Faulty buses cost operator £40,000
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• Faults in the design of a total of 99 Leyland Atlantean double-deckers introduced by Nottingham City Transport between four and six years ago cost the department a total of L40,000—£20,000 borne in the financial year 1970-71 and the balance in the present financial year. This is revealed by the annual report of the undertaking for the year ended March 311971, published last week.
The buses were built to the Atlantean PDR1/2 model, which featured a dropcentre rear axle in place of the normal axle, and obviated the need for a step in the lower saloon floor. This model, since dropped by Leyland, employed Daimler epicyclic gearboxes in place of the usual SelfChanging Gears epicyclic box, featuring an output drive on the same side as the input drive of the gearbox and thus facilitating the lower axle installation.
Following negotiations with Leyland's service department and the successful modification of a prototype, the report states, a total of 82 vehicles were returned to Leyland Motor's Chorley depot for improvements to engine mountings, subframes, flywheels, gearboxes, rear axles and electrical wiring. The department's negotiated share of the total cost amounted to £40,000.
The transport department commenced the last financial year with a deficit of £280,115, and incurred a further deficit on the revenue account of £236,001 during the year. Adding revenue contributions to capital outlay of £7,141, an adverse balance of £523,257 was carried forward to April 11971.
Gross income for the year amounted to £3,129,558, an increase of £196,705 over the previous year, while working expenses also increased—by £334,861—to a total of £3,113,284.