This batch of Regent Vs is probably the type of vehicle most people think of when considering this fleet, partly because they were very late survivors of the famous Regent marque and as a consequence something people would travel to see. They also formed one of the largest single batches of vehicles bought by Pontypridd. There were seven in total and back in 1930/31 Pontypridd had bought a batch of seven trolleybuses, followed the next year by a batch of seven Bristol Bs. No other batches were as large and although Park Royal-bodied Guy Arab IIs and Leyland Nationals were in the fleet in greater numbers, they were not in a single batch.
These Regents were 99 and 1-6 (NNY 757-763E), the odd sequence resulting from a decision to revert the numbering sequence to 1 (it probably saved a significant amount on fleet number transfers!). Like all Pontypridd Regents they were on 2MD3RA chassis, which had the AV470 engine, synchromesh gears and air brakes. The Metro-Cammell bodies were H34/26F. They all entered service on 1st July 1967 apart from 6, which was five days later.
In later years the use of double-deckers for normal services declined and these spent most of their time on school services, which however took them around the area quite a lot as the photographs show. For many years Pontypridd buses could be found in Barry or Porthcawl in summer weekends. For this work capacity was important and therefore these Regent Vs were often used.
2 and 3 survived until 1984, but the remainder had been replaced the previous year by the Atlanteans from Newport and Southampton and withdrawn.
© David Beilby
