A Freak Accident

A nasty accident which occurred in 1947 in Bondgate, Otley. This fine Samuel Ledgard all Leyland TD4 was just pulling over to the right to turn into the Crossgate Bus Station when the lorry emerged from the narrowest of alleys with this ridiculous and illegally unmarked pole protruding into the road as shown. Mercifully no passengers were sitting near any of the shattered windows or the outcome doesn't bear thinking about - surely decapitation could have been a possibility. The tall fellow in the trilby hat is almost certainly Mr. Jack Tapscott, the highly efficient manager of Otley depot whose tireless efforts and dedication ensured a top class service for generations of passengers.

As AUM 990 was one of favourites from infancy to adulthood the picture distressed me, and so I decided to effect repairs to the windows and to the gasometer by means of a little computer adjustment of the original picture. The vehicle was one of those whose original Leyland body was defective and was replaced by the manufacturer with the more modern and handsome version shown here.

Chris Youhill

28/10/13 - 13:55

Another one of those amazing narrow escapes that one rarely hears about. The driver of the Fordson 7V lorry was a complete idiot and it's a good job that the bus had pulled over so far to turn. Glad to see that you, like me, are fond of being in a fool's paradise and altered the photo.

The All-Leyland Ledgard TD3's & 4's were delivered with defective bodies and here is an official photo I have of one in original form.

Chris Hebbron

29/10/13 - 07:14

A lovely picture Chris H - I have a copy too, and Leyland certainly knew how to "pose" their brand new vehicles to best advantage. This one, AUB 489, spent its entire career at Armley depot, while its twin, AUB 490, was at Otley depot from new to withdrawal along with the injured AUM 990 in my picture.

Chris Youhill

29/10/13 - 14:39

Here, Chris H, is a rare picture of the twin to AUB 489 - AUB 490, which is seen here in Otley Bus Station within weeks of Mr. Ledgard's demise of April 1952. It has recently been recertified but the original classic livery is unimpaired so far. Before long a huge amount of livery and fleetname experiments were to occur with a view to refreshing the Company's image - misguided in my view on the basis of "If it aint broke don't fix it."
Notable features though can be seen in the statutory lettering which was changed throughout the fleet immediately on Sam's passing, no doubt of legal necessity. The bus had been licensed from new to subsidiary "The Cream Bus Service" - this now became "Samuel Ledgard (Ilkley) Limited" and the whole of the Ledgard empire was now represented by "F.E.Steel, Secretary." The former Bradford depot operation had been "B & B Tours Limited" and now became Samuel Ledgard (Bradford) Limited. The bold experimental fleetname, not unattractive, was seen only on this bus, and on one of the TS8/Duple coaches as "Samuel Ledgard" with both words separately underlined. This was a very stormy period for the Company as death duties, among other things, along with the remains of WW2 fleet replacement delays, caused a precarious situation.
The famous Leyland rubber rear mudguards and wings are prominent in this picture - picture source unknown.

Chris Youhill

30/10/13 - 06:56

Thx, Chris Y, for the photo and additional info. Those immediate pre-war Leyland bodies were very handsome and this carried on into the Farington era. The rubber wings I was unaware of, but the photo certainly shows them up well. The only other vehicles I recall like this were the GPO's early split-windscreen Morris Minors. A Post Office Telephones model is shown here: http://tinyurl.com/n6qmdaw - in reality, they never looked as smart as the ones on this preserved vehicle!

Chris Hebbron

30/10/13 - 06:57

Is that you, Chris, getting off after surreptitiously replacing the windows with some you had lying around?
Two interesting features: whatever became of that fine nearside CAV headlamp- was it not put back after the blackout? and.... notice the autovac on the jousting bus- not often seen on a body like this- gives the game away!

Joe

30/10/13 - 09:13

I have always wondered why the Ledgard examples of this Leyland body were replaced whereas other bodies for an array of companies were rebuilt and strengthened. The BCVM book on the subject is not explicit, but it infers they went back with the specific intention of being rebodied.
I wonder if they were so bad as to be beyond repair, or perhaps Mr Ledgard complained more loudly than the others?

Pat Jennings

30/10/13 - 12:23

Chris - thanks for picture of telephone van, and I never knew about the rubber wings on those. I ought to just clarify here that the rubber wings on the Leylands were only the rear ones of course.

Joe - no, not me - I know I'm vintage but in 1947 was only just starting secondary school. However, the tall chap in the trilby hat was to become my future employer, as Mr. Tapscott was still ruling with rod of the toughest steel throughout my time with the grand old firm. I'm sure that the small basic headlamp would be a temporary measure resulting possibly from a skirmish, as it was not usual to replace the CAV lamps thus. The Autovac external tank was actually fitted to all Titans up to the TD5, as with Ledgard's later highbridge models (and G.F.Tate's 1943 lowbridge one), and so I don't think it was unusual with this style of body.

Pat - without knowing too much about this aspect I had always assumed that all the defective bodies were replaced rather than being repaired - just goes to show, you learn "summat new" every day. Mind you Mr. Ledgard certainly spoke up "louder than the rest" in all matters and, as the saying goes, "took no prisoners."

Chris Youhill

30/10/13 - 14:59

On the subject of rubber bodywork, the off side lower rear corner panel on a lot of Routemasters was rubber. As regards wings, a friend of mine has a rather painful memory of a vehicle with a rubber wing. He worked for a Haulage company in North Shields called Turnbull, and they had several LAD cab Albion's, one of which had an off side rubber wing. They were very low compared to the lorries of today, and the quickest way to exit one was to put your right hand on the wing and swing your legs out. Unfortunately, yes you've guessed, one day he did it in the one with the rubber wing and came out base over apex, and rather more quickly than he wanted to.

Ronnie Hoye

30/10/13 - 17:29

Having passed this very spot this lunchtime, it got me wondering how only the glass was broken and the pillars seemingly remained intact. If the pole was scaffolding, then I can't imagine it would have flexed sufficiently to "bounce" between windows. If it was a wooden pole then might it not have snapped or been displaced off the lorry roof? The front side window glass seems almost gone, but the front pillar seems untouched. The broken glass suggests the pole took a slightly downward trajectory before the bus came to a halt. Surely, such a violent impact would have broken at least one pillar? It's almost as if the lorry made four "charges" at each of the four windows of the bus. Perhaps the pole only just reached the bus sufficiently enough to merely scrape the pillars but break the glass? In any event, a foolish manoeuvre on the part of the lorry driver and it was fortunate that no injuries were incurred.

Paul Haywood

31/10/13 - 07:24

I'd forgotten, Ronnie, about the Routemaster rear offside corner being rubber - it never seemed to show.
Mention of the Albion rubber wing, reminded me that, in the '80's. I owned a Citroen BX, all of which which had plastic bonnets and rear hatches. It was a party trick for some owners to hurl themselves at the bonnet, which crumpled, to gasps from onlookers, then stood up, whereupon the bonnet resumed its normal profile. However, late in life, Citroen changed these parts to steel, but never advertised it.............!

Chris Hebbron

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