Shonky school minibuses...

[chaseracer]

Warren T Claim, Esq., had this excellent idea in another thread - so here goes...

 

In a previous life (one of several...) I was a teacher in a special school in Lichfield. The school minibus was a J-reg LDV 400 in two-tone white and rust. It had a 2-litre O-series petrol motor which fed what little power it could muster through a gearbox more suited to (and quite possibly from) a Morris Minor to a dual-wheel axle, so horribly low-geared that it would max out at about 68mph while simultaneously screaming its nuts off.

 

The rumour was that it was one of a batch rejected by the police due to being completely shit. I can well believe it...

[warren t claim]

In my middle school we had a 1971 (10 years old at the time) BMC JU250, the sort that looks like a prehistoric Maxus. At least it had forward facing seats.

[Negative Creep]

primary school didn't have one, secondary school was ((I think) a pair of mk.3 Transits. On a related note the local age concern was given a minibus through a Blue Peter appeal

[RedSparrow]

Our school had a 400 series too. Most gutless thing ever. The teachers who had to drive it hated it and prefered the transit they also had even though it was older and a bit beaten up.

 

The LDV replaced a Renault Master that was made of rust. I never had the pleasure of a joourney in that.

[CreepingJesus]

Thinking about it, (since the previous thread ) our school was sans minibus for a while. The scabby late 70's Mk2 Transit we had when I first started there ('85) got spirited away/was left to decay somewhere before the end of that year.

The VW LT28 we ended up with was a D-plate, and brand new. Until then, the junior and senior rugby and football teams used to chip in to rent an actual coach, with nice seats and a toilet. The VW, bless it, never let us down that I recall; but no teachers seemed keen to drive it, and it quickly turned into a vinyl seated toilet. It was roasting in summer ('cos you couldn't get the teeny slidey windows open enough), and bloody freezing in winter ('cos you couldn't get them to shut enough). Still wouldn't mind an LT, just for old times' sake!

My uncle's been a PE teacher all his working life, and I recall him having a loan of his school's minibus when I was just a wee lad, in the mid 70's. Toyota HiAce, it was, and brown too as I recall!

[maxpower]

my secondary school had an old mk1 transit lwb minibus... the school just up from where i lived had 2 blue commer (spacevan) minibuses... only thing was that the local c.i.d used to use the exact same minibuses so you never knew whether you was running away from plod or a school teacher

[Albert Ross]

I was educated at a fairly exclusive place in Somerset... Cost my parents a bloody fortune. I used to "do" Canoeing as a sport. The Canoe shed was a shithole of the highest order, and the trailer was rather heavy. What did this School use to tow it? A Petrol Sherpa. GYA 201T. It ws a wooden slatted Crewbus. We squeezed 14 into that thing every Saturday. And changed in it too... some of the girls didn't mind sharing either!

[Rod/b]

Not school but Scouts. We started out with a Mk1 Transit Ambulance that had just been fitted with crew seats. Used to be able to get a kart between the seats and 10-15 kids in the back.

 

That was supplemented by an ex-police minibus, MkII Transit auto. Twin wheel with about 20 odd seats. It was bright green and had bars on the windows. Turns out it had been used during the miners strike, or ones like it, so there were certain places in the country it wasn't welcome. GR9 for towing the hovercraft.

 

Then a swb MkIi crewbus replaced the ambulance. It was a rusty pile of shit bought from the local authority. Did not like.

[barefoot]

As other thread, our school minibus looked like this;

 

 

but was only 20 or 24 seats long, but I don't know what to search for.

It appeared that all the teachers used to drive it - no idea about license back then.

It was replaced with a blue transitty thing which just wasn't the same.

 

As a bit of an aside, we used to travel to school on a Tricentrol bus - not seen one of those for a while.

[quicksilver]

^ That is a Bedford VAS or SB if it helps. LDVs seem to be a common theme and school must be where I got my hatred for the things from. Neither my middle or secondary school had their own minibus but borrowed them from the council, who seemed to have nothing but LDVs of various ages. I remember an ancient yellow one in which the gearlever snapped off in the headteacher's hand, fortunately within walking distance of the school, and a trip on a blue one that miserably failed to overtake a very slow lorry. My most traumatic memory however is of a geology field trip to the wilds of Wales in a Convoy driven on twisty mountain roads by a physics teacher who didn't seem entirely competent with it and spent much of her time looking at the scenery

[Skizzer]

My secondary school had an epically shonky white Mk1 LWB transit petrol with the double rear wheels - JWN 40L. It was old even then (1982) and full of win - rust, dents, doors held shut with wire, occasional need for a bump start etc. In about 1986 the PTA organised the usual school fundraising things and chopped it in for a Hiace H50. We mourned its passing - although the football team types did at least turn up in time for away matches more often.

[Lord Sterling]

Like most schools in the late 90s, we had a sort of early LDV Convoy, in electrical appliance White. One day after coming back from a school outing, Mr Wennington in a spontaneous decision decided to take the Minibus onto the school field and try and do some donuts with it, it didnt really work but did excite those who were on board

 

Looked a bit like this...

