The company was founded in 1926 by Ernest Titterington, the son of a local gamekeeper, who had decided on a change of direction and bought a second-hand 20 seater ‘Star’ bus to run the local market service between Blencowe – Newbiggin – Stainton – Redhills and Penrith. That pioneer vehicle was certainly versatile, when not in use as a bus the top could be removed from the chassis and a cattle wagon container would take its place. Sometimes the passenger trade was slow, so the service bus would carry a hotchpotch of poultry, eggs and butter for sale to market day stalls and then return to farms along the route with shopping, paraffin and doctors prescriptions. The outbreak of World War II brought about the next major development in the company with extra business in the form of contracts to provide transport for locally based soldiers, prisoners of war and evacuees. In addition the popularity of the cinema during the war years meant that the Saturday night service to the Penrith Alhambra was always crowded. During the 1950’s Ernest was joined in the company by his son Gordon and many of the Sunday School outings or village trips that had been restricted to Silloth on the Solway Coast or the Lake District were now venturing further afield to Morecambe, Blackpool and beyond. 1965 saw the first trip abroad by a Titterington coach, carrying a party of children from the local grammar school to Germany. The 70’s saw the steady expansion of the company. In 1980, to coincide with the advance in luxury coach building Titterington Holidays was established to provide top quality holidays by coach throughout Europe. The company’s 18 vehicle fleet is today run by Ernests three grandsons, Ian, Paul and Colin with Titterington Coaches providing executive and corporate coach travel throughout the UK and beyond. Titterington Holidays offer everything from a 1 night mystery break to a 14 day tour of Europe, and Titterington Groups, an increasingly important division of the company, providing holidays and short breaks for groups clubs and societies.
