In the late sixties I was in LT Bus Engineering 'B' Division and remember a few RT's, mainly driver training vehicles and a vast majority of Routemasters had or were in the process of having their rear wheel trims (dust bin lids) removed ,and disposed of by Chiswick works.

Later I asked the question as to the reason for this and was informed that an LT Rolling Stock (Buses) General Instruction (RT,RM all codes) had been issued (date unknown) to all LT garages, with the immediate effect that 'all rear wheel trims were to be removed immediately' and not at next rota, and this had remained in force to (circ 1992).

I am presuming this incident had occurred sometime between early to mid sixties (I stand to be corrected)

The reason given for this action was that due to a bus trim becoming detached whilst in service and still travelling at speed, had sliced a pedestrians leg, causing severe injury.

MJ.Langley

During my time on LT I was aware that the removal of rear wheel discs was due to occasional detachment with little or no damage / injury which then took a much more serious turn with exactly the incident that Michael has described.

That incident was probably in the second half of 1971. I can give two reasons for quoting that date. First, when I started on LT in 1973 there were plenty of engineering staff who could recall the removal instruction and the accident on which it was based. Secondly, within Ken Blacker`s excellent Routemaster book (Volume 2) there are pictures of buses in service with rear wheel discs in 1971. Two pictures involve all-over advert buses - one that entered service in April 1971 and the other in July.

Also locked into my memory is that Palmers Green Garage for whatever reason didn`t react immediately to the removal instruction and thus their buses still had them for a little longer than other garages.

I mentioned on here a few years ago that when I went to North`s scrapyard a couple of weeks after they took a batch of RM`s for breaking in 1982, I found a big stash of rear wheel discs covered in dirt and brambles in a semi-derelict outbuilding. How I wish I had asked if I could have some!

These are a much desired accessory for the preserved RM, however as is clear they were removed for safety reasons. Since these are nearly always removed prior to the vehicle being presented for MOT they never get perused by the examiner. I have noticed in the past that these sometimes do not fit very well at all. They should be held tight against the wheel rim and unable to rotate even the smallest amount. It is quite common to find that the rivets holding the centre lozenge are loose. A modern day serious injury to a member of the public would not be viewed well at all.

When doing my apprenticeship, I was shown one of these discs and told about the accident as well as several other incidents. The disc presented was razor sharp round the edge.

It had become slightly loose and was chaffing on the inside face against the wheel rim, apparently it had worn to a sharp edge in a matter of a few days and unseen.

It was debated as to whether it was a batch of poor sized brackets and softer discs that may have cause the problem which was not common to every bus but they were not identifiable so they erred to caution and removed the lot of all types.

I'm sure a simple solution to eradicate the issue was on the cards but someone saw the cost savings and took advantage of the RoSPA raised issue to force the change.

But for those that do have them in preservation, they do need to be checked just like lights and other parts of the vehicle every time it's taken on the road