[scooters]

I spent a year teaching in a boarding prep school in the highlands in 1992...the school was pretty skint but the Minibus was legendary - a Mk1 SHERPAZ crew bus with a B series petrol engine and optional chrome roof rack. It even had the loud side exhaust...45 mph - van full of kids - Aberdeenshire to Ardnamurchan for a trip to Eigg - that was fun...I can still smell the vomit!

 

when I was a nipper the school had a Mk1 Tranny crew bus which used to cram 25-30 kids - 12 a side and the rest squatting on the floor - H&S eat yer hear out...

 

The skool Janitor (caretaker to you Saxons) was an auld devil called Archie Knox who was always immaculately turned out in his uniform and war medals - the jannys wore what looked like 1950s police uniforms with red collars. I still recall the auld bugger driving this beast to the swimming pool and teaching us The Jeely Piece Song and that other local favourite - You Cannae shove yer Granny aff the bus...

 

 

Oh ye canna fling pieces oot a twenty story flat

Seven hundred hungry weans will testify to that

If it's butter, cheese or jeely, if the bread is plain or pan

The odds against it reaching us is ninety-nine to one

 

For the benefit of saxons - a Jeely Piece is a Jam Sandwich and regurgitated Jeely Pieces were embedded in the vinyl grooves of the floor of that Mk1 Transit whilst Knox threw it round the corners

 

you'd never complain though 'cos Knox was responsible for flogging - you'd be sent to see him and you'd get 3 strikes of the Lochgelly Tawes across your palms - the Tawes was used in Scotland instead of the cane and was bloody sore. Scotland, being a progressive sort of place didn't ban it from state schools till 1987! The poor buggers at the private schools could still get it until 1998 although by then most had given up physical chastisement - mind you, they were still burning wiches up here in the 1960s so progress I suppose!

[quicksilver]

Like most schools in the late 90s, we had a sort of early LDV Convoy, in electrical appliance White. One day after coming back from a school outing, Mr Wennington in a spontaneous decision decided to take the Minibus onto the school field and try and do some donuts with it, it didnt really work but did excite those who were on board

 

Looked a bit like this...

 

The neighbouring school to mine still has an LDV exactly like this, it's an N reg and I remember travelling on it when the middle school borrowed it and it was nearly new. Looks a bit rough around the edges now but it's 15 years old so it's done very well.

[chaseracer]

 

Lordy, that could almost BE the old Rocklands School 'bus! Except ours had access steps where the double front passenger seat would normally be, so the driver sat in glorious isolation, leaving crowd control to the teaching assistant...

[wuvvum]

My school had a C-plate Mk2 Transit 190 Popular in white with the school name emblazoned down the side. It had a two-litre Pinto with a 4-speed overdrive 'box and would do 0-60 (sans kids) in 28 seconds, according to the PE teacher. The CCF minibus was a scruffy white Y-reg LT31 with brown vinyl seats, which was a lot less comfortable than the Transit but went like the clappers (2.4 petrol) - being a budding shiteist even back then, I would always travel in the VW if given the choice (although I always made sure to sit well towards the back - the teacher who ran the CCF, who was the only one who would drive the thing, was a raving paedo). In 1993 these were supplemented by an F-reg Mk3 Transit in royal blue, again with a 2-litre pinto.

[Spiny Norman]

Think I mentioned our school's ancient Commer bus in the other school thread, but I found a picture of this wonderful machine I took one day when it made it further than the school gates! Probably about 1979/80-ish I reckon.

 

 

If a teacher tried to put kids in something as shit as that nowadays they'd be struck off....

[morris_ital_lover]

My "prep" school had a mixed bag of shite, mostly supporting large internal moss colonies. They were running the classIc LDV 400s as well as a Mercedes T1/207 that was unbelievably rusty, they were slowly replaced by LDV Convoys which seemed like Rolls-Royce's in comparison.

 

When I moved onto my lardyda school in dorset I was greeted by a fleet of MK3 Transits with a random MK2 FIAT Ducato (which was horrifically uncomfortable and equally unreliable... electrics) which were slowly replaced mk4/and subsequent facelift transits. I'd (un/)luckily missed out on a VW LT35 by a couple of months. As the newer buses came into the fleet the old transits were deseated and parcelled off to the CCF along with an ageing Landy which we proceeded to shake all the filler out of and generally destory with a year of each one being passed down (the Landy is still withem though that was for the "officers" and consequently not trashed).

 

I found it remarkable that schools get away with running such horrifically rubbish fleets of minibuses, most of the older ones I came across were prone to randomly impolding, were as rusty as an 80s Lancia and had "amusing" problems like brakes that didn't really work and doors that no longer shut properly.

[catsinthewelder]

Today I fixed the drivers door lock on our older minibus at work as it was imitating a child lock. Its a T reg LDV Convoy in blue and rust with the college name in peeling off gold vinyl letters down the side. A leaky roof has caused a veritable garden of moss in the drivers seat runners and led to a huge welding bill over the summer. It is a pig to drive.

