extensive work has been carried out on this bus   © C. Fenner

Notes

Scout Motor Services Limited was like Ribble founded in 1919, Scout being started by James Watkinson a farm produce merchant from Preston. For those who think the bus wars at deregulation in 1986 were something new they most definitely were not. There was fierce competition between Ribble and Scout in the period upto the outbreak of World War 2 . The outbreak of hostilities caused the Traffic Commissioner to order firms to coordinate their services to avoid waste and maximize efficiency. This led to Scout and Ribble "pooling" revenue on the routes between Preston and Blackpool. This arrangement continued after the war until 5th December 1961 when ownership of Scout passed to Ribble for an amount in excess of £300,000 .

Although Scout was kept as a separate subsidiary until 1968 mainly due to a differential in wage rates, Scout vehicles delivered after 1961 were all in Ribble colours with Scout fleetnames and fleetnumbers with a prefix S. (Standerwick vehicles had a suffix .S). We are thus lucky that Scout 5 was delivered in the attractive livery of cream with plum and black relief into which it will be restored.

The other two vehicles in this batch were withdrawn in 1974 and both were exported to Australia where they both still survive. Scout 5 had had a major overhaul shortly after acquisition by Ribble so was kept in service until 1981 when it was finally withdrawn after hitting a lampost to avoid a wagon on the outskirts of Kirkham. Work was started by Ribble to put it back in service, but a change of heart meant it was put up for disposal. In view of  its historic importance it was bought by the RVPG (as we were then). It remained in store until May 1997 when work commenced on restoring it back to its original condition. All body panels have been removed, much of the side framework has been replaced, but since moving in to Freckleton work has come to a stop because funds to restore it were needed elsewhere  ie. paying for the building at Freckleton.