How did we end up in Northern France?

The story of why four bus enthusiasts from Southampton travelled to Northern France started in September 2013, when at the monthly meeting of the Trust one of our members Paul said whilst on a shipping holiday in Northern France he thought he saw what looked like an old Southampton bus being used as a pizza bar. Sadly it was not open when he was there but he noted down its chassis number; that being 2D3RA1052. After some research by Tom it was traced to 314 – 314 AOW which was last known to have gone to France in April 1976 to Hotel Cristal in St. Etienne.

(314 - 314 AOW in Southampton City Centre)

Luckily Paul had taken some photos of the bus and once they were developed more information about its use was able to be found and it turned out to be used by Popote Urbaine which in English means Urban Meals. Due to a number of reasons it was kept quiet that 314 was still going strong in Northern France and a trip was planned for the end of November where the four would visit the bus in Northern France. Contact was made with the owner of 314 where we surprised them with the information that the bus they were using was originally from Southampton.
 

On Saturday 30^th November the trip to see 314 started early and the first stage was to travel from Southampton to the port of Dover to catch the P&O ferry to Calais. Arriving in Dover early just before 9am, we were lucky to be able to get on an earlier ferry as originally we weren’t going to leave England until 10:15. We were quickly loaded onto the P&O Spirit of France ferry and left at 9:25am. Due to the difference in time zones we arrived in France at around 12am (11am GMT) and made our way through Calais to where 314 was located.

One thing that is very different when driving in France in comparison to driving in England is that we were driving on the wrong side of the road to what we are used to. As we left Calais; making sure of course we were driving on the right side of the road, we pulled over for a quick break and to call the owner of 314 so when we arrived at the location there was someone there to meet us. As we drove through the French countryside we arrived at the city where we needed to be. Making our way through the city we found 314 in a car park alongside the docks.

(314 - 314 AOW in 2013)

After a few months when 314 was found, we had made it to her and finally met her owner Jess whom we had been in contact with. Jess allowed us to have a good look at 314 which is in remarkably good condition. A lot of work has been done to make it a pizza bus but there are still bits in her from when she was a bus in Southampton. Downstairs is used as the cooking area and upstairs is used as a seating area. We presented the owner with an original number plate 314 AOW. During our time in the city we enjoyed a meal and then started the long trip home to Southampton. A quick stop was had in Calais for some duty free, and again we were lucky to catch an earlier ferry and arrived back in England just before 6:00pm. Sadly there are no plans to bring 314 back to Southampton at the moment as it's owner is very happy with it. More information about 314 can be found Here.

 

(Tom and Charnie present Jess with an original number plate)