Dennis Lance SLF - Wright
Seen in Whitley Bay still with its Roller Blind is 4770 on its usual haunt the 325.
This batch of vehicles were among the first low floor buses in the UK, and one of the earlier types of low floor buses. The Lance SLF only seats 37 and that was large for a Low Floor bus at that time, however they have low capacity compared to the Solar and the B10BLE and even the Excels.
The Lances were allocated to the 325/6 North Shields - New York - Rake Lane - Whitley Bay - Cullercoats - North Shields. This service was every 30 minutes when they were delivered, but now they are every 20 minutes, and still they are found on this route. Recent refurbishment has involved the front blinds been replaced by Hanover Electronic Blind.
4769 was the first to arrive in early 1994, however the other 4 didn't arrive until October 1994 hence the different registration marks. The original marks for 4770-2 which were L 470-2 YVK are used in Go North East on Dennis Lance / Optare Sigma 4780, and MetroRiders 401/2 all of which are now allocated to Percy Main in recent fleet movements.
The registrations are:
4769 - L 469 YVK
4770 - M 470 FJR
4771 - M 471 FJR
4772 - M 472 FJR
4773 - M 473 FJR
All are allocated to Percy Main.
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| Seen in the Marsden Estate, Cullercoats is 4772 on the 325. | Lance SLFs often appear on other routes as which this is the case here. Here we see one at Gateshead Metro on the 301. |
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| Here we see Lance SLF 4771 at Rake Lane Hospital on service 325. | Here we see Lance 4769 on the 340 at the Rosehill Club. |