DAF/VDL Single deck

30703/5/6 /15

With the letting of the first bus franchises in Manchester there has been some fall out amongst the existing bus operators. including the sudden closure of the little Gem operation. This operator stopped running and went into voluntary liquation on Friday 26th April 2023.  The company been been in  difficulties  for some time. The company was owned by the Goodwin family and was a separate business to their Little Gem is a separate company to Go Goodwins Group and Mayne Coaches operations which are still in business.  Fortunately for Rotala the Little Gem operation had been running from a depot opposite to their Diamond Bus Eccles depot which needs enlarging or replacing to accommodate the franchised work they are taking on from September 2023. Rotala both purchased the Little Gem depot and 14 vehicles all of which have been retrofitted to Euro VI emission standards. To meet the requirement of all vehicles in the West Midlands being of Euro VI emission standards  the acquired vehicles were moved to the West Midlands. 30704 was renumbered 30715 in June 2023.

30909  

JP44MCL started life as YJ08EFW in the John Fishwick & Sons fleet in 2008. When the Fishwick's went out of business on 25th October 2015 the vehicle joined the Diamond Bus fleet with 2 sister vehicles at their Redditch Depot taking the fleet number 32122. The vehicle remained there until November 2021 when it was withdrawn and sold to Midland Classic in the months before the Midland Classic fleet joined the Rotala Group. On entry into the Midland Classic fleet it was registered with the cherished number plate JP54MCL. The JP being initials of Julian Peddle who at the time part owned Midland Classic and MCL being Midland Classic Limited. With the sale of Midland Classic to Rotala in August 2023 the vehicle rejoined the Diamond bus fleet where it has taken the new fleet number of 30909.

32101/21/2  

John Fishwick & Sons was formed in 1907. It was based in Lancashire and operated a fleet of bus and coaches in the Preston area. Being close to the old Leyland bus factory the company had a long tradition of purchasing Leyland vehicles. When production of buses and coaches ended in Leyland they turned to other manufacturers. During 2015 it became apparent that John Fishwick & Sons was in financial difficulties and during the summer the owners attempted to sell the business. Rotala as the main bus operator in the Preston area were interested in purchasing the business. However, before a deal could be struck John Fishwick stopped trading on 25th October 2015. With a need for additional vehicles to meet the DDA requirements in the Diamond Bus fleet Rotala purchased three of the former Fishwick vehicles from the dealer who was disposing of the vehicles and placed them in  service at Redditch in early 2016.

32123/4  

On 24th April 2022 Rotala acquired the Claribel Coaches operation when 13 further VDL vehicles joined their fleet. These vehicles had been supplied new to Claribel's by Arriva Bus and Coach. All of the vehicles had been retrofitted with exhaust traps so the emissions standards met Euro VI for operation on services 55 and 94  into Birmingham City Centre. On purchasing the company Diamond bus withdrew from the 94 service (the service 55 had already been withdrawn) so as to give themselves a number of Euro VI standard vehicles that could be used on Transport for West Midlands contracts. The oldest two vehicles 32123 and 32124 were of the slightly older design of chassis and had detailed differences in the body work to the other vehicles acquired.  32123 survived in the Diamond Bus fleet until June 2023 when it was withdrawn and sold for scrap a month later.

32125-136  

On 24th April 2022 Rotala acquired the Claribel Coaches operation when 13 further VDL vehicles joined their fleet. These vehicles had been supplied new to Claribel's by Arriva Bus and Coach. All of the vehicles had been retrofitted with exhaust traps so the emissions standards met Euro VI for operation on services 55 and 94  into Birmingham City Centre. On purchasing the company Diamond bus withdrew from the 94 service (the service 55 had already been withdrawn) so as to give themselves a number of Euro VI standard vehicles that could be used on Transport for West Midlands contracts. With the changes in bus contracts from January 2023 and need from May 2023 for all buses running in the West Midlands being Euro VI emissions many of the vehicles are now deployed on the service 4 and $H (Walsall to Hayley Green via West Bromwich). All were repainted into standard Diamond Bus livery except for 32134 which was painted into a livery commemorating the Queen's 70th Anniversary on the throne. Following her death the livery has been modified so it bit in her memory. 32136 is West Midlands Buses livery.