48 The London Bus
Dorset Engineering, a company
formed to take over the state-
owned Hants & Dorset bus
company’s central workshops in
Southampton.
Although focusing initially on
interior trim, it branched out
into bodywork and was bought
by the Go-Ahead Group in 2006,
becoming part of its Go South
Coast subsidiary. The same year
it acquired a paint shop operated
by FirstGroup in Eastleigh and
subsequently expanded into
additional premises on the same
site, allowing the Southampton
operation to close.
Today Hants & Dorset Trim
has space to accommodate over
25 vehicles at a time and has a
two-booth paintshop. Current
throughput is between eight and
10 buses in an average week,
with around 75% of its work
being for Transport for London
operators.
On arrival at Eastleigh, the
company assesses the condition
of the vehicle. All damaged
panels, internal and external, will
be replaced and where necessary
these will be fabricated on site. Acommon issue with service buses
is that minor damage has been
subject to ad hoc repairs by the
operating garage, which while
quick, cheap and perfectly safe, is
not attractive.
The coatings on handrails can
become badly chipped though
day-to-day wear and tear.
Although some operators use
either paint or powder coatings
on these, Transport for London
insists upon nylon coating,
which is more resilient.
Hants & Dorset Trim has
recently completed the
refurbishment of nearly 200
buses for Tower Transit. These
were new to First London and
the work carried out included
replacing the lilac FirstGroup bell
pushes. A new floor covering is
applied along with a non-slip ‘tile’
to delineate the wheelchair bay.
Door draught excluders
are another item that simply
wears out and, again, these
are replaced. Additionally, if
not already fitted, LED lightswill be fitted to the saloon and
destination display; they are
cheaper to maintain and more
reliable than fluorescent tubes
and form part of Transport for
London’s requirement.
All seat cushions are removed
and the seat frames either
repainted or replaced as
necessary. Any graffiti will be
removed and etched windows
replaced. As befits its name,
Hants & Dorset Trim is
something of a leader in seat
repairs and its trim shop is able
to process over 1,000 units a
week. In addition to having
precision cutting equipment
for moquette fabric, it also has
a foam press able to mould new
seat cushions with accuracy. A
crucial aspect of Transport for
London’s refurbishment standard
is ensuring that seats meet the
BS7175 Crib 7 fire retardant test.
Drivers are not overlooked
either. Refurbished buses are
fitted with new seats to the
latest standards, which includeModernising London’s buses
ABOVE: Wright-
bodied double-
deckers of
Go-Ahead and
Arriva undergoing
refurbishment at
Hants & Dorset Trim.
MIDDLE: Hants
& Dorset Trim
working on
vehicles being kept
in London and
on others being
sold for service
elsewhere.
BELOW: New
drivers’ seats
are part of the
package.