SURVIVING VEHICLES

Over the years the West Yorkshire Road Car Company has operated thousands of buses, but with the passage of time the number of survivors has fallen and is now less than 100, many of which are classed as preserved. The list here shows those that are definitely known to survive, along with a number that have been exported, where their continued survival is uncertain. It gives their fleet number when new; registration; type and finally their present ownership and status. We have tried to show the current situation, with reference to the DVLA website with regard to licensing. "SORN", for those who do not know, is "Statutory Off Road Notification", which is a new requirement introduced a few years ago to try to prevent unlicensed vehicles on our roads. It should be noted that anything that has been stored long term (such as the first on the list, TSM 228), is exempt from this requirement, which only affects vehicles that were currently licensed when the scheme was introduced. The fact that someone has taken the trouble to notify DVLA of "SORN" status suggests that the vehicle still exists, but is not firm proof. Otherwise there is no indication on DVLA of whether a vehicle has been scrapped or not – even if it has been notified by the owner as having been scrapped, it simply becomes "unlicensed" on the DVLA database, which for this list has led to assumptions having to be made on whether some vehicles still exist. If a vehicle, other than one known to be preserved, has not been licensed for 3 or 4 years or more, and in the absence of information to the contrary, the assumption is that it has been scrapped, though it may be that a few vehicles not on this list still linger on in scrapyards or elsewhere, in poor condition. A large number of ex WY vehicles have been exported over the years, and, of course, tracing these is even more difficult. Again, we have had to assume that if there has been no sighting for a number of years the chances are it has been scrapped, but there will inevitably be a few errors in this approach – DX 30 had not been seen in Holland for 31 years until it reappeared in 2007, whilst KDX 40 had not been seen for almost 40 years until it resurfaced during 2011! Nevertheless, to have included a large number of vehicles that have in all probability now been scrapped would have made the list much longer, and arguably less accurate. 

Any information to update this list would be welcome to the email address below.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST

mail.wyis@yahoo.com