25/02/2013

Thatcher NI-Tour Bus Sells At Auction

A vehicle collector has paid nearly £17,000 for an armour-plated bus used by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during a visit to Northern Ireland in the 1980s.

The 'blast-proof' bus, weighing 28-tonnes, was purchased on Thursday night at Northamptonshire-based JP Humbert Auctioneers.

It sold for £16,940, way over the original £10,000 estimate.

The 35-seater bus has 17,398 miles on the clock.

It has a Foden chassis, a body by Glover and Webb and a 12-litre Rolls-Royce engine.

At the time it was believed to be chemical, biological and nuclear-proof.

"There was immense interest in the bus," Jonathan Humbert from Northamptonshire-based JP Humbert Auctioneers told UTV.

"It sold to a spontaneous round of applause in the saleroom.

"This isn't a good-looking vehicle by any stretch of the imagination - but it is of social and historical interest.

"It is an irreplaceable one-off, an iron bus for the Iron Lady."

(GK)

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