Ribble 272
272 is one of two unusual buses from the Ribble fleet. In the late 1970s a rural bus service based on Clitheroe was introduced using hired Greater Manchester Seddon minibuses. To replace these a pair of ECW bodied Bristol LHS were acquired. These short and narrow buses featured Leyland O.400 engines. They entered service in October 1980 and were known as “Betty’s Bus” after the regular driver Mrs Betty Gray. The service caught the imagination, with an appearance (in the Seddon era) on BBC and even souvenir postcodes of Betty and her passengers feeding the ducks in Downham village!
Deregulation saw the routes pass to others under tender, most links still exist today with daily and more coverage than back in 1980. Both LHSs were transferred to Blackpool depot
The service ended at deregulation wand the LHS were transferred to Blackpool depot and then moved around the company and by April 1989 they were both at Barrow, when the depot was transferred to Cumberland - both Ribble and Cumberland were now part of Stagecoach. In July 1990 272 moved to Stagecoach’s Scottish operations initially in Glasgow but then with Inverness Traction. Stagecoach sold the bus in 1992 to Blandford Bus Company, later running for Peakbus in Chesterfield and finally Go Bus in Clay Cross. After a few nomadic years in store it was preserved in 2003 passing to Paul Emery in 2018 – along with sister 271. Paul kindly agreed to a long term loan to FTT and 272 joined our collection in March 2022. Restoration will commence in the near future.
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