Southcoast Motor Services

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Our open-top bus at Devil's Dyke, Sussex.

Bus Industry Awards and Service 77.

During each summer from 2000 - 2005 inclusive, we operated on the traditional open-top bus route 77 between Brighton and Devil’s Dyke, high in the Sussex South Downs. Using our 1960s double-deck buses under the “Breeze Up to Devil’s Dyke” banner, the operation proved to be an outstanding success.

The “Breeze Up to Devil’s Dyke" Partnership Project was a finalist three times in the national Bus Industry Awards ‘Buses for Pleasure' category. This awarded schemes which encouraged or promoted the use of registered local bus services by tourists or visitors, to areas, attractions, towns or cities and between 2000 & 2003 the partnership received the three awards shown below.

Without the full and active support of the Countryside Agency, National Trust, Sussex Downs Conservation Board, Brighton & Hove Council and many generous volunteers, we simply could not have achieved this success.

Time moves on and we now no longer operate on service 77. However, full details of the present day operation can be found at Brighton & Hove Council

Junior magazine photo-shoot

The September 2000 edition of Junior magazine featured six charming full page colour stills taken to display an up-market range of children's clothes and fashion accessories, using one of our vehicles as a backdrop.

Photographed in Stanmer Park near Brighton, the images depicted the models in or next to our 1967 'Panoramic' double deck bus number 350 and was based on a theme of 'Special school outfits for fun days out'.

Junior magazine

Images by Ulla Nyeman.

First open-top bus to use Le Shuttle?

Royal Mail commemorative stamps.

This picture below, taken on Sunday 13 August 1995, shows our 1964 open top bus 406 (at the time temporarily registered WRU702B), emerging from one of the Euro-tunnel Shuttle vehicles in France.

According to staff on site, 406 is believed to have been the first open top bus in preservation to have made the journey 'under the sea' using the then newly built tunnels. The bus was on an outing for family and friends to St Omer - for lunch!

In May 2001, the advanced design of our 1967 double-deck bus was recognised by The Royal Mail with the issue of a special set of commemorative stamps. Featuring UK double deck buses through various decades, Royal Mail were keen to include our bus 350 regarding it as being a fine example of 1960s design.

The bus was one of only 16 vehicles chosen from across the UK which were shown ‘lined up’ over the set of 5 stamps. The stamp featuring 350 is shown below.

Rare visit to an old haunt.

Over the first weekend of September 2007, two of our vehicles (406 & 350) revisited the former Southdown bus garage at Worthing, West Sussex. Now owned by Stagecoach Group, the garage is one of the last remaining sizeable structures still extant from the days of the former Southdown operation. It is highly likely that both of these vehicles visited the garage many times during their years with Southdown. The buses are seen garaged in Worthing as part of their involvement with the 2007 Goodwood Revival.

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