Mr William Pitter, together with his son William Thomas Pitter as an apprentice, originally commenced trading as Carpenter & Wheelwrights. They bought a pony named Kit, which was harnessed to a trolley during the week to haul finished timber products etc locally and was also used as pony and trap at the weekends. Subsequently a cart horse was purchased for coal and fire deliveries, which continued to expand until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, when 7 horses were hired by the War Department to haul materials from Swaything Station to the Re-mount Camp in the Basset Green area.
The first petrol driven lorries were acquired in 1916 followed by 2 Foden Steam Wagons which were restricted to 8mph or with trailer only 5mph.
The local coal delivery lorries were fitted with the logo "Keep the home fires burning", whilst 2 other lorries used for furniture removals had the logo "Keep moving".
In 1929 the first 10 ton lorries fitted with pneumatic tyres were purchased, which increased the fleet to 10 and the number of horses to 2.
The business continued to expand and a nightly trunk service to Bristol which was started in 1926 was augmented by further trunk services during the early 1930's to London, Birmingham and Liverpool.
During the second World War the fleet of 30 lorries were mainly used to transport Aircraft components to various factories throughout England, and also to dispersal works in the south for Supermarine. During the period 1943 - 1946, 10 of the larger lorries were controlled by the M.O.W.T. Mainly for long distance journies, leaving the remaining 20 to cover journies within a 60 mile radius.
Soon after the end of the war, Southampton Docks was re-opened for fruit and general Cargo imports and by 1949 a third of the fruit imports carried by Road Transport were handled by Pitters Transport. Unfortunately the company was nationalised on 23rd June 1949 - hence British Road Services inherited this enviable position.
The three Pitter Brothers (Lewis, Reg and Ken) had always enjoyed working for themselves. As all the long distance haulage firms were also nationalised, they decided to enter the coach business and within six weeks had purchased Coliseum Coaches and subsequently Greyhound and Santoy each of which were old established pre-war and sub-standard, 50% of the fleet was replaced by new full luxury coaches during 1950, which included one of the first in England to be 8' wide and 30' long. This increased the seating capacity from 33 to 41 with more comfort.
Fuel was rationed until July 1951, thus shorter trips to Bournemouth, Swanage, Weymouth, Bognor and Brighton were the norm.
Although drivers were permitted to work longer hours their speed was restricted to 30 mph. With no motorways, a day trip to Lynton & Lynmouth took 14 hours with 10 hours driving time.
Weekend trips to Blackpool Illuminations were best supported during the 1950's when the all in price per person joining a Private Party was under £4. This included night travel on the Friday followed by the 2 breakfasts and 1 nights sleeping accommodation at a Boarding House. On our 3 day weekend Excursion to the Norbrek Hydro Hotel including lunch at Warwick on the Friday, 2 nights dinner bed and breakfast at Blackpool and lunch at Trentham Gardens on the way home. All for only Seven Guineas (i.e. £7.35).
Over the years, larger and more luxury coaches have been added to the fleet, the majority having air conditioning for the summer and efficient heaters for winter. Safety has always been the hallmark of the Coliseum Fleet which are fitted with A.B.S and Secondary Retarder braking systems and speed limiters. Seat belts were also fitted long before the MOT made it compulsory.
Although Mr Ken Pitter has recently retired after 50 years in the coach business, his sons David and Kerry are well established, forward thinking and proud to be a part of this family business which has stood the test of time for the past 100 years.
In 1963 Reg and his sons acquired the shares of the business appertaining to the Transport Section. This section of the Pitter organisation has continued to operate with at present a fleet of 30 HGV articulated trucks transporting mainly Containers from the Dock to most parts of Great Britain. This section is now owned by Michael Pitter and his sons Stephen and Christopher together with Pitter Commercials Ltd which is a franchise for the sale of Iveco Daily vans.
In 1987 Coliseum first started to provide transport for Southampton Football Club, then in 1990 they acquired a new "Kassbohrer Setra" their first corporate coach with full facilities including tables and a kitchen etc. Coliseum lifted the "Coach of the Year" award with this vehicle which has subsequently been replaced several times, the latest being with a Neoplan "Starliner" which is looked upon as the Rolls Royce of coaches. Portsmouth Football Club also became customers of Coliseum in 1990 and both teams now use our services to transport them to most of their away fixtures.
In April 1995 Colin Pitter ands his son Jeff took over the Self Drive and formed a new company, Pitter Self Drive Ltd with some 30 vans and light trucks.
Van and Truck Rental was started in 1988 as part of Pitter Bros Ltd operations.
Today, the rental fleet has grown to over 50 Escorts, Transits, Lutons, etc including a 7 seater people movers. All vehicles are available for either shorter rental, continental hire or long term contract hire.
Finally Derek Pitter and his sons Simon and Jim own and operate Commercial Components that operate from their premises at Hedge End.
The Pitter family have always taken a keen interest in Commercial Motor Shows and Coach Rallies. They had a Reo 5 Ton Speed Wagon in the last Commercial Motor Show held at the Olympia Exhibition Hall in 1935 and another Reo 6 Tonner was shown at the first Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 1937.
In fact a Pitter lorry or a Coliseum Coach has been shown at most of these shows since the second World War.
The Pitter Family now employ a combined total of 100 employees having 12 members of the family actively engaged in the running of the business where the motto still is "Service with Satisfaction".
