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| Photographer / Copyright: Colin Lloyd Images should not be reused without permission. Date added to site:11/12/21 | ||
| Details: The first seven photos in todays batch all show vehicles with A-prefix registrations. These were first introduced in August 1983, when the existing registration system was simply reversed. The year was now indicated by a single letter at the beginning, rather than one at the end. I do remember thinking at the time how odd these 'backwards' registrations looked... Seen crossing Buckingham Palace Road outside Victoria Coach Station on 5th May 1993 was Dodge Commando lorry 2406D, still in standard grey livery. In fact the lorry appears to still have the lettering applied when it was new in January 1984, namely 'London Transport' in red with 'Distribution Services Manager' in black underneath. London Transport had bought 35 Dodge service vehicles (mainly Commando lorries but also a few S-series trucks and vans) between 1981 and 1985. They were in decline by the time of this photo and 2406D was to be sold within a few weeks. Perhaps of interest are the two minibuses visible, both of which are Optare products. The blue one on the left is a CityPacer that was used by Eaton Square Schools for staff and student transport. The CityPacer was based on the Volkswagen LT chassis and was also used by London Buses for some central area bus routes, including the C1. Those on the C1 were later replaced by larger minibuses, including the MetroRider just visible on the right. The MetroRider had started out in 1986 as an MCW product but was bought by Optare in 1989 and continued in production for another decade. The use of minibuses on London bus services was also in decline by the time of this photograph, with bigger Dennis Darts being added in large numbers. These were to be followed by low floor Dart SLFs and then Enviro 200s. | ||
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