Title: Hants & Dorset –A National Bus Company Author: Michael Hitchen Publisher: Amberley Publishing ISBN: 978-1-3981-0456-3 Specification: 235mm x 165mm,96pp, softback Price: £15.99

If there is a general perception of state-owned buses in England and Wales, it is of rigid standardisation of livery, operating practices and, above all, vehicles: Bristol chassis, ECW bodies, Leyland National integrals and Leyland Leopard coaches. Hants & Dorset had all of that, but also considerable vehicular variety. Other types were bought new, acquired with the takeover of independents, transferred from sister fleets or purchased secondhand.