VINTAGE FENTON FILE

摘要

Stagecoach's purchase of left-hand-drive Volvo B11R/Plaxton Elite-i and Van Hool Altano inter-deck coaches for international Megabus work may be the most numerous recent investment in British-registered left-hookers, but it was by no means the first. Here is one from the 1960s. The story has its beginnings in January 1964, when Leyland Motors announced a £4million order for left-hand-drive Leyland Olympic EL45/3 models from the government of Cuba. At that time, the United States was vehemently opposed to trade of any sort with its communist near neighbour, hence the Leyland deal was far from popular. Against this backdrop, it is easy to see why conspiracy theories abounded when on the night of 27 October 1964, the East German ship Magdeburg, sailing from Dagenham with 42 Olympics on board, was partially submerged in the Thames estuary following a collision in thick fog with the Japanese vessel Yamashiro Maru.