The Dennis Dorchester was a mid-engined heavy-duty single deck coach or bus chassis manufactured by Dennis in small numbers between 1983 and 1988. About two thirds of the total number built were bought by

Scottish Bus Group The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland. The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the Scottish Motor Traction company, which were transferred to S ...

subsidiaries

Western Scottish Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This successor company is no ...

Central Scottish Central Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Central SMT, and operated until July 1989 when it was merged with Kelvin Scottish to form Kelvin Central Buses. Operation Fr ...

and

Clydeside Scottish Clydeside Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd. The company operated until May 1989, when it was remerged with Western Scottish, the successor co ...

. These consisted of 23 with

Plaxton Paramount The Plaxton Paramount was a design of coach bodywork built by Plaxton. It first appeared at the 1982 British Motor Show and was built until 1992. In its more common single deck form it replaced the Supreme V and Viewmaster IV, and was replac ...

coach bodywork, and 21 with

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

bodywork, with each of the three T-type variants represented — five each of the TS service bus and TE express semi-coach, and eleven of the TC full coach. Leicester City Transport bought three Dorchester coaches with Plaxton Paramount bodywork, but sold them fairly quickly to Kingston-upon-Hull City Transport, which also bought one new.

South Yorkshire Transport South Yorkshire Transport (SYT) was a bus operator that provided services around South Yorkshire and outlying areas. The company was formed as an 'arms-length' successor of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) in 1986, whic ...

also took on three similar vehicles. Of the Dorchester customers in the independent sector, Geoff Amos of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

included three high-capacity bus versions among their five examples, two with

Wadham Stringer Wadham Stringer was an English ambulance and bus manufacturer. History Wadham Stringer was formed when Wadham merged with Stringer Motors in 1968. It was a distributor for Morris cars and British Leyland commercial vehicles. It also was an Aus ...

bodywork and one with

Reeve Burgess Reeve Burgess was a bus body manufacturer based in Pilsley, North East Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of Plaxton from 1980 until its closure in 1991. History The original company known as Harry Reeve was founded in Bridg ...

bodywork, all with 71 seats. Tillingbourne Bus Company also purchased two 61-seat Wadham Stringer-bodied buses. Other body manufacturers for the Dorchester were Duple (five, including the sole export Dorchester, for South Africa),

Caetano Caetano is a Portuguese given name and surname derived from Latin ''Caietanus''. It also appears in Lusophone place names named after Saint Cajetan (''São Caetano'' in Portuguese). People with the given name Caetano * Caetano Prósperi Calil, ...

(two coaches which made up the remainder of the Amos contingent), and Berkhof (one vehicle).Duple progress
''Commercial Motor'' 3 September 1983

References

{{Dennis, state=collapsed Dorchester Vehicles introduced in 1983 Bus chassis