Ellen Smith (Rossendale Transport) 303 (OIB 5403) (B887 WRJ) - 16 Apr 1995 (260-26)

Easter Sunday 16 April 1995 - Following the acquisition of Ellen Smith (Tours) Limited by Rossendale Transport in 1991, Rossendale used the Ellen Smith name for its coaching activities. 303 (OIB 5403) was a Plaxton Paramount 3200 bodied Leyland Tiger new in June 1985 as B887 WRJ during the time when the company was in the ownership of the Smith family. The old style tiger logo was fading.
The final passengers had just boarded the coach outside the office in Newgate, Rochdale for a ‘Mystery Tour’. There is an amusing story about this! I got chatting to the young chap loading the coaches and I asked about the destination. He laughed and replied ‘They don’t even tell ME that!’ but he continued to say that he thought it was a Lake District destination. A few minutes later he returned to tell me that the coach wasn’t going to the Lakes because it wasn’t very long before that there had already been an excursion to the area recently. He thought the driver was going to take the coach to Cleethorpes and Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire Coast but, wait for it, ‘He hasn’t quite decided yet!!’ So this seemed to be a Mystery Tour where even the driver didn’t know where the trip was going.