< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Philip Hambling Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details 3041F JOT618X Location Link/s Stamford Hill Garage Date added to site 30/10/2020 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: The new fleet numbering series for leased vehicles was started in 1982, with numbers in the range starting from 3000. Thirty vehicles arrived before the change from X-suffix to Y-suffix registrations in August 1982, these being allocated numbers between 3019L and 3114L, other numbers going on Y-plated vehicles. The thirty X-regs included four Ford Escort 3-door hatchback cars, a type which was never as common as the estate version. 3041F was one of the four, and replaced similar 2112F with the Plant Engineer at Stamford Hill Garage. It was photographed at its home garage in August 1986, a couple of months before it was returned to Hertz off lease. Apart from wondering what the 'Plant Engineer (Buses)' actually did, a couple of points about this photograph caught my eye. The first is the telephone box in the left background. The telecomms market had recently been opened to competition but I don't recall seeing boxes of this type before. The other point is the MCW Metrobus parked outside the garage entrance. The M class was the standard type in this area at the time, but this example appears to have a non-standard silver front grille. It also seems to have the word 'Bristol' (in a curious font?) in the front blind via-points box, with the destination being a more mundane Ponders End.

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Posted By	Comments	Date/Time
Clive G	I understood the plant engineer attended to bus washers, fuel pumps and tanks, lifting equipment, garage sweepers and all that sort of stuff.	Sat 31/10/2020, 19:42