of the complex. Buses enter the depot from the east, and pass through a wash and fuelling point on this side of the garage. Buses mainly exit from the west side.
At May 2015, Hadleigh has a variety of single and double deckers. The double deckers are Dennis Tridents with Plaxton President bodies, but there are 5 with ALX 400 bodies. The single deckers consist of Wright StreetLites and Dennis Darts. The Darts are mostly Enviro 200 bodied and there are also 7 Marshall bodied Darts. There are 6 remaining Plaxton Pointer bodied Darts in service, but these are soon due to be replaced by more StreetLites.