According to research by the DVLA, over a quarter of motorists have named their car, so now major UK bus parts company and leading supplier of coach parts, Imperial Engineering, aims to find out if the same is true within the PSV sector.
Car names
For cars, ‘Doris’, ‘Dave’, ‘Henry’, ‘Betsy’ and ‘Bumble’ were popular choices with the largest proportion of those who said they named their car coming from the East Midlands (28%). The DVLA survey of 2,000 motorists found that women were almost twice as likely to give their car a name as men (65% and 35% respectively) with the majority of people who said they name their cars aged between 55 and 64. The make, model, colour and ‘general look’ of the car were common reasons given for the choice of name with Ford, Vauxhall, Toyota and BMW being the brands of vehicle most frequently given a name.
Naming of trucks
In the commercial haulage industry, the naming of trucks has even developed into something of a cult status. For example, one of the UK’s biggest logistics firms, Eddie Stobart, has its own ‘spotters club’ for its fleet of LGVs, all of which have been bestowed with female names. Similarly, in both the shipping and aviation sectors, the naming of ships and aircraft respectively has been the norm since time immemorial with naming ceremonies extending all the way to Royalty.
Naming of buses and coaches?
So now, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of coach parts, Imperial Engineering, is investigating whether, as a general rule, the bus and coach sector does have a tendency to ‘humanise’ its fleet. There are some operators which already do this, notably Nottingham City Transport, which started naming its buses after people who have made a major contribution to Nottingham life. Similarly, National Express West Midlands has over 1600 buses and many of them carry the christian names of daughters, granddaughters, mothers, grandmothers or aunties of its drivers.
Hertfordshire based bus parts company, Imperial Engineering is inviting bus and coach operators to step forward if they have named any of their vehicles. John Dwight, Sales Director for the bus parts specialist, commented:
“Given how much society depends on motorised transport, it’s not surprising that many of us have taken to naming our cars, whilst it’s an historic tradition within maritime and aviation circles. Buses and coaches are the lifeblood of many public transport businesses throughout the UK, carrying millions of passengers for both commuting and leisure purposes, so it follows that operators and drivers may well attach names to them.”
John also added that “Over the next few weeks, we’re conducting our own informal research and inviting contributions via Imperial Engineering’s social media channels, so we hope businesses will join in.”
Join in and tell us your bus and coach names:
To log the name of your bus or coach, visit bus parts and coach parts supplier Imperial’s LinkedIn or Twitter pages.
Amanda Ogelsby was the first female Nottingham City Transport bus driver to be crowned NCT Driver of the Year and won the title in 2015. She is pictured with ‘her’ bus and the former Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councilor Jackie Morris.
