From Ensign at Grays, SM106 was sold in August 1979 to Deeble & Son of Upton Cross, Liskeard, Cornwall who operated school buses as part of their Caradon Riviera Tours business. The left-hand photo below shows a very shiny SM106, presumably not long after moving to Cornwall. This company also took SM479, a strange duo for that part of the world. Despite what Mr. Keith Deeble reports as trouble-free operation, SM106 stayed only until December 1980 before sale to Raymond Dinner, trading as Launceston Car Hire.

The relationship with the Deebles is unknown. The right-hand photo above shows her in Launceston town with two fleet names: Caradon Riviera Tours on the side (added since the first photo) and Launceston Car Hire on the front. Some years elapse between the two lower photos, as the chrome wheel trims have been lost and wear and tear has 'accumulated'. My guess is that the rear view dates from between April 1984 when the keeper's address changed (the legend on the rear engine cover reads TOWN BUS SERVICE and No.1 White Hart Arcade) and July 1986 when the bus was recorded as being repainted in 'red/cream' livery. The depot could well be on the Scarne Indusrial Estate, which was a new address notifed in October 1986. The depot is obviously an open yard, with Fry's Bedford coach and a curtain-side trailer for company. Although livery-change details appear in the DVLA records, little evidence has come to light in the way of photographs, although patches of red and yellow paint were found on the front roof dome.

In August 1989 the vehicle was sold to Blue Lake Coaches of Chichester, and operated in a cream/blue livery. I have been told that SM106 was obtained to replace a truly awful example of a Leyland National - which would be an amusing reversal of the regular trend of the previous decade! Here the duties were a bit more demanding: more or less exclusive operation on local services 59 (note the destination painted on the glass of the front box) in Chichester and 243 in Bognor Regis, which were tendered to West Sussex County Council, so the DiPTAC-compliant modifications were ultimately a condition for operation. The interesting thing about this set of photographs is the way that small modifications appear progressively, such as panelling over the foglamps and ventilation air-intakes, and modification to make the ungainly, lowered, two-step front entrance. What a relief that the centre exit doors were not removed!

Sadly, other modifications were made inside, such as providing low-level bell-pushes by grinding slots into the vertical grab-rails and the perverse removal of the luggage-pen handrail which is unique to these PRV-bodied country area Swifts. Orange, knobbly coating for improved visibility and grip was applied to handrails throughout the bus. A rather gruesome "Bus Stopping" indicator was also fitted below the destination blind box, making a large hole in a very complex metal pressing, and the normal signal-bell was removed. The colour scheme was revised dramatically, and all the grey Rexine painted over or ripped off. Ghastly yellow on the chequer-plate completed a pretty uncool make-over.

During her stay in Chichester there were a couple of changes of ownership recorded - Tramcourt Ltd. and Kelvin Waites - but always trading as Blue Lake Coaches. By 1996, she was in a pleasant blue livery, but apparently out of use and used as informal sleeping accommodation for local dossers. Keith Wright has some pictures taken after she was pushed round the side of the garage.

Photographs taken at the recovery of SM106 (right, above) by the RM835 group who purchased her for preservation show that she was then located at the depot of Emsworth & District at Southbourne. No such transfer was ever registered with DVLA, although it has been suggested that she was driveable at the time. I am indebted to Mick Overton, erstwhile owner of no fewer than 3 SM vehicles (simultaneously) in the late 1980's, for some interesting information about this period in the 'end-game' of the London Swift.

Certain operators became synonymous with the type in those later years. Both Emsworth & District and Hants & Sussex were famed for their reliance upon the Swift and Merlin, and it was plain that there would always be a requirement for spare parts. Enter SMS441, which was destined to become donor of an engine to SMS637, a gearbox to SM106 and a body to a chap who was setting up a cafe! However, it didn't appear to turn out that way, perhaps because the contract for which SMS637 was destined did not come to fruition. The key to the question might be the state of the engine from SMS637, which I now own as a spare for SM106! Perhaps the really awful scenario would have been the breaking of SM106 instead - but by that time Basil Williams' Hants & Sussex operation had been put off the road by the Traffic Commissioners and the game had changed.