Plaxton President

The Plaxton President on various chassis combinations proved very popular with some of London's bus operators. The first production examples of the body were first delivered to Arriva London on the DAF DB250 chassis in 1999.[1] Arriva London would go on to purchase 91 Plaxton Presidents on the DAF chassis until 2005, acquiring a further ten from Capital Logistics.[2]

Metroline operated the most Plaxton Presidents in London, ordering 305 examples on the Volvo B7TL chassis and 260 on the Dennis Trident 2 chassis from 1999 to 2005.[3]^: 215[4]^: 164 First London also amassed large quantities of Plaxton Presidents, taking delivery of 403 Dennis Tridents and 73 Volvo B7TLs with Plaxton President bodies from 1999 to 2003,[3]^: 137[4]^: 240 while London General and London Central, both part of the Go-Ahead Group, purchased a total of 419 Presidents on the Volvo B7TL chassis as well as an additional 50 President-bodied Dennis Tridents.[4]^: 91[3]^: 245

Other major London operators included London United, who took delivery of 26 Plaxton President-bodied B7TLs in 1999,[4]^: 96–98 London Sovereign, who took delivery of 27 President-bodied B7TLs in two batches between 2002 and 2003,[4]^{: 102–103} and Blue Triangle, who took delivery of two President-bodied Tridents in 2003 and also acquired two second-hand that year.[3]^{: 256–257}

Nearside of a First London President.

Rear of DFDS Seaways liveried Go North East Plaxton President bodied Dennis Trident 2 in Newcastle

Lothian Buses were the largest operator of Presidents outside London, purchasing approximately 205 from 1999 to 2004. All but seven examples were built on the Dennis Tridents chassis; the remaining seven Presidents were purchased on the Volvo B7TL chassis.[1] Some of these would later receive open top conversion for Lothian's sightseeing subsidiaries.

National Express West Midlands, formerly Travel West Midlands, were the second largest operator of Presidents outside London with 102 examples new between 1999 and 2000, all of which were built on the Volvo B7TL chassis.[5] These underwent refurbishment in 2007–2008. Recent deliveries to National Express West Midlands have seen some of these Presidents move mainly to the associated Xplore Dundee fleet or sold on to other bus operators.

Go-Ahead Group companies outside London also bought Presidents in substantial numbers. Brighton & Hove took 36 Presidents on the Dennis Trident 2 chassis between 2001 and 2002.[6] This was followed by Go North East who took 15 in 2001 on the Dennis Trident chassis. Southern Vectis purchased 7 Presidents on Volvo B7TL chassis in 2002, prior before to the company being taken over by Go-Ahead.

The Stagecoach Group ordered nearly 50 low-height Presidents on Dennis Trident 2 chassis between 2000 and 2003. Stagecoach Cambus took the first seven Presidents in 2000, with the company later ordering a majority of their Presidents in 2003. 30 of these were delivered to Stagecoach Manchester, while six were delivered to Stagecoach Oxfordshire in 'Brookes Bus' livery.[7][8] Stagecoach opted in 2003 for Plaxton to body these Dennis Tridents in order to support their Wigan factory, which was suffering from a lack of orders.[9]

East Yorkshire Motor Services were another large operator of Presidents, ordering 36 lowheight examples on Volvo B7TL chassis ordered from 2000 to 2003. 30 were delivered to the main East Yorkshire fleet while six were ordered for their Finglands subsidiary in Manchester, with two Presidents for each company being delivered for evaluation in 2000 before orders commenced.[10] East Yorkshire later purchased 27 mid-life Presidents from Go-Ahead London in 2012, some of which was converted for open top operation and driver training.[11]

Smaller orders include Arriva which purchased 20 between 2000 and 2001 on the Volvo B7TL chassis for its Arriva Yorkshire subsidiary,[12] the Blazefield Group who took 19, 16 for Burnley & Pendle and three for Yorkshire Coastliner, as well as independent based operators such as Pete's Travel, Mayne Coaches, Blue Bus & Coach Services, Hedingham Omnibuses, North Birmingham Busways and Liverpool Motor Services.