History of Leyland Demonstrator (D852 RDS)

Ordered in 1987 by Kelvin Scottish, this vehicle never ended up with the company that ordered it. As the batch of 6 vehicles were being completed, the order was cancelled. This left Leyland trying to find a buyer.

This vehicle was displayed at the 1987 Coach & Bus Exhibition at the NEC in full Kelvin livery. Leyland then proceeded to use this vehicle as a demonstrator, sending it out for evaluation trials. One such place was with South Yorkshire. It ran in South Yorkshire for a couple of months in mid to late 1987 but no order was placed.

It was then bought by Clydeside Scottish along with the other 5 from the batch being reregistered to 705 DYE. Working in Scotland for 7 years it was withdrawn and reregistered again to D160 UGA in 1994.

In July 1994 it was purchased by Cottrell of Mitcheldean and had a long service life in Gloucestershire. It moved on again to its final operator in July 2007. This was to Ambers, part of Fowlers of Holbeach. During its time here it briefly carried the reg YDO 823.

In mid 2013, the vehicle was advertised for sale by Ambers and was bought for preservation and moved to Swansea Bus Museum in early 2014. It remained in Swansea until being bought by the current owner in 2018. The vehicle moved across to Yorkshire that year and attended a couple of rallies. It has been stored since and is awaiting some mechanical work before being road worthy again. It is now on long term loan to SYTT and we hope to get this vehicle back on the road.