A bus trip down memory laneSep 21 2006
The 'glory bus' which carried our football heroes is to retire. David Higgerson reports
Daily Post
IT'S THE perfect gift for the soccer nut who has everything, the piece of football memorabilia money can't usually buy.
Until now. The bus company which operates the open-top bus which has carried players from both Liverpool and Everton on victory parades around the city's streets is due to be retired.
Arriva, which runs about 80% of services in Merseyside, has officially pensioned off its 1973 Leyland Atlantean 3980 open-top bus, currently based at the company's Southport depot.
The company now plans to sell the vehicle on, probably to a collector.
But it could attract interest from football enthusiasts, having played a key role in some of the best-remembered celebrations in recent years.
It was part of the parade which toured the city in 1984 to celebrate Everton's FA Cup success over Watford
It returned to the city's streets when Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1992, but has become a much more familiar sight, decked in red, since the turn of the new century.
In 2001, it joined in as Liverpool celebrated winning the Treble - Uefa Cup, League Cup and FA Cup - around the city.
It was also in the thick of the action when the streets around St George's Hall famously turned red as Liverpool FC celebrated being Champions of Europe last year, and then had a starring role earlier this year, when Liverpool lifted the FA Cup following a titanic struggle with West Ham.
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