A coach whose future looked to have been secured is once again under threat and in need of a home, reports Nick Larkin
An urgent appeal has been launched to save the last remaining Volvo B58-chassied Irizar Urko, which is set to be scrapped. The coach was one of 14 B58-engined Urkos imported to the UK by John W de Cotta between 1979 and 1981.
LAJ 999W was new in 1981, along with sister LAJ 998W, to Dales (Sunseeker Holidays) of Middlesbrough. It later spent time with Shalder of Scalloway, Shetland, before returning to the mainland and passing through the hands of a number of other operators, including Cumbria Coaches of Carlisle. The coach passed to Frank Elliot’s Memory Lane Coaches of Warrington where it was refurbished and fitted with a B10M engine and re-registered as MLC 9P. In 2002 the coach regained its original number plate and passed to a preservationist, the late Tony Gallagher of Cambridge, but was operated by Andrews Coaches of Foxton.
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