Percivals Motors 74 (XWL 539 ex CJO 322V) on the A11 at Barton Mills – 5 Apr 1985 (15-7)

Good Friday 5 April 1985 (approx. 1540) - Percivals Motors (Oxford) Limited 74 (XWL 539) near the Bull Inn at Barton Mills when working the 1310 Lowestoft-Oxford service 747, a cross-country service between Bristol and Lowestoft worked jointly with Premier Travel and National Express.

This was day 2 of a diagram that alternated with Premier Travel and covered the 0845 Cambridge-Lowestoft (1230) run returning as the 1310 Lowestoft-Oxford (1955) run.

It is a Plaxton Supreme bodied Bedford YMT that was new to Percivals in April 1980 registered CJO 322V. Nowadays vehicles that have carried a cherished re-registration will revert to the originally assigned number when the cherished registration is transferred. This wasn’t the case back then and this coach subsequently became GBW 96V.

This scene changed significantly when the A11 was upgraded to a dual carriageway although this section of road can still be identified today, now a local road that curves left to where the white car is in the centre of the photograph. The road to Tuddenham can be seen on the right. The dual carriageway alignment runs from that point past the front of the tree then onward to Chalk Hill.