Dennis Dominator - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The largest British customer of the Dennis Dominator was South Yorkshire PTE, with a total of 323 buses being delivered to the company. These included one trolleybus which was built in 1985 for test and evaluation. Many had Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and hub-reduction axles. Most of the SYPTE vehicles had standard-height Alexander RH-Type bodywork, these being delivered between 1981–1986, though some had East Lancs and Northern Counties bodywork.

The SYPTE Dominators were delivered in phases to replace ageing Fleetlines, Atlantean, Ailsa and others which were all on service from the early 1970s.

The final batch of Dominators delivered to Sheffield included 20 vehicles fitted with coach seats and were allocated to regionwide express services with the distinctive 'Fastline' branding.

The high standard of engineering led to the last Dominators in South Yorkshire only being withdrawn after service in Doncaster as late as 6 July 2006; a farewell running day to Sheffield's allocation having taken place on 25 June 2006. Dominator 2120 'KKU120W' celebrated its 25th year in service just before withdrawal and there are a number in active preservation around the region.

One Dominator (C221WAJ, originