Mercedes 709D Minibus Overview
by either Midland Red West or First Midland Red even though for many years Plaxton bodied examples were the standard purchases of Badgerline and latter Firstgroup companies. In the standard form the vehicle was purchased as a 23-seaters with a small luggage pen on the near side by the entrance door. The odd ones being examples for the City of Bristol services where to comply with the same union agreement as the one with first Midland Red that a minibus is defined as anything under 22 seats their examples had one less seat to comply with this. The first Mercedes 709D to be operated by Midland Red West was a Firstgroup demonstrator which was owned by Plaxton’s. The vehicle a 27-seater N491FDT was in full Bristol Cityline red, blue and yellow livery and ran from Worcester garage between 20th August and 4th November 1996.
51264-70/5/6 N264-70/5/6JUG
These vehicles were part of a batch of 30 vehicles (N264-93JUG) which were new to Yorkshire Rider in 1995. They took the fleet numbers 2264-2293. In the summer of 1990 with the delivery of new low floor Optare Solo minibuses in Bradford the company reduced it’s requirement for these Mercedes Minibuses. Eight were transferred to First Midland Red. All except N2xxJUG arrived in the two tone blue livery of First Bradford. All eight were repainted into the then fleet livery of Red and Cream. N2xxJUB arrived in an advertising livery for xxxx. To comply with the Company 22-seat rule on minibuses (Drivers of vehicles of 22 seats or less can be paid at minibus pay and conditions) the vehicles were down seated to 22 from 23. This was done by the swapping of one of the double seats on the off side with a single seat salvaged from withdrawn Mercedes 608D minibuses. All eight are in service at Kidderminster Garage. For the record N271/2JUG are in service with First Mainline and N285-93JUB are in service with First Calderline. The remainder of the batch have been scraped. With service changes in Kidderminster in September 2005 all of the vehicles from this batch were finally taken out of service ending Mercedes 709D operation by First Wyvern in passenger service L812LAE was retained for a short while as a driver trainer.
Registration Number |
Fleet Number |
Old Fleet Number |
Body Type |
Seating Capacity |
Date into Service | Current Allocation | Livery |
N264JUG |
51264 |
1264 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 7/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 3/07 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N265JUG |
51265 |
1265 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 7/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 12/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N266JUG |
51266 |
1266 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 9/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 11/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N267JUG |
51267 |
1267 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 9/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 11/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N268JUG |
51268 |
1268 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 7/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 12/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N269JUG |
51269 |
1269 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 9/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 11/06 - Scrapped 4/09 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N270JUG |
51270 |
1270 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 9/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 11/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N275JUG |
51275 |
1275 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 6/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 3/07 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
N276JUG |
51276 |
1276 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Aug-00 |
Withdrawn 9/05 - Sold to James Tamworth 11/06 |
Red & Cream (8/00) |
L805/10-9/21/2/4SAE, M840/64/73ATC
Bristol Omnibus purchased 79 Mercedes 709D minibuses all with Plaxton bodies (though some have Reeves Burges body plates). This minibus type had become the standard minibus for the Badgerline Group. In the standard form these vehicles were built as 23-seaters with a luggage pen on the nearside next to the entrance door. However in Bristol like with Midland Red West they have the same driver agreement with minibuses which means a vehicle of 22-seaters or less is defined as a minibus - hence the driver can be paid less. To conform with this requirement all Bristol Omnibus Mercedes 709D minibuses were built to 22 seats. This means the seating layout is slightly different in that the vehicle has an offside luggage pen with a single seat instead of a double seat next to it. The vehicles have automatic gearboxes. To allow the withdrawal of the "E" registration Mercedes 609D's at Kidderminster Garage 17 vehicles were acquired in the latter part of 2001. All were repainted into the Barbie2 livery before entry into service. With the transfer of Mercedes Vario's from Worcester Garage a number have either been withdrawn or transferred to Hereford Garage. Vehicles 1815 (L815SAE) and 1840 (M840ATC) were sold to First Eastern Counties in March 2003 to replace vehicles destroyed in a fire at Kings Lynn depot and have been numbered 973/6 respectively in their fleet. During March 2003 three more of the Mercedes 709D's left the First Midland Red fleet to return back to Bristol area to join the First Avon and Somerset fleet at Weston-super-Mare these are L817/9SAE,M864ATC. They took up their former First Bristol fleet numbers of 7817/9/64 respectively. Both 1805 and 1811 were reinstated during the week beginning 1st September 2003 at Hereford to cover for minibus shortages ahead of the introduction of a third batch of new low floor Optare Solo minibuses. A development in November 2003 was that a number of the Mercedes 709D vehicles were sold to the vehicle dealer Houston Ramm for conversion to mini-coaches. This gets round the Firstgroup policy of not selling buses for commercial use outside of the group whist allowing the sale of coaches.
