Lockeys of West Auckland

F.Lockey, North Bridge Garage, St Helen's Auckland.

Interesting Independents are disappearing far too quickly for my liking. It seemed at one time not too long ago every large village seemed to have it's own small coach or even bus operator and Bishops Auckland in the County of Durham was no exception, indeed this area in the Durham Coalfield could boast a whole wealth of small private bus operators. F.Lockey was quite small with if I remember rightly only about fifteen vehicles but some of them were certainly interesting like the beautifully maintained former London Transport RTL in the background. A much newer Leyland was this Alexander bodied Atlantean that started life as LA 345 with Glasgow Corporation in 1967 who were a major buyer of the type. This photo was taken in about 1980 not too long before Lockey's sold out to it's much bigger and more famous Independent neighbour just down the road in Bishops Auckland proper called OK Motor Services.