A COACH company that started life as a single pony and trap has celebrated 75 years on the roads.

Whittle Holidays and Coaches, based at Kidderminster's Foley Business Park off the Stourport Road, is now home to 49 top-of-the-range buses and coaches - a far cry from its humble beginnings.

Senior partner Ron Whittle received an OBE in 1997 for his services to the industry after serving as president of the national and international trade associations.

He has steered his family firm through several decades of highs and lows - but at 57 is only just old enough to remember the "golden age" of coach travel.

"Everybody wanted to travel after the Second World War," he said.

"The 1950s were the golden age. People going on holiday booked their own accommodation and then their seats on a coach to places like Blackpool and Weston-super-Mare - that has changed completely.

"People now buy the complete package, including accommodation, from us."

Whittle now has a turnover of £2.5 million a year, and continental business makes up about 15 per cent of the firm's operation.

But in 1926 it was Mr Whittle's father and two uncles, who were miners, who set themselves up with a pony and trap to help transport their colleagues to the pit.

The firm acquired its first proper passenger vehicle in 1929 and then enjoyed several decades of growth, taking over several other local companies, until a grim period in the 1980s.

Mr Whittle said: "I was going to get out. But I stuck it out and I'm a bit too long in the tooth now to do anything else."

He has been with the family firm for 39 years. His uncles retired in 1963 and his father died seven years later. Mr Whittle's 84-year-old mother, Dorothy, is a "sleeping partner".

The firm originally had its headquarters at Highley, with depots at Mill Street and Clensmore in Kidderminster - but is now based in the town with a depot at Ludlow.

Whittle has about 100 part-time and full-time employees and as well as holidays, also runs several local bus services.

Mr Whittle said his firm invests in the best coaches available, which today cost £185,000 each with 410 bhp - compared to the £1,400 1950s model which was powered by a comparatively measly 85 bhp engine.

And he is still called upon to roll his sleeves up and drive the occasional coach - he also chalks up "a tremendous amount of mileage" researching and taking photographs for the firm's brochure when the time comes to put it together.

"I can do anything up to 4,000 miles in two weeks," he added.

Mr Whittle said he had some exciting plans in the pipeline for the future of the firm - but much depends on whether his son shows any interest in following in his footsteps, as none of his three daughters are keen.

"I still have ambition, there's still a bit of fire," he added.