The Original Crosville Motor Company Ltd was formed in 1906 by George Crosland Taylor and his French business partner Georges de Ville - the company name being a combination of their two names. Originally formed to build motor cars, by 1909 a bus service was being run between Chester and Ellesmere Port. Further routes and expansion by acquisitions and mergers followed and in 1942 the company became part of the UK-wide Tilling group. The 1968 Transport Act brought Crosville into the ownership of the National Bus Company, sporting NBC Leaf Green livery. By this time the company was serving an area that stretched from Manchester/Liverpool and Chester throughout North, Mid and West Wales. Upon de-regulation Crosville was split in 1986 and eventually the company name disappeared under First and Arriva ownership. In 2005 the dormant name was revived by Jonathan Jones-Pratt who was restoring an ex-Crosville Bristol L5G (KFM767) at the time. By 2011 the newly formed company had expanded into local bus routes and contracted supermarket shoppers services within Weston-super-Mare for which M246YWM was acquired. New in May 1995 to Warrington Borough Transport, as their 246, the bus was sold in Sept 2009 to South Wales Transport where it was re-registered M100SWT. Reverting back to M246YWM it passed to Xelabus, Hants, in Dec 2010 and found its way to Crosville in June 2011 - where it sported traditional block letter fleetnames applied to Xelabus's livery which itself was based on traditional Hants & Dorset colours. The bus remained at Crosville until Nov 2013 at which point it returned to Xelabus, remaining for a month before being scrapped in December 2013. This view shows M246YWM close to the company depot in Weston-super-Mare on 26th August 2012.
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