I seem to remember reading that road tax discs displayed on LT buses in the 1960's used bonnet numbers rather than registration numbers ? Can anyone confirm this please (Brian, Jack ?) - many thanks

My bus number (if any): RML 2747

The Registration plate number was on the tax disc Graham.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

Thanks for that Brian

My bus number (if any): RML2747

Always the Reg number, Never the fleet number Some though, had the bonnet number written on the back, probably to ease the lot of the chap who put them on the bus. Particularly with RTs and RFs.

The second holder used to carry the Bonnet Number on a white disc with a large 'C' on it in the 1960s but it's a bit before my time and I can't say I can remember what that disc actually was.

Thanks Jack

My bus number (if any): RML2747

The other disc was the 1960s version of the Operators' licence. I have one on MLL721 that is from Continental Pioneer's MLL720, I'll try and look it out. that disc dates from about 1968.

Here`s a couple of old discs which I`ve just scanned and enlarged to make them readable.


I think we can assume that it`s just coincidence that the reference number is RT 122 as that bus wouldn`t have been around at the dates shown on the disk.



When were these phased out?



This one is from RMC 1511. The bonnet number is written on the reverse side as Jack suggested.




I also have a tax disc from RM 1563 when it was a Sales Department demonstrator and is thus taxed as a PLG. It has a hand written RM 1563 S/D on the reverse side as if this was common practice to put the bonnet number on the disc.

Thanks Neil for that - has anyone got an example of the disc with the large 'C' on that jack refers to by any chance please ?

My bus number (if any): RML 2747

I only remember the ones Neil has shown, the tax disc holders on some of our buses still have the tax disc and Form F ownership certificate in them, the third, the Insurance was blank, and may well have been discontinued or they were taken out when the bus was sold. Don't remember a disc with a C on it.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

I suspect the C disc was used on lorries, they had to have a C licence indicating commercial vehicle.

The "security" disc showed that the vehicle was exempt from the usual insurance as the undertaking provides it own insurance underwritten by sun alliance. Many of the larger operators still provide their own insurance security but there is no need to display that isc any more.

I remember the C disc - even if I can`t remember what it was for!

I`m fairly sure that it was black print on white with a large C in black bold positioned on the left edge of the disc so that the text was partly inside the C. Definitely on LT buses in the 1960`s as I remember looking at them in my bus spotting days!

Must have 4 windows on the tax disc holder then Neil!
Insurance, tax and ownership were the 3 shown. the C disc as Roy says was was on lorries.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

C licence....Carrier's Licence section 164 road traffic act 1960. Own Account carriage of goods.

Hire and reward required an A or a B licence. All were vehicle specific.

Neil's description exactly as I remember. The large 'C' was more or less the the circumference of the disc itself and the text enclosed within it.

There were only 2 discs in a double holder. 1965 -71 from my memory of the RTs that passed my school.

There are three "windows" on a standard RT/RM type holder, two out-facing, Insurance and tax disc, one in-facing for ownership certificate

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

I have several late 50s and 1960s tax discs and will scan them to the correct size when in my office next
Sixties one were Pink, Green or Blue and more or less the same colours till the rather stupid discontinuation.

I also remember seeing the large 'C' on a white disc in the second window on RTs when young and never know what the C meant. It was a White disc with a Black large C encapsulating some small print.

I do wish the DVLA had an option to print out a tax disc when one renews online so one could use it as a visual reminder.

Digressing slightly onto the theme of digitalisation:

Whilst I find online renewal 100% better than queuing in a post office and getting the usual cheery service,
A great many simply cannot use a computer safely or easily.
I met someone just a week ago who was a computer programmer and very savvy on the devices but her hands now have arthritis and the shakes and she can no longer use a keyboard or mouse effectively. She is only 66 but has been frozen out of all manner of digital things which we take for granted, especially council services.

The best line of all has to be from Ealing Council.
" If you have user difficulty or do not have online access, Go to www.ealing.gov.uk for help and advice. That advice suggests you use as an alternative...a smartfone or an internet cafe!!

Ealing's response is typical of the numpties who are totally out of touch with the real world. When my dad was alive, he phoned Sainsbury to ask if they had baked beans in stock. The assistant couldn't tell him but suggested he go on line. Dad was 85 and didn't even know what a computer looked like, let alone have the savvy to use one!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

I beg to differ, but three of us can't all be wrong.

I do remember clearly seeing that C in the second disc holder and never knowing what the C stood for. This was while still at School. I remember it simply because I could not fathom out what it stood for and never asked.

All the RTs in Hammersmith and Ealing had them. I can only speak for those areas as that's where I lived and went to school at the time.
I don't recall seeing it on lorries but being small then, the biggest thing accessible was the bus as it would stop beside oneself in the queue.

I hope this works. Others later.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RM 1585, RMC 1486 and several RTs

I ploughed through a load of old photographs and could not find anything either, - but there are very, very few pictures of that area of an RT or RM that show the disc holders or their contents clearly.
I also noticed that in several BEA/RMA shots that there is no holder visible at all. Was it placed somewhere else in those variants or absent simply by coincidence?

What I did find was a retired driver who does remember the C disc but also can't remember what it represented. He thinks thought it had something to do with the introduction of driver only vehicles and was the result of union demarcation. He thinks they were used for only a short time between 1967 and 1969-70ish

Also LTB and LTE changed insurers a few times and it could be a different insurance disc.
It may be an interim from the changes that formed London Country.

In the end, I found 2 pictures that look like the C disc. One on an RT and one on the front of an RF but they are so tiny they won't scan clearly enough to be sure. Both pictures date from late 1969.

Either way, like Jack and Neil, I do remember clearly seeing these discs and likewise often wondered what the C meant,
but I was way too young then probably to even understand if I did enquire!
They were on RTs on the 65/65A and 140 on the RMLs on the 207/207A and I think, the RMs on the 27 when they ran to Richmond. The only routes I travelled on regularly at the time.

It's funny the little things one remembers as 9 year old, but I can clearly remember the odd bus journey with an aunt out to Richmond on the 27 and to Kenton on the 140. The posters, the little fastening for the rear dustbin lids as it turned, the weather, the smell...and these C discs.

Going back even further my Grandfather took me several times to Acton Works...as a 5 and 6 year old!!
I can remember sitting in the foremans office with a giant cup of tea, overlooking the workshops and the experimental mock up shop for the Victoria Line. Being fascinated - and terrified, of the traversers. And hearing large bangs and flashes from faulty equipment being tested. To this day, I'm still terrified of 'Sarah Siddons' which I rode in several times a few years later when it was in his departments charge.
I wish I had a camera then!!

Can you imagine now what Health and Safety would say now? But it was quite common then and staff always spoilt you and kept a close eye and scare you witless about the dangers of electricity and flying bolts!!

I knew I had some old images somewhere!

There are now a few firms doing perfect replicas for every year since the 1920s both sides as well and even with a stamp of your choice.
Here's one, but there are others. http://www.poplargreg.com/taxdiscs/discs2.htm