< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Philip Hambling Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details 66F B703HFG  B703HFG Location Link/s Guildford Garage Date added to site 21/11/2020 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: Most of the larger bus companies in the UK had their own engineering works, to repair and overhaul their bus fleets. In the run up to privatisation in the 1980s, most of these works were separated into stand-alone companies. London Country's main works was at Crawley, and ownership of this was transferred to new company Gatwick Engineering. They took on a proportion of the LCBS service vehicle fleet, including the three newest Ford Cargo lorries 66F to 68F. The traditional National Bus Company green was quickly replaced by a white livery with red and yellow detailing in a style that is very '80s' to me. B703HFG (the former 66F) was photographed at Guildford Garage in January 1989, by which time the new livery on the dropside body had been worn away in places, to show traces of the original markings beneath. As with most of the new companies, Gatwick Engineering was destined to not last very long. They were free to look for work beyond their parent bus companies (as evidenced in this photo of the BEL premises in Willesden) but very few attained commercial viability and most were soon closed down.

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Posted By	Comments	Date/Time
Kim Rennie	Note the LT 'dolly stop' in the background	Sat 21/11/2020, 22:43