Optare Prisma 943 is caught in the low winter sun on the last day of 2001, with snow on the hills. These Scottish Prismas had the dark blue skirt panels carried up higher than normal and most of the remaining space up to the bottom of the windscreen was used for the magenta fade-out. As a consequence these buses always looked very dark and dull, especially at the front. This livery variation made them readily distinguishable from the Leicester ones. Subsequent repainting (into the Barbie 3 scheme) much improved their appearance but they have now disappeared from the First Manchester fleet.