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Private plates on buses and coaches
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Jordan Adam
Established Member
Perhaps not directly related to the topic, but pretty much every operator within Scotland seems to have at least one "LSK ***" plate!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
First South West (and First West of England) have quite a few on their bus and coach vehicles. Whilst FSW went out and bought quite a few MIG plates to disguise how elderly the fleet was, many have had some very varied lives.
260ERY was originally on a Leicester City Transport PD3. When it was sold, the plate eventually ended up on a Royal Tiger Doyen for a South Yorkshire firm, who then sold that but kept the plate for a Leyland Tiger that was then sold to Truronian (when they were independent). It then got put on a B10M/Paramount and then a B10M Caetano when Truronian was sold to First. It was then put on a Volvo B6LE to disguise the fact that the improved Kickstart funded TavyLink services were not new vehicles. That vehicle was then sent to Buses of Somerset, and on withdrawal, the plate went onto an early e300 that was withdrawn earlier this year. So 260ERY awaits an eighth vehicle to adorn it.
260ERY was originally on a Leicester City Transport PD3. When it was sold, the plate eventually ended up on a Royal Tiger Doyen for a South Yorkshire firm, who then sold that but kept the plate for a Leyland Tiger that was then sold to Truronian (when they were independent). It then got put on a B10M/Paramount and then a B10M Caetano when Truronian was sold to First. It was then put on a Volvo B6LE to disguise the fact that the improved Kickstart funded TavyLink services were not new vehicles. That vehicle was then sent to Buses of Somerset, and on withdrawal, the plate went onto an early e300 that was withdrawn earlier this year. So 260ERY awaits an eighth vehicle to adorn it.
Pat1105
Member
Thandi Executive have T**NND on many of their vehicles.
Kings Ferry used to run on KFC and later on TKF plates, whenever I saw the KFC plates I had a craving for some fast food!
Edit: I also remember a story about a stagecoach vehicle going missing with a private plate and both the plate and coach were quite special to Gloag and Souter, anyone remember the story behind it?
Edit: I also remember a story about a stagecoach vehicle going missing with a private plate and both the plate and coach were quite special to Gloag and Souter, anyone remember the story behind it?
fgwrich
Established Member
Stagecoach South has a few cherished plates, inherited from the Southdown era. Mostly in the 401 - 425 DCD range.
Pat1105
Member
Parks of Hamilton have a few B11s with ***LSK
Lothian have Northern Ireland RIG xxxx and LXZ xxxx on a lot of their second hand purchases acquired in the time period of roughly 2016-2019.
They stopped doing it after a while with later ex London stuff retaining original, dated marks.
They also similarly re-registered the 10x B9 / Geminis that went into the Motorcoaches division. Despite some (or maybe all?) of them being reallocated elsewhere they've retained the marks.
Main reasons are for show (it says your company name or similar) or to hide the true age of the vehicles. I'm sure enthusiasts would get behind it more if it tied into the fleet number too seeing as the ability to do that was squashed by the DVLA in 2001 when the current sequence was introduced with the number signifying the age.
I personally have my car re-registered with a "private" plate but it's definitely not to hide age as the mark suggests the car was registered six years before it even came out!
They stopped doing it after a while with later ex London stuff retaining original, dated marks.
They also similarly re-registered the 10x B9 / Geminis that went into the Motorcoaches division. Despite some (or maybe all?) of them being reallocated elsewhere they've retained the marks.
Main reasons are for show (it says your company name or similar) or to hide the true age of the vehicles. I'm sure enthusiasts would get behind it more if it tied into the fleet number too seeing as the ability to do that was squashed by the DVLA in 2001 when the current sequence was introduced with the number signifying the age.
I personally have my car re-registered with a "private" plate but it's definitely not to hide age as the mark suggests the car was registered six years before it even came out!
markymark2000
On Moderation
Stagecoach MCSL used to have private plates on the Gold solos to hide their age. The buses are now repainted into beach ball but retain their private plates.
noddingdonkey
Member
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K1 YRL was Yorkshire Rider's prototype Superbus for the guideway, later transferred to an Eclipse under First Leeds, I think they missed a trick not choosing that example to paint up in the Yorkshire Rider heritage livery.
There was also 8995WY which was a bit of an oddball Scania/East Lancs single decker
There was also 8995WY which was a bit of an oddball Scania/East Lancs single decker
GaryMcEwan
Established Member
The head honchos at Stagecoach Perth have a few private plates on their cars.
cnjb8
Established Member
I thought the ex-Metroline B9s had Northern Irish plates because they were refurbished for Lothian by Wrightbus in Ballymena.
I'm trying to cast my mind back to when I was a kid. There were very few vehicles on the road that had "private plates" at the time. Most were either local businessmen/women who had sufficient cash to splash on a vanity plate, then there were the few savvy individuals that recognised that that old banger that had lain in the garage for 40 years was worth more for its registration than for its restoration value. AS2, probably quite valuable in terms of reg numbers, was displayed on an Austin Maestro around my area for a number of years.
