Vehicle: Premier Travel 36 (BU 7601)
Location: Chrishall depot
Date: 27-May-1951

This photograph brought some memories of this bus, or at least its reputation, to Alan Watkins who worked for Premier Travel for some years:

"This is before even my time but the reputation of this vehicle lingered on. Because of the registration number it was nicknamed the "Bread Unit" by crews who were still telling stories about it when I joined.

It was, by repute and/or legend, the worst bus to drive in the entire fleet (which is probably saying quite a lot). There were legendary stories about people taking an hour to start it on the handle and the handle itself apparently had a legendary "kick" quite capable of breaking a man's wrist.

On the undulating roads that were Premier Travel routes it demonstrated a quite alarming sway and on any right turn on an incline (at Cross Hill, Elmdon, for example) the whole body lurched over so as to apparently cause genuine concern among some passengers.

This was NOT the vehicle of choice for a long day's work. It is perhaps not insignificant that it was in the yard on the occasion of that Omnibus Society visit and not out on the road. Weekends were busy times for Premier deckers at that time but for some strange reason it's been left behind!"

These comments came through a Google group, where this photograph was originally posted. Without such a mechanism it would have been lost to us as the photographer had emigrated to the USA in the 1950s.

The occasion was an Omnibus Society visit to this depot, which had been acquired by Premier Travel with the business of Weeden's in 1945. It had been significantly expanded since the takeover, with the Nissen hut in the background being a Premier Travel addition. Many vehicles were stored outside which caused problems in winter. To quote Alan Watkins again "During periods of severe weather, a fitter was employed to work through the night to start everything every half hour or so to avoid fuel freezing etc. At Chrishall this did not endear the company to the people in the house next door which was also the village shop and post office!"

BU 7601 was one of only two of the batch not to be rebodied as a coach after sale by Oldham. One modification carried out by Premier was fitting this Cov-Rad radiator conversion - it did not have this when they first ran it.

Premier Travel became a regular sight in Oldham, their coaches working jointly with Yelloway on a service to Clacton.

Photograph courtesy of David Simpson.