Burton bus battle begins

Tuesday 5th May 2026 Yet another spat between bus operators broke out last week. This time in Burton-on-Trent. It follows the award of a tender for routes 402 and 403 between Burton-on-Trent and Uttoxeter via various Staffordshire villages, to Buslink, the company set up in 2023 by James Boddice who sold his previous business, the highly regarded Midland Classic, to Rotala owned Diamond Bus the previous year. Until last week, the previous tender for routes 402 and 403 had been operated by Diamond Bus with the two routes complimenting the long standing Diamond Bus (former Midland Classic) commercial route 401 which takes a more direct route between Burton-on-Trent and Uttoxeter and runs hourly. The 402 and 403 each run two-hourly making for two buses an hour between Burton-on-Trent and Uttoxeter albeit via three different route variations on the three routes. On hearing they’d lost the 402/403 tender to Buslink, Diamond Bus decided to run part of the route commercially, registering an…