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can anyone remember Camms Coaches? When I worked at Hoveringham transport to work was provided by these, the one I caught used to pick us up from near Canning Circus and go up Carlton Road, one of the wheels came off once and it was a miracle how they ever got up the hill. We used to get sent home early when it was foggy, a message came over the tannoy telling us to go for the coach as it would be leaving shortly due to low visibility.

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I think the former owner of Camms is a member on here,Looselegs (Alan) used to own the Blue Bell in Tattershall Thorpe Lincs

Rog

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God its a FORD! Engine in front of the front axle - no weight on rear axle, great fun! They even look presentable in that picture.

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We live on a hill with a bend at the bottom, the guy who used to live opposite drove for Camms. Came home in the bus one night, went in the house 40 minutes later the bus rolled down the hill and parked itself in someone's front garden just short of going through the window.

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#9 Ha ha Den that reminds me when we went to Wembley in 1980 to watch Forest against Wolves on Camms. We made it there ok and nearly all the way back until we got to J25 and just coming off we broke down.

After waiting ages for a replacement some of us decided to walk into Sandiacre and find a pub and then made our own way home from there.

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#9 Ha ha Den that reminds me when we went to Wembley in 1980 to watch Forest against Wolves on Camms. We made it there ok and nearly all the way back until we got to J25 and just coming off we broke down.

After waiting ages for a replacement some of us decided to walk into Sandiacre and find a pub and then made our own way home from there.

Was that when Andy Grey claimed what was essentially an own goal.

Fortunately Braintree was out of the reach of the dreaded Camms, I caught the train instead which meant I got home in time for Match of the Day in order to suffer it all over again.

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Camms set up an operation in Derby running local services. At first it was a pretty ropey affair but it developed into quite a smart operation and was taking quite a lot of passengers away from Derby Corporation which was by then owned by it's employees. It looked like Camms were there to stay and after trying to drive them off the road in all sorts of dubious ways, Derby decided the only way to get rid of them was to buy them out.

Apparently, a quite substantial offer was put to them and Camms made it a condition that their name should be retained. Unbelievably, this was conceded (which showed the ineptitude of the employees running the Derby business) and several Derby buses were painted in Camms orange and cream colours and ran like that for a year or two.

All this happened at the end of the 1980s and it was widely said that Arthur Camm laughed all the way to the bank when Derby City Transport bought him out!

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  • 1 year later...

When I was at Henry Mellish we went to Twickenham to watch the varsity match. Sure enough the Cammc bus we went on broke down near Northampton on the way back up the M1. It took a while but another one turned up to get us back to Nottingham.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 3 years later...

As mentioned on a different thread, I've been chatting to David Worsdale who lived on Churchfield Lane as a child.  He was a friend of Patrick Camm whose family started Camm's Coaches.  He says it's his understanding that a member of the Camm family (Arthur Camm) married Alice Skill, the eldest daughter of Arthur Skill. Skill's were already in the coach business. Arthur Skill gave the couple a 28 seater coach as a wedding present and the rest is history!  Arthur Camm built up the business to around six coaches.

 

David recalls the coaches drawing up outside his house, waiting for those who had booked tickets for day trips to Mablethorpe and Skegness to board. If there were spare seats, Mrs Camm would ask local residents whether their children would like a free day out. If there were too many eager children for the number of spare seats, Mrs Camm arranged for them to draw lots.  It seems, despite the derogatory name of Camm's Collapsibles, they always returned home safely.

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I recollect, when I attended the audit of Skills Motor Coaches at St. Peter’s St., around 1963, there was a Mr. Camm on the scene. As I recall he was an elderly gentleman. I’d heard of Camm’s Coaches and wondered what the connection was.

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We once went on a coach holiday with Camms, to the Grand Hotel, Isle of Wight. It stood/stands next door to I.o.W zoo. Our driver was a guy named Arthur, but I don't know if he was a Camm. His son was our escort. To give us a break, they used to take our son Andrew, in his wheelchair and walk him into Sandown for a drink. People ridiculed Camms coaches as being borderline MOT vehicles, but we had a brilliant week. I remember being at Boulevard school the same time as Valerie Camm, ( although boys and girls were seperate).

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