Registration Number |
Fleet Number |
Old Fleet Number |
Body type |
Seating Capacity |
Date into Service | Current Status | Livery |
L805SAE |
1805 |
N/A |
Reeves Burges |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 27/9/03 - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 then Downes by October 2006 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L810SAE |
1810 |
N/A |
Reeves Burges |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 5/03 - Sold to First West Yorkshire 1/04 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L811SAE |
1811 |
N/A |
Reeves Burges |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 27/9/03 - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L812SAE |
51012 |
1812 |
Reeves Burges |
B22F |
Nov-01 |
Reinstated at Worcester as a driver trainer 10/04 - withdrawn sold to James Tamworth 7/07 |
Barbie2 (10/01) |
L813SAE |
1813 |
N/A |
Reeves Burges |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 2/03 - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (10/01) |
L814SAE |
51014 |
1814 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Sold to James, Tamworth 10/05 - now with One Call Peterborough 12/06 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L815SAE |
1815 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Nov-01 |
Withdrawn 1/03 - sold to Eastern Counties 3/03 as 973 |
Barbie2 (10/01) |
L816SAE |
1816 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L817SAE |
1817 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn - sold to Badgerline 3/03 as 7817 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L818SAE |
1818 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Nov-01 |
Withdrawn - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (10/01) |
L819SAE |
1819 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 2/03 - sold to Badgerline 3/03 as 7819 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L821SAE |
51021 |
1821 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn 2/5/03 - Sold to James, Tamworth 6/05 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L822SAE |
1822 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Jan-02 |
Withdrawn 2/5/03 - Sold to First West Yorkshire 1/04 - and was converted to a driver trainer at Halifax garage |
Barbie2 (12/01) |
L824SAE |
51024 |
1824 |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Jan-02 |
Withdrawn 2/5/03 - sold to Emmanuel London SE9 in 12/04 |
Barbie2 (12/01) |
M840MTC |
1840 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Nov-01 |
Withdrawn 1/03 - sold to Eastern Counties 3/03 as 976 now renumbered 51540 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
M864ATC |
1864 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Feb-02 |
Withdrawn - sold to Badgerline 3/03 as 7864 |
Barbie2 (12/01) |
M873ATC |
1873 |
N/A |
Plaxton |
B22F |
Dec-01 |
Withdrawn 27/9/03 - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (11/01) |
Livery Key : Barbie 2 - Non low floor corporate Firstgroup livery known as "Barbie2" (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted)
1830/89/90/1 - L830WHY,L909/10/1VHT
Badgerline purchased a number of Mercedes 709D minibuses all with Plaxton bodies as replacements for earlier Transit minibuses mainly for their local services in and around the City of Bath. These vehicles were built to the standard Badgerline Group standard specification as 23-seaters. During 2002 First Midland Red acquired 4 Badgerline minibuses to help allow the withdrawal of the "E" registration Mercedes 609D's at Kidderminster Garage. All were repainted into the Barbie2 livery and to comply with the First Midland Red minibus driving agreement the vehicles were like the examples from Yorkshire Rider down seated to 22 seat before entry into service. With the transfer of Mercedes Vario's from Worcester Garage a number have either been withdrawn or transferred to Hereford Garage. Vehicles 1889 (L909VHT) and 1890 (L910VHT) were sold to First Eastern Counties in March 2003 to replace vehicles destroyed in a fire at Kings Lynn depot and have been numbered 974/5 respectively in their fleet. In a development in November 2003 L830WHY was sold to the vehicle dealer Houston Ramm for conversion to a mini-coach. This gets round the Firstgroup policy of not selling buses for commercial use outside of the group whist allowing the sale of coaches.
Registration Number |
Fleet Number |
Old Fleet Number |
Body type |
Date into Service | Current Allocation | Livery |
L830WHY |
1830 |
N/A |
Plaxton B22F |
July-02 |
Withdrawn 27/9/03 - Sold to Houston Ramm 11/03 |
Barbie2 (6/02) |
L909VHT |
1889 |
N/A |
Plaxton B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn - sold to First Eastern Counties as 974 - 3/03 and was renumbered 51109 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L910VHT |
1890 |
N/A |
Plaxton B22F |
Oct-01 |
Withdrawn - sold to First Eastern Counties as 975 - 3/03 and was renumbered 51110 |
Barbie2 (9/01) |
L911VHT |
51111 |
1891 |
Plaxton B22F |
Dec-01 |
Withdrawn - Sold to Willenhall Commercials for scrap 3/05 |
Barbie2 (11/01) |
Livery Key : Barbie 2 - Non low floor corporate Firstgroup livery known as "Barbie2" (The dates in brackets are when the vehicle was last repainted)