From September 1977, Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) started to replace their fleet of eleven BMMO D7 based towing vehicles with vehicles converted from withdrawn Leyland Leopard type “LC9” coaches.
Nine such vehicles were converted by MROC with most of the work being done at Shrewsbury depot or at Central Works and, unlike the conversions carried out on the BMMO D7 vehicles, all of these conversions were identical in having open rear platforms. All the converted towing vehicles ran on trade registration numbers plates in overall yellow Midland Red ancillary fleet livery, and continued to do so throughout their service with MROC.
All nine vehicles were still in service with MROC when the company split into five smaller operating companies on 6th September 1981, and were divided among the new companies depending on their depot allocation in the same way as the regular bus and coach fleet.
In January 1988 following a change in the law, all of these vehicles lost their trade registration numbers in favour of Q-suffix registrations and, by this time, most had already received new fleet numbers. All nine vehicles saw long service with the various Midland Red companies, and their successors, with the first example withdrawn being former coach 5824 (GHA324D) which was written off in an accident in 1995.
Original # | Date1 | Trade Plate(s) | Allocation2 | New R/No:3 | Further Information | |||
D | 5824 | GHA 324D | 9/1977 | 370 HA | WR | MRW | Q141 VOE | History |
D | 5825 | GHA 325D | ?/1977 | 378 HA 001 AC |
RY | MRS | Q342 GVC | History |
5826 | GHA 326D | 11/1977 | 328 DH | SD? | MRN | Q124 VOE | History | |
5827 | GHA 327D | 12/1978 | 088 AC | NN | MRS | Q340 GVC | History | |
D | 5828 | GHA 328D | ? | ? 582 WP |
SS | MRE | ? | History |
5830 | GHA 330D | 12/1979 | 417 HA 092 AC |
LN | MRS | Q341 GVC | History | |
5831 | GHA 331D | ? | ? | MRE | ? | History | ||
D | 5836 | GHA 336D | 4/1978 | 067 HA 282 DH |
CK SD |
MRN | Q126 VOE | History |
D | 5838 | GHA 338D | 7/1980 | 150 AW | MRN | Q125 VOE | History | |
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