A total of 11 Hestair Duple 425s joined the fleet during 1991.
231 was acquired from Ambassador Travel in January 1991 and 232-3 from Swanbrook, Cheltenham in February 1991, and were repainted into red Goldline Travel private hire livery before entering service.
241-8 joined the fleet in October 1991 with the purchase of The Bee Line's 'London Link' services from 1st October 1991. 241-3 had only just been purchased by The Bee Line from Alder Valley, and physically transferred directly from Alder Valley's Aldershot depot to Reading. 244-8 had worked from The Bee Line's Reading depot. All entered service in their former owner's livery, plus 'Reading-London-Link' branding on a yellow band.
241 is seen below at Mill Lane depot on 22nd November 1991. Thanks to Tony Cutler for this photo:
242 did not enter service until later in October as it was receiving accident repairs. At the time of acquisition 245 was away at Plaxtons for repairs to serious fire damage. Having departed The Bee Line on 8th September 1991 it returned to Reading Transport on 26th February 1992 prior to entering service in April. It was again damaged by fire just a month later and returned to Plaxtons for further repairs, returning in July 1992.
241-8 were repainted into blue 'London Line' livery between February and April 2002, with the vinyls applied in April.
244 and 247 were repainted into red Goldline Travel livery in April 1996 and transferred to Newbury on 20th April 1996 (247) and 26th (244).
231 was sold to Lister PVS, Bolton in January 1995, 232 to to Fleetmaster, Horsham in February 1996, 233/45/46 to Fleetmaster, Horsham in April 1996 respectively and 241-3/48 were returned to a leasing company in December 1992, February 1993, August 1993 and April 1995 respectively. 244/7 were withdrawn in April/March 1998 respectively.
233 is seen below at Showbus on 27th September 2009 with Gale Motors:
Following sale, 241 was modified to include a Plaxton Profile front bumper. It is seen below at Showbus on 27 September 2009 with Trekkers:
247 was with Barkerbus, Harlow, Essex by January 2008 where it was reregistered NUI 9050. By August 2011 it had passed to Sovereign Travel of Odsal, Bradford, West Yorkshire with whom it is seen below in Bury St Edmunds on 27th August 2011. Thanks to David Slater for this photo:
