Den Caney's involvement with coaches goes back to the days before the war when he worked for the Midland Red at Bearwood in Birmingham. During the war he served in the army service corps and rose rapidly to become sergeant Major of a transport company. After the war den wanted to go into running taxis but could'nt get a car with a petrol allocation and instead bought a florists in aston. This expanded to include greengrocery and, keeping the shop open a round was started using a Bedford 3 ton open backed lorry. Selling this business Den Bought and ran a small cafe on the parade in Birmingham until 1949 when he managed to obtain a cab in oldbury with a petrol allocation. Business began in a small way so he called it Smallways taxi service though it quickly grew using Austin 16 and 18s as well as a big old standard.

The taxis thrived and in 1953 the taxi business of Mr C.H.Beekes (Harborne Motor Services) was taken over which also included his premises in harborne. In addition to his taxis Mr Beekes had also run two 29 seat Mann Egerton bodied Austins, a K2LV and a CXB and these too were aquired bringing Den into the business of coach operation. These premises were to be the headquaters for the next couple of decades although never really an ideal location. Coaches had to be squeezed up a narrow passage at the side of the house to the garage at the rear. Efforts to find a new headquaters proved fruitless for a long time and as a result rows of coaches had to be washed and kept on the road outside.As business developed a number of other concerns were acquired and so Den continued to look for new premises to house the fleet, a succesful site was found and in the late 70's building work began on the current Stonehouse lane site in Bartley Green it boast's a fully concreted hard standing yard and now a three lane under cover workshop with 2 pits and a roller brake test, the company has come on a long way since the days when the coaches were parked in the road and also being washed where they were parked.