Kelvin Amos’ Leyland Leopard PSU3E is not all that it appears. Delivered in August 1977 as OWS178R (Bristol 2188) with a Plaxton Supreme Express C49F body, but due to the year letter suffix change that month it entered service as PWS492S. Unfortunately fire damaged it was rebodied with a Paramount 3200 Express C49F body in September 1983 to become Bristol 2098. For a time it carried private plate VJT738, now restored to original registration.

Since the mid 1990s especially Spanish coachworks like Sunsundegui with their Sideral and Irizar’s best-selling Century and PB models plus the Volvo iShift automated gear change system have advanced the look and feel of coaches with a bonus of improved fuel economy. For the majority coach design peaked many years ago, so that the driving sensation of the 1977 Leyland Leopard is very little behind the feel of a mid life coach like Jeffs Coaches’ 802AOJ, the 1995 Jonckheere Deauville bodied Volvo B10M-60 that I drove on tour in London.

On Sunday afternoon a strange vibration began in the transmission and the Leopard was nursed back to the Bath Bus Company’s yard to be investigated and repaired later. A Bristol VR had been available from the yard, but even after the loss of two vehicles on Sunday it was not brought out, shame I haven’t driven a VR since Milton Keynes in 1987.