Queensland family operator Thompson Bus Services recently purchased Sunshine Coast’s Coolum Coaches
One of Queensland’s long-standing family-owned businesses, Thompson Bus Services, has purchased Coolum Coaches on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.
The transaction includes 11 buses, nine prescribed school service contracts with the Department of Transport and Main Roads and a modern depot facility at Coolum Beach.
Aside from holding government contracts, the Coolum Coaches business also undertakes significant charter and touring activities.
Coolum Coaches was owned and operated by stalwart operator Glynn Ross from February 1999 through to completion of the sale in February 2023.
The sale of the business brings an end to 50 years of involvement with the Queensland bus industry by Glynn Ross, an occasion which was celebrated with family and friends of the Ross family, Department of Transport and Main Roads representatives and the Thompson family at the Coolum Beach depot on Thursday February 23, 2023.
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The purchase of Coolum Coaches is a strategic acquisition for Thompson’s, who now own a fleet of 100 buses across three depot locations and hold significant government contracts in South East Queensland.
Formed in September 1979 by Geoff and Jean Thompson, the family business is currently managed by son Shane Thompson.
“We are really excited to be extending our family business to the Sunshine Coast and the opportunities that brings for us,” Shane Thompson says.
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“On behalf of the Thompson family, we want to acknowledge Glynn Ross’s contribution to the bus industry in Queensland and are very humbled to be the new custodians of Coolum Coaches.”
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McInnes Wilson Lawyers solicitor Nick Wilson acted for Thompsons on the deal.
“At a time when a number of well-known identities are exiting the bus industry across the country, it is really pleasing to see a family-owned business in Thompsons acquire another long-standing operation,” Wilson says.
“Coolum Coaches is one of the oldest transport firms on the Sunshine Coast with its origins dating back a century ago.”