TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I would suggest that the parties do not take the vinyls off their coaches just yet - they may need them again in October
I think the UKIP one can be debranded
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Party Battle Buses
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I think the UKIP one can be debranded
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edwin_m
Veteran Member
I think the UKIP one can be debranded
I think the Theresa May Conservative one might need some new vinyls too.
gimmea50anyday
Established Member
Not entirely. The Plaxton Premier and Plaxton Excalibur bodies were essentially updates of the Duple 320 and Duple 425 respectively as Plaxton took on the design and jigs when Duple went under.
Seacook
Member
I think they may. It's just that they are trained on the real threats - those inside.
Mikey C
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It's ironic that while Theresa May took over the battle bus of the Remain team, the bus for the Brexit side has been used by the Pakistan cricket team, over here for the Champions Trophy.
Seeing that they beat England yesterday to reach the final, this is clearly a lucky vehicle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/pakistans-team-coach-same-vehicle-10578711
Seeing that they beat England yesterday to reach the final, this is clearly a lucky vehicle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/pakistans-team-coach-same-vehicle-10578711
Maybe it would be seen as politically biased given Plaxton is owned by Alexander Dennis and a certain director from there is involved in another company which gets a lot of lucrative contracts?
The accident hasn't reduced the value of the coach, yet the additional of the Paul Nuttall vinyl halved the value of coach.
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Perhaps the leader's name should be shown on the LED destination display in battle buses of various parties. Quicker and cheaper to change than vinyls...
Mikey C
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I imagine that the operators are used to regularly changing the vinyls, with the varied use these vehicles get. Probably not a major cost in relation to the fees they charge
Were they? Plaxton took on the jigs, and continued to build the 320 as the Plaxton 321 for a short time. The Duple 340 was dropped, while 425 production moved to France. I'm fairly certain that the Premiere was a brand new design to replace the Paramount range, with the Excalibur essentially being a high-floor Premiere, but with the raked front end.
Maybe it would be seen as politically biased given Plaxton is owned by Alexander Dennis and a certain director from there is involved in another company which gets a lot of lucrative contracts?
Or possibly because that director has been an SNP donor?
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BestWestern
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'Premiere'
The additon of the second 'e' added oodles of class 
There were two heights, the 320 (3.2m) and 350 (3.5m). The Excalibur was the sort of high spec touring variant, a theme which Plaxton continued with the replacement ranges (Paragon and Panther, I think?).
Mikey C
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It's ironic that while Theresa May took over the battle bus of the Remain team, the bus for the Brexit side has been used by the Pakistan cricket team, over here for the Champions Trophy.
Seeing that they beat England yesterday to reach the final, this is clearly a lucky vehicle!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/pakistans-team-coach-same-vehicle-10578711
And Pakistan won the trophy today, despite being complete outsiders at the start
That bus has magic powers
edwin_m
Veteran Member
That bus has magic powers
It better have, it's got to find £350m per week for the NHS in a couple of years time.
Mikey C
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It's coming from the bonus the Pakistan cricket team won
But we have to accept 100,000 immigrants from Pakistan as part of the deal.
Another general election.
The Liberal Democrats have an electric Yutong TCe12 (Westway EL19 TRC): https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...ing-green-campaign-says-swinson-38668144.html and a Van Hool (67 WT?) https://twitter.com/BeccaBarry/status/1192443684106723328
Labour also have a Yutong, albeit a diesel powered GT12 (Nova Bussing YD19 HYZ): https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1192391789430349824
The Liberal Democrats have an electric Yutong TCe12 (Westway EL19 TRC): https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...ing-green-campaign-says-swinson-38668144.html and a Van Hool (67 WT?) https://twitter.com/BeccaBarry/status/1192443684106723328
Labour also have a Yutong, albeit a diesel powered GT12 (Nova Bussing YD19 HYZ): https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1192391789430349824
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Alexbus12
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Sky News are using a Go Goodwins coach branded for their election coverage. Travelling round the country to marginal constituencies
-edit: its reg is C1ECB and is a Vanhool I believe.
-edit: its reg is C1ECB and is a Vanhool I believe.
I'm surprised operators are happy to operate a battle bus on behalf of something political. For example, Ensignbus operated an open top Wright bodied Volvo for the Leave Means Leave campaign.
Are they not worried about potential bad publicity? Although it might not have much an impact, as only enthusiasts are likely to look at legal lettering on the side of a bus or coach.
Are they not worried about potential bad publicity? Although it might not have much an impact, as only enthusiasts are likely to look at legal lettering on the side of a bus or coach.
NorthernSpirit
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If the political party is happily handing over cash to an operator, then the operator won't say no its more cash to keep their capitalist venture going.
If I was an operator and some ultra hard left wing political group wanted to hire a vehicle off me, I wouldn't say no - I'd hike the price up on the hire cost to milk as much cash out of them as possible to help keep my capitalist venture thriving. I could lose out to some other operator who may charge £20 less, that's competition.
I can't understand why polictical parties (of any angle) always opt for a coach rather than some cheapo Optare Solo / Plaxton Centro / ADL Enviro 300.
For starters, they're a lot smaller and can pretty much be able to go anywhere, whereas with a coach your pretty much knackered from the outset. Imagine using some Vanhool coach and finding that it won't fit down a narrow road to your campaign site in the town your campaigning in (as the one way system was designed badly). Fair enough the press would have a field day lamenting the fact that the coach got stuck.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Depends if they agree with the politics, one must assume Ensignbus' owners want Brexit
If a party approaches a coach operator and asks to hire a vehicle for the duration of an election campaign, it would be very difficult to say no, I would think - especially if there isn't much other work going on at this time of year.
It's a tricky one - I recall watching a programme on the BBC (Timeshift, I think - the Golden Age of Coach Travel) where they highlighted that coach firms who ferried non-striking miners to the pits during the 80s strikes were effectively blacklisted.
Mikey C
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Cruising down the Motorway in a Solo would be pretty grim though!
You need the comfort, smoothness and silence from a proper coach. I guess the drivers do their homework to make sure they avoid narrow roads!
The buses move a lot of people around so a Solo will be out of the question and I cant see anybody using a Centro if they actually wanted to move around! The buses are also used to move press around and they'd have a field day if they had to sit on a normal bus, especially one that didnt have toilet/bar etc. And they'd keep on sliding off the seats during the 'interviews on the move' that they love doing!
Busaholic
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I can't absolutely swear to this, but the pics I saw on TV last night of the Labour battle coach didn't appear to bear details of ownership. I personally can't see they'd be flouting any regulations given the non-public use of the coach in these circumstances.
Temple Meads
Established Member
The Labour coach that features in the picture linked to in post #46 is displaying legal lettering on the first nearside locker door.
I would imagine only the most pathetically small-minded bigoted idiot would object to a company trading with a political party.
Alexbus12
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Would be amusing if he did. Is there a Tory battle bus this year?
bussnapperwm
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Do we know what Farage is using this year?
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