MidlandRed.net

This is parked by the Mardyke in Bristol. The background was still a building site when I lived down there 20 years later but it’s barely recognisable now

That was always a nightmare in my mind when driving fully-loaded coaches, how the hell would you hold it straight at 62 MPH on a motorway (70 MPH + before speed limiters) if the wheel and hub flew off like this? The location of the photograph suggests that the coach was only travelling slowly so hopefully no bystanders were hurt as a heavy wheel and tyre could roll some way and cause quite a lot of damage.

A retired Worcester engineer reminded me that 1005 was renowned as a very fast coach because it was fitted with a ZF 6 speed auto gearbox where the rest of the batch 'only' had a 5 speed Leyland Hydracyclic auto gearbox. I managed a few turns using the 5 speed Tigers and they were smooth and well capable of the legal limit, but I am told that 1005 didn't change up into top gear (overdrive?) until 65 MPH was reached. The mind boggles if that wheel had came off when the full speed potential was being used.

This is true. I still remember my first drive in it... I was out-of-service to Feckenham to work Service 353 to Worcester, and on the long straight section of Hanbury Road I decided to see what it could do. As the needle effortlessly past the 60mph mark I started to back off and to my surprise it suddenly found another gear. Too fast for that road, but I later discovered it would happily go "off the clock" on the Droitwich bypass!