With the advent of the National Bus Company, South Midland's parent company was merged with ex BET company, Aldershot & District, to form Alder Valley and South Midland
was subsumed into BET's City of Oxford, which traded as Oxford South Midland. Leading up to privatisation, South Midland was reborn as a "polo mint" operation in
much the same way that London Country was separated from the central London bus network. South Midland was thus a bus company and some VRs appeared like 492
(EJO492V) in South Midland livery, here seen in Gloucester Green Bus Station.
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South Midland  |
South Midland was privatised early on and sold to Harry Blundred as Thames Transit. A new lime, navy and white colour scheme was adopted as seen here on Bristol VR
426 (YBW606R) on Aylesbury Town Service 262 to Walton Court.
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SOUTH MIDLAND
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In an attempt to modernise the fleet, Manchester's early small batch of Leyland Titans was acquired. This one is seen near the Bodlean Library in the centre of Oxford.
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SOUTH MIDLAND
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Former London DMS1538 (THM538M) appeared as an open topper in the South Midland fleet in the early days of
Blundred ownership. It was, of course, used on tours of the historic city,
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Inevitably the success of Harry Blundred's Devon General operation in Exeter using high frequency minibuses was transferred to Oxford and rapidly VRs - and the Titans - were
replaced by 16 seat Ford Transits. However a batch of 25 seat Optare City Pacers was purchased, like 32 (D232TBW) seen in the centre of Oxford, followed by a VR, transferred
up from the Devon fleet, in the two tone blue Orbiter livery.
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