 

For open evening on Thursday I shall be driving prospective students around in the 'new' bus, an 04 plate Convoy in white with twice repainted sill and arches. To be fair this is reasonably nice to drive although slightly down on power compared to the old one.

[ProgRocker]

When I first went to Middle School in 1986 it was a yellow Ford Transit, early 80s I believe. It had bench seats in the back that faced inwards. It was yellow and could have been some AA pool van in its past. In 1987 or 88 we went on a school field trip to Great Yarmouth in it. Oh joy!

 

At about the same time I recall a teacher announce to the school in her Scots accent that the school has raised enough money to buy 'a brand new E reg minibus' .

 

It was one of these *pinches Lord Sterling's image* :

I think it was 'Leyland Daf' or possibly 'Freight Rover' but it was in a shade of pale blue that some base model Maestros and Montegos at the time. IIRC it cost £17k at the time. Shiters will know that £17k bought a nice brand new car in 1987/8.

 

About a year later I recall one of the school classrooms getting a makeover, with a few bix boxy computers and a lot of 'Leyland Daf' logos plastered accross the walls. I wonder if the pale blue 400 series was bought at a discount in view of a bit of sponsorship?

 

Into Secondary school in 1990 and there were a couple of white Transits (one a mark 2 the other a post 1986 mark 3 I think). They were mainly used to ferry the sixth formers to the partner sixth form school for lessons 3 miles away and maybe the occasional field trip. The only time I recall being in one of these was after the A Level exams when the school caretakers gave us a lift into the city centre so we could go on the lash to celebrate the end of Sixth Form.

 

Back to July 1993 and some of us in my school year went to France for a linguistic, culinery and culinery excursion*. In a strange reunion, the French teachers in charge of us were given the Middle School's pale blue E reg Leyland Daf to use. In fact, I used to see this very minibus still doing service for both the Middle and High schools right into the late 1990s. However, it was looking very shoddy buy then with big patches of rust on its flanks.

 

* the last night involved being to invited to nice French couple's country home for a big meal, including copious amounts of alcohol. At the age of fifteen, we thought it was bloody brilliant.

[Wilko220]

Like most schools in the late 90s, we had a sort of early LDV Convoy, in electrical appliance White. One day after coming back from a school outing, Mr Wennington in a spontaneous decision decided to take the Minibus onto the school field and try and do some donuts with it, it didnt really work but did excite those who were on board

 

Looked a bit like this...

 

The neighbouring school to mine still has an LDV exactly like this, it's an N reg and I remember travelling on it when the middle school borrowed it and it was nearly new. Looks a bit rough around the edges now but it's 15 years old so it's done very well.

 

 

Well...

 

Some of you may be familiar with my LDV of similar vintage - except of course it's a 200, so even higher on the shite scale. As I run a cadets group, it's still in regular use transporting youngsters around to sports matches, community events and various other activities at the weekend - as well as serving as a tool to move around chairs, tables and all sorts of other stuff we have to get from place to place. And wheels off a Humber Sceptre occasionally as well.

Oh, go on then, have a picture...

 

 

Sadly, some of the shonkier units from my fellow cadet units in neighbouring towns have disappeared in recent years to be replaced by smarter sets of wheels, but (ex-military) Leyland Daf 400s / LDV Convoys have been a long-standing popular choice.

 

When I was a lad, the Scout group I was in had an early Mk2 Transit which I remember having sheet metal welded over two of the back windows because it had got so rusty they had fallen out! It was petrol-engined and would conk out at the sight of a hill.

[AndyW201]

For a good few years, our school didn't have a minibus. The local authority had a fleet that it used to lend out to whichever school needed one. (late model 2 litre pinto mk2 Trannies mainly. They went pretty well IIRC). However, presumably cash-strapped, they stopped doing it. So our school had to get it's own.

 

We ended up with B695 OVN, a Mercedes 308 petrol. It was a couple of years old, and pretty much the poshest school minibus on the mean streets of the 'Boro at the time. Only problem, it had crew bus seating. (and a few of the teachers often had problems mastering that dog-leg gearbox!) Despite this, soon after getting it, two of the art teachers took 16 pupils on a school trip from Middlesbrough to Belguim. Oh the comfort! And Oh the fuel bill! Eventually (probably after pressure from the council) it had the benches taken out, and proper forward facing seats with belts fitted, at great expense. They had that bus some years, long after I left.

 

Not a school bus, but the shitiest crew bus I've ever known was the one we had at work. Our firm brings a number of it's employees to and from work, and the first 'bus' they had was an E reg Mercedes 608D. It was a converted butchers van, with two crewbus benches in the back. But there was a bulkhead behind the cab, and no windows in the side or in the rear doors. I think they did put a light in the back though, just so the guys at work didn't feel TOO much like cattle. Luckily I never had to drive that thing. The N reg LDV Convoy they got after it was like club class in comparison. This one I did drive (us van drivers ocassionally have to do crewbus duty when the foremen are on holiday). We must be spoilt driving Sprinters all day, because that Convoy was useless with a full 16 passengers on. Bugger all acceleration and a grand top whack of 65 ish, despite it only having about 50,000 miles on when they got it.