In 1979 Bristol Omnibus Company announced the order of 5 MCW Metrobuses for service in Bristol alongside the usual intake of Bristol VRT's. These vehicles were part of the National Bus Company's vehicle evaluation trials of the time - pitting them against the groups standard VRT/ECW model. The buses were eventually delivered in 1980, but were not to see service in Bristol as intended due to the trade union objections of them being single, rather than dual door as per the standard option on Bristol Joint Services at the time. The buses were diverted to Bath and given fleet numbers 6000 - 6004 (DAE510-4W) and had 76 seat bodywork and Rolls-Royce engines. They were mainly used on Bath City routes 203/213 and all 5 started life in a variety of overall liveries advertising the company's various fare card/ticket offers. The buses passed to Badgerline in 1986 and were all eventually withdrawn in 1994. Three of the batch went on to see service with Capital Citybus which was eventually sold to Firstgroup in 1998 and the vehicles eventually ended up with First Southampton. DAE510W eventually became a First Southampton driver training vehicle before eventually being sold for preservation. Although restored cosmetically into Bristol Omnibus NBC leaf green, it was found to be in a poor condition bodywork/mechanically. It was sold on eBay in early 2012 as "suiting preservation" but was bought by T Wigley & Son in Barnsley for scrap. The first photo shows 6000 at Bath Bus Station on 17th July 1982 unusually working the Limited Stop service 809 to Bristol. The second photo shows the same vehicle in Bristol/NBC leaf green at the Bristol Bus Rally on 23rd May 2004. I am unsure if the vehicle was still in First ownership at this time or had already passed into preservation.
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