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Scania/MCW Metropolitans

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A0wen

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MD138 on Thames News in 1984! Amazing how upset people were about something so trivial...


Anyone know the ultimate fate of this vehicle? Ian's Bus Stop lists the sale and says it was for motorhome conversion, but the trail goes cold after that.

There's a suggestion on this photo it ended up being exported to Hong Kong. https://www.flickr.com/photos/46986...nK1-ViFgaR-dUHZdA-U5d9Ee-8anVuD-GrZ5Yo-iw2Gio

Not sure I agree with you about it being 'trivial' - parking commercial vehicles in a residential area is pretty questionable behaviour and even as somebody with an interest in these things, I wouldn't be entirely happy if I lived somewhere like that and somebody started parking an HGV on the driveway. It's a bit different if it's out in the countryside with people keeping such vehicles in barns or out buildings for storage.
 
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Journeyman

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There's a suggestion on this photo it ended up being exported to Hong Kong. https://www.flickr.com/photos/46986...nK1-ViFgaR-dUHZdA-U5d9Ee-8anVuD-GrZ5Yo-iw2Gio

Not sure I agree with you about it being 'trivial' - parking commercial vehicles in a residential area is pretty questionable behaviour and even as somebody with an interest in these things, I wouldn't be entirely happy if I lived somewhere like that and somebody started parking an HGV on the driveway. It's a bit different if it's out in the countryside with people keeping such vehicles in barns or out buildings for storage.
Interesting! I wonder when they sold it?

Personally I wouldn't be massively bothered by what people park on their driveways if they were off the pavements, but that's just me. I don't quite see what "paying our rates" has got to do with it.
 

MotCO

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Interesting that it was bought at 6 years' old, for 'next to nothing'.
 

Journeyman

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Interesting that it was bought at 6 years' old, for 'next to nothing'.
LT were quite desperate to get rid of what was a non-standard micro-fleet by then. Service cuts in 1982 and a major influx of new Metrobuses and Titans made the Metropolitans an obvious choice for the chop.
 

Sprinter107

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I wouldnt be too bothered either having a nice red Metropolitan as a neighbour. Id probably be round helping with its up keep.
 

scosutsut

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I wouldnt be too bothered either having a nice red Metropolitan as a neighbour. Id probably be round helping with its up keep.
I'd be queuing up for a shot!

Fast forward to modern times, new housing estates (in Scotland anyway) usually have rules written in saying "no commercial vehicles" being permitted on driveways / kerbside / shared parking. It's ignored by resident roofers and Sky installers and the like, I wonder if it's more to protect against things like the Metropolitan!
 

busesrusuk

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I'd be queuing up for a shot!

Fast forward to modern times, new housing estates (in Scotland anyway) usually have rules written in saying "no commercial vehicles" being permitted on driveways / kerbside / shared parking. It's ignored by resident roofers and Sky installers and the like, I wonder if it's more to protect against things like the Metropolitan!
MD138 was exported to Hong Kong having been sold to Argos Bus (one of three ex LT MD's they bought). According to the Mike Davis book - HK Buses Volume 4, Argos bus Services, It arrived in HK on 5 March 1985 having been bought from a dealer called S&S Vehicle Supplies Ltd. The bus was registered for service by Argos on 3 May 1985 and given the fleet number 33. I can't establish when it was withdrawn but suspect it was early 1990's. I doubt it, or any of the other Metropolitans they bought, lasted until their enforced withdrawal on their 18th birthday which in this instance would have been 2003.
 

Pit_buzzer

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Back then a privately owned metropolitan would have been a heavy motor car, cheap to tax and insure and anyone with a car licence would have been able to drive it. It wouldn't have been a HGV or a PSV so the law would pretty much be on its side. The neighbours still wouldn't have liked it though.
 
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