JOV 750P

JOV 750P was a Volvo Ailsa B55 double-decker bus briefly operated by Sega for its annual tours in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s.

DVLA Data

Untaxed	Tax due: 1 July 1994
MOT	No results returned
Vehicle Make	VOLVO
Date of first registration	February 1976
Year of manufacture	1976
Fuel type	DIESEL
Export marker	No
Vehicle status	Untaxed
Vehicle colour	WHITE
Wheelplan	2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight	9378kg
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued	20 May 1993

Vehicle History

JOV 750P was a Volvo Ailsa B55, of the Alexander RV bodywork style, type H44/35F. Its serial number was #4750.

It was built in early 1976 and bought by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, who ran it for around a decade before it was bought by London Buses in October 1987, and put into the Edgware store. It entered service a month later in November, where it ran initially for Harrow Buses on routes 114, 140, 183, and 340. It may have possibly been reduced to just running route 183 by 1988, before being withdrawn entirely into the Fulwell store in November 1990. It stayed out of use over the winter of 1990/1991, until being sold to the Wombwell Diesels scrap dealer in March 1991.

The bus was then purchased at an unknown date between March and December of that same year by "CBH Partners, SW1", who operated it as a mobile exhibition unit for Sega Games. The earliest known appearance of the bus for Sega was at the St. Enoch Centre in Glasgow (pictured at the top of this page) in December 1991, branded as "Sega on the road". It toured the country demoing Sega games, including the 1993 European Grand Prix with the other two Sega buses, RCH 280R and C648 FTT.

The bus's service life for Sega came to an end some time shortly before March 1994, following an incident near Macclesfield where the bus "missed the road" and crashed. It seems Sega decided the bus wasn't worth repairing: according to MegaAction, "we understand parts are both rare and quite highly priced"; and in September 1994 it was bought by Black Prince Buses (based in Morley, West Yorkshire), who sold it in October 1994 to Ripley's of Carlton, West Yorkshire - another scrap dealer, but this time there was no further purchase and the bus almost certainly torn to pieces for parts and scrap.

Images

Bus in its initial West Midlands PTE livery.

Bus in its Harrow Buses livery.

Bus in its Harrow Buses livery.

Bus in its Harrow Buses livery, circa 1990, its final year of service for Harrow Buses.

Earliest known appearance in Sega livery, St. Enoch Centre in Glasgow.

At the Sega Sports Challenge, 17 July 1992.

At the 1993 European Grand Prix (on the right) with its fellow buses and an F1 car.

At the 1993 European Grand Prix (in the centre).

Vehicle data from the DVLA's website.