The London Buses Nationals: LS

This page created on 10th February 2000 by Ian Smith

  1. National buses
  2. Red Arrows: National 2s
  3. Tenders and Privatisation
  4. LSLs

Part Three: Tenders and Privatisation

By the second half of the 1980s the London Nationals were being squeezed out of jobs in the capital. Competitive tendering was now the thing, under the London Regional Transport regime, with London Buses having to compete with other companies to operate London routes. It was not deregulation and unbridled competition as was happening elsewhere in the UK. This was heavily regulated competition, but none the less cut-throat for that. The P4 route, freshly converted to London National 2s was an early casualty, going to London & Country - who used their own Nationals on it! Then in May 1986 Loughton's routes were lost - and Loughton was an all-National garage.

London LS Nationals appeared on the flourishing second-hand bus market, and were snapped up like hot cakes. They were well cared for, middle-aged, and above all familiar to bus engineers across the land. Some fleets took sizeable numbers, including Eastbourne Buses, Parfitts of Rhymney Bridge, Thames Transit, Maidstone Boroline and British Airways (the latter for airside use). Many others took penny numbers, but the ex-London Nationals became a familiar sight, some still operating in London red, with just the bullseye painted over and the legal lettering changed.

Harrow Buses National In the London Area some low-cost units were set up in an attempt to fight off the competition, such as Harrow Buses, which operated Nationals in red and cream, and Bexleybus, in blue and white. At the end of 1987 a collection of Nationals were despatched to Eastbourne Buses for repaint (it was Eastbourne Buses' colour scheme), ready for service from January 1988. Bexleybus proved a short-lived disaster: having obtained tenders on the basis of reduced staff costs, the unit found itself without crews to operate the buses and after a period of appalling reliability understandably lost the next tender round.


Bexleybus LS528 at Bromley Market Bexleybus LS528 at Bromley Market

Bexleybus 43, alias LS528, rounds Bromley Market Place on the 269, on the last lap of its trip to Bromley North Station.
Photos, used with permission, by Mark Dale. Click for larger versions.
Hillingdon Council replaced its BLs on route 128 with three Nationals (LS222, 236, 240) in July 1988, repainted into the special livery of red and yellow with prominent lettering and green blinds.

Another nail in the National coffin was the midibus revolution. From 1988 onwards the fashion in London Bus circles was the small frequent bus manned by drivers on lower pay rates, that could get to places real buses couldn't go., or which could generate traffic by their frequency. There were Mercedes and Renaults and Metroriders. Then there was the Dennis Dart. London Buses invested heavily in short Darts in 1990, and for a while they took over nearly everything apart from the really heavy duty flows. Leyland Nationals were neither small and nippy, nor large enough for long trunk flows. They left for places they would be appreciated, all over the country.

Privatisation

LS13, Cobham Open Day 1998

Westlink

Stanwell Buses, operating as Westlink, was one of the first units to be actually sold off from London Buses, in January 1994. It took with it Hounslow Heath and Kingston garages, and a cluster of routes in traditional single-decker-land around the Thames west of London. It was a faithful user of Nationals. Livery initially was an uninspired basic red with white and turquoise stripes.
LS363, Hyde Park Corner, June 1998 Westlink had been bought by a management team in January 1994. They were taken over by West Midlands Travel group in March 94. They too were enthusiastic National users in their companies dotted round the UK, and some of the Westlink LSs went on transfer, temporarily or permanently. National Express bought West Midlands Travel in April 1995, and sold off the Stanwell Buses company in September 95 to London United.
Westlink Driver trainer LS363 at Hyde Park Corner, June 1998. Photo by Ian Smith. Click for larger version.

West Link National Since 1995 the Westlink and London United fleets have tended to merge, with some ex-Westlink vehicles re-appearing in London United colours. But others, including the ex-Docklands buses with coach seating have received a repaint as Westlink dual-purpose buses, including oldest London in-service survivor LS7.

London United

London United National London United left the London Buses fold by another management buy-out, in November 1994. With a West London base in Fulwell, Hounslow and Shepherds Bush it was not surprisingly another company orientated towards single-deckers. It took nearly two hundred Dennis Darts from London Buses, but has welcomed the return of Nationals with the acquisition of Westlink. Some have been refurbished to Urban Bus standards, with a single door, 38 seats, DipTac fittings and standard London United livery, which suits them well.

Centrewest

CentreWest National2 Centrewest, privatised to a management team in September 1994, had ten or so National 2s for the 607. They were fitted with replacement Volvo engines. In April 1997 they were all withdrawn. Six re-emerged at Centrewest as dedicated trainers, in a bold red/yellow livery advertising driver training!. The others went to other happy homes, including City of Oxford and Ensign Bus.

London General

London General inherited the 42 short Greenway GLS conversions, and three unconverted National 2s. These latter were sold to Wycombe Bus in February 1997.

MTL London Northern

London Northern, bought by the Liverpool-based MTL group in October 1994, inherited four National 2s. These were transferred north to Liverpool in mid 1995.

The Shires

The Shires National2 This may seem an unlikely company to feature on this page, but The Shires - based in the London Country North West area, and a direct descendant of Luton & District, bought nine third-hand (at least) National 2s from Parfitts of Rhymney Bridge, in 1995. Pressed into service still in Parfitts livery, they were repainted in The Shires' vivid blue and yellow livery and allocated to Dunstable. Some were still at work in 1999.

Kentish Bus / Arriva Kent Thameside

Kentish Bus operated three Nationals on behalf of London Regional Transport as Mobility Buses: LS202, LS290 and one LSL, all fitted with wheelchair lifts and in London red livery. In 1993 Kentish Bus bought the buses, and continued to use them on Mobility services. Arriva Kent Thameside retired them in April 2000.

Capital Citybus

Capital Citybus London Regional Transport allocated the three National Mobility Buses, LS 356, 396 and 454 to Capital Citybus to operate on its behalf. When the Mobility Bus contract expired and passed to other types of small bus, Capital Citybus bought the National 2, LS454, and converted it back to standard bus configuration, with a single door.
Capital Citybus operated a small number of other second-hand Nationals, mostly from other parts of the UK, but including LS175 and LS288 ex-London Buses, converted to single door and upseated.

Thames Valley Training

Thames Valley Training TVT are still ardent users of ex-London Nationals for driver training. They have had their fleet of about ten Nationals painted by Blackpool Transport - in Blackpool Transport colours, no less.
LS13, Cobham Open Day 1998

Preservation

Preserved LS Nationals include:
Preserved LS13 at Cobham Open Day, April 1998, showing the Westlink stripes and diagonals colour scheme. Photo by Ian Smith. Click for larger version.

Part2 Part4: LSLs bus histories photo refs

Ian's Bus Stop LN, LNB SNB, SNC Greenways