After the withdrawal of the RTs in 1979 an RM was used on the Chiswick skid patch. In the edition of the pensioners issue of the LUL staff magazine On The Move, there is an article by somebody who says he worked on the skid patch as an instructor.

There are a l;artge number of inaccuracies in the article but it does say
"Mark recalled one memorable incident when a group of Sea Scouts came on a visit and "one of the chaps completely lost control when he went into a skid and crashed the bus into the Training Manager's office, he completely wrote it off" (He does not say if the Sea Scouts were on the bus or not when it crashed), the paint marks are still there today"

Personally I don't believe that crash into the Training School ever happened, if it did it was very well hushed up, does anyomne know anything about this or of the bus I believe it was an RM that turned over on the skid patch? This did happen and was caused by the instructor putting the bus into the full rear wheel skid and telling the trainee not to touch the steering or foot brake as per normal, but the trainee panicked and hit the footbrake, locking the front wheels which did not allow the bus to swing round freely and it fell over. A ring of buses was quickly mustered around the fallen bus to keep it out of public view, the bus suffered little damage due to the cushion of air under it as it fell and was soon righted. Can anyone confirm dates and vehicles involved?

I actually did the emergency stop part of the PSV test on the Chiswick skid patch ( that is what it actually wws used for) and can relate how the training and test was done if anyone is interested.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RML 2667 and an RMC

Hi Brian, Yes it really did happen. The bus in question was RMC1470, the article over dramatised the event but the RMC did suffer extensive front end damage, I know I saw it, which led to its demise.

Andy

My bus number (if any): RM2059, RMC1490, RCL2243

I have lost count of the number of stories that I've heard from enthiuiasts who claim to have driven or rode on the skid bus and I don't believe any of them.

The operation of the skid bus was controlled by the most inviolate set of rules that LT have ever imposed
on any of it's training staff.

Those of us that have been through the Training School will know how difficult it was, as a trainee, to persuade the skid bus Instructor to let you ride the bus (upstairs at the back) much less any Tom, Dick or Harry off the street and drive it..NO CHANCE

Claire

My bus number (if any): BL49

Hi Claire, Sorry but on Saturday mornings the Training school manager, Neville Lobley, used to host guided tours of the Training school, which used to allow the participant the chance to have a go at such things as the driving simulator and the crechendo of the tour being the Skid Bus. The groups used to consist of scouts etc but any group could apply for the mornings entertainment.

Andy

My bus number (if any): RM2059, RMC1490, RCL2243

Thanks for the information Andy, It must have happened towards the end of Chiswick Works and must have been a bad error by an Instructor if it was on a demo. The RM skid buses had a hand operated brake fitted on the front handrail behind the driver so if a trainee got into trouble the instructor could stop the bus. When I did my skid patch, we rode on the bus whilst the others who were being tested, one bloke, a fellow prospective staff bus driver, on the first trip round which was a foot to the floor stop which invariably took the bus miles past the stop point in straight line skid, crawled round the circuit and round the bend past the lab and on to the skid patch. He managed to stop well inside the stop point. The Instructor shook him by the hand and congratulated him on being the first ever trainee to do so and then pointed out that the 473,288 previous trainess were going a F***ing lot faster thann 5 mph when they got to the skid patch!!
The same trainee failed his PSV test by hitting a kerb on a roundabout at White City, he told the testing DMI the test was unfair as he had never driven round that roundabout before!!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RML 2667 and an RMC

I don't see that it could have been at the end because the last Training School Manager was Charlie Watts and he was LT through and through, before him was Blacker and he had the knickname 'Sacker Blacker'and he didn't get that knickname for nothing, before him was a guy whose name escapes me but went on to be a Divisional Manager and none of these would have allowed any of this to happen.

Charlie was the one that had to give the instruction to end 'Skid Bus' operations because BEL has been given ownership of the site and wanted it back and I was there on the day it happened.

