Eastern Counties Omnibus Company OT1 (VDV 752) and VR144 (GNG 710N) at Cromer – 7 Jul 1981

Tuesday 7 July 1981 – In May 1979 the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company acquired two Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol LDL6G Lodekka open top double deckers from the Western National Omnibus Company which became OT1 (VDV 752) and OT2 (VDV 753). They had been new as normal covered top buses although were quite rare in being 30 feet long variants of the Lodekka with seating for 70 passengers.

During the summer of 1978 Western National had loaned the two vehicles to fellow National Bus Company affiliates for trials. VDV 752 was loaned by East Yorkshire Motor Services and saw service at Bridlington. VDV 753 was loaned to Eastern Counties. The following year Eastern Counties bought both the buses.

As Eastern Counties OT1, VDV 752 was seen in Cromer bus station during a short break when working the Sheringham-Cromer-Overstrand service 769 (approximately 6.5 miles total length).
New to Western National as their number 1935 in November 1957 it was converted to open top in May 1972.

VR144 (GNG 710N), an Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VR new in January 1975, makes a cautious entrance to park alongside.