A few "premium" coach firms would have had one or two vehicles, probably the newest and "flagship" members of the fleet, registered on such plates, but as I remember it was only the best of the best - the Pride of the Fleet that was so treated. Allander Travel was one such operator with their "AT" plates.
At one time, "private registrations" were usually taken from older vehicles that didn't conform to the usual XXXyyyX or XyyyXXX pattern. They'd usually be from pre-1963 sequences (ie, before the suffix letter became mandatory), or had even older XXyyyy or yyyyXX patterns.
I'm not exactly sure when or how, but at some point the DVLA must have released a load of unused number sequences in the 1980s. This is why we have a load of ASV/TSV/CSU/FSU etc... running around. As for the xSK plates - these were issued by Wick and eventually Inverness (for Wick), so it's understandable why the full sequence wasn't used.
A few "premium" coach firms would have had one or two vehicles, probably the newest and "flagship" members of the fleet, registered on such plates, but as I remember it was only the best of the best - the Pride of the Fleet that was so treated. Allander Travel was one such operator with their "AT" plates.
At one time, "private registrations" were usually taken from older vehicles that didn't conform to the usual XXXyyyX or XyyyXXX pattern. They'd usually be from pre-1963 sequences (ie, before the suffix letter became mandatory), or had even older XXyyyy or yyyyXX patterns.
I'm not exactly sure when or how, but at some point the DVLA must have released a load of unused number sequences in the 1980s. This is why we have a load of ASV/TSV/CSU/FSU etc... running around. As for the xSK plates - these were issued by Wick and eventually Inverness (for Wick), so it's understandable why the full sequence wasn't used.
They didn't do all of them iirc. They are usually chosen because they are cheap and available in large blocks like the LXZs were?
(Guess, not knowledge)
4cryingoutloud
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J10 WBT - shame about the plastic seats on this Warrington NC/Dart but they were quickly replaced.
pdeaves
Established Member
What's the significance of LSK? Do the letters mean something in that part of the world?
Westcountryman
Member
Yellow Buses in Bournemouth have a whole series of buses registered T xx TYB. This dates back to two owners back, when they were Transdev Yellow Buses. This was prior to RATP ownership and of course the current management buyout team.
Jordan Adam
Established Member
Not that i know of. As i say though it seems every operator in Scotland has at least one LSK plate!
Even First & Stagecoach were bit by the bug.
Stagecoach 16153 LSK545 at Aberdeen Union Square bus station, Aberdeen
12 September 2015
www.flickr.com
First Aberdeen - LSK 570 (23401)
Sunday's see First Aberdeen provide a variety of vehicles for use on the Scottish Citylink/Megabus service M9. 23401 is seen here in Glasgow.
www.flickr.com
matt_world2004
Established Member
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LTZ xxxx on the new bus for London services the fleet number was always the same as the number plate without the z.
Pat1105
Member
Not sure. Only thing I can think of is Liskeard, but not sure why Stagecoach in Scotland would have plates with that on it.
There is no significance. In some cases they're not even used to disguise the age of older vehicles. Park's is a good example - they stick their "cherished" plates on brand new vehicles and only re-register with normal plates when selling them on.
Jordan Adam
Established Member
Much to the annoyance of enthusiasts who can't tell if the Gold Plaxton Elites are B12Bs, B13Rs or B11Rs as when the old fleet was sold on the plates were put directly on to the replacements. Obviously the more pedantic enthusiasts can tell the difference based on the radiator grills
.(B11R - Nearside very rear, B12B - Nearside right after rear axle, B13R - offside)
1st LSK481 - B13R (New in 2011):
2nd LSK481 - B11R (New in 2016):
1st HSK648 - B12B (New 2010):
2nd HSK658 - B11R (New 2015):
I can't find a reference at the moment but the majority of the HSK/LSK plates are relatively recent issues. As Caithness did not having that great a demand for newly issued numbers there were quite a few unissued series when the switch was made to year identifiers, these were then made available for purchase or use by the dvla, or whatever they were called at the time, possibly in the early 90s. This is why operators such as Parks have so many in series.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Once you own a "cherished" plate it's cheap enough to transfer it to another vehicle, which is why you see them in remain in circulation. Arriva London have a few double deckers with cherished plates, which I think they've had since RT days.
I really don't see the point of buying new cherished plates for buses, but I can see why operators might want to disguise the age of their fleet (e.g. Transdev Keighley on the Eclipses they use on the 662 Shuttle). But most cherished plates are not expensive, so it's one of those things that leaves me very very meh.
I really don't see the point of buying new cherished plates for buses, but I can see why operators might want to disguise the age of their fleet (e.g. Transdev Keighley on the Eclipses they use on the 662 Shuttle). But most cherished plates are not expensive, so it's one of those things that leaves me very very meh.
Westcountryman
Member
I've seen quite a few with Routemaster numbers (VLT, WLT, CLT, DYE) but I don't recall seeing RT numbers.
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