My bus number (if any): BL49

I think there may be some confusion here between the posts and roles of Training School Manager and the Chief Driving Instructor. There were guided tours of the Training school for parties and overseas visitors, we went on one with engineers from Sri Lanka and saw many others, although most were just the bus being thrown around by an instructor whilst the party stood outside the training school.I don't think Andy is suggesting that any of the visitors actually drove the skid bus or even rode on it. The date of this accident would have been around summer 1983 as that was when RMC 1470 was at V and was withdrawn, although it was not sold for scrap for 5 more years. I was not aware that the skid patch area was taken over by BEL as such, as LT spent £8 or 9 million redeveloping the Chiswick site to accommodate Aldenham in 1985/6 and they managed to move Aldenham's work into the existing buildings including the paint line where the old Chiswick and Acton Wood Mill was and body work into the Plant and Miscellaneous Vehicle shops, but within 3 years BEL decamped to Willesden. Unlike a lot of premises taken over by the owners of BEL who were actually asset strippers and property developers, who quickly closed down and sold the land that they took over in Kent and Sussex, they didn't own the Chiswick site, only the tooling and work in progress was included in the sale. BEL stayed three years or so and decamped to Willesden taking a couple of hundred key Chiswick staff with them and they were the unlucky ones, as soon as their TUPE came to an end BEL got rid of them, leaving them pensionless and with little redundancy money.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RML 2667 and an RMC

Hiya

This was a conversation that took place either late 86 or early 87 and they were Charlies own words, he also added something like, 'How can we have a Training School without a Skid Bus?'. He was very dissapointed that day and I did feel for him because the Training School was a very big part of his life. After it finally closed Charlie retired and I think that some of the longer serving Instructors went to a new set up at Camberwell, but I don't know how that faired in the ensuing years.

Claire

My bus number (if any): BL49

Hi all,

Charie Watts was certainly Chief Driving Instructor when I started in '82, this was as Brian states a different role to that of Training School Manager who I reported to when I started. When Chiswick closed its door, the individual Districts became responsible for training and correct me if im wrong but the DMI grade also disappeared in effect. Most of the DMIs were also Examiners and they fell straight into the new role full time with the Districts. Cream job DMI, I always fancied it, I just managed to be the youngest ever Gold Badge Road Official.

Andy

My bus number (if any): RM2059, RMC1490, RCL2243

When I read Claire's comment on the public not being allowed to ride on the skid patch I felt sure she was wrong. Memory suggested that it was possible on one of the Chiswick open days I had been to.

I have checked my photographs and sure enough I have pictures taken on the Chiswick Gala day, 3rd July 1983, with passengers on the lower deck only of buses on the skid patch. The buses were RT1530 and RMC1518. My pictures are not great but when I have time I will scan them and add them to my fotopic site.

I did not ride myself, I think because of long queues!

I have uploaded my pictures and they can be found at:

http://andrewcolebourne.fotopic.net/c1516144.html

As I said the quality is not great but they prove the point.

My bus number (if any): -

Great pictures Andrew!

Here is a clickable link!

Skid patch picures

Cheers, Chris

My bus number (if any): RM471 & RM2213

There were long queues on that open day but the ride was certainly worth it !

Graham

My bus number (if any): RML2747

I can confirm those long queues, I was in it! It was certainly worth the wait, I think we had 2 skids before returning to disembark. It was also the first time I had driven a Routemaster, or any other bus for that matter. That involved RMC1467 being driven by me under instruction and obtaining a certificate at the end. Still got it somewhere. I must also add that it was entirely due to that open day that I went on to own 3 Routemasters at various times. A very expensive lesson learned! Hey ho, there went the good times.

My bus number (if any): RM2186 and SMA13

Just to be clear Mike, you sat on the bus for the skid patch rides and drove the RMC elsewhere in Chiswick?

As I had the opportunity to play in the cab of an RTL for many years when I was a child as we went on a Private Hire trip every Sunday with the Wandsworth Garage cricket team, I was pretty accomplished as a driver by the age of 14 having had many hours of simulation in make-believe practice. This of course led to my love of driving buses but also caused trouble. When I did my PSV training the instructor accused me of unauthorised prior driving when I got in the cab of RTW 319 for my first ever drive on a road and of a moving bus, because I took to it like a duck to water. Smooth gear changes and pre-selecting as if I had been doing it for years, which of course I had!!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RML 2667, an RMC and now RM 1585 as well

Er yes, good point Brian. They were in fact two seperate jaunts at Chiswick on the same day. Mind you, huge queues for both activities. I recall having a good drive round the block in the RMC and being allowed to hang back on the final straight part of the course so that I could floor the accelerator and have a lively run in.

My bus number (if any): RM2186 and SMA13