Joe English, founder of Sureline Coaches

摘要

Joe English, who founded Lurgan, Co. Armagh-based Sureline Coaches in 1966, died on 31 October, aged 92. Along with Coastal Bus Service of Portrush, Sureline was one of two independent operators that the Northern Ireland government authorised to take over unremunerative Ulster Transport Authority routes and thus break the UTA's monopoly shortly before the state-owned Ulsterbus was created. Ulsterbus bought the business in 1987. English left school aged 14 to work in stables looking after horses used mainly for hunting. Aged 21, he joined the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board as a bus driver based in Lurgan, continuing with the UTA at its formation in 1948. An active Christian, he joined the Busmen's Testimony Band in 1948, and in 1952 formed the Lurgan Busmen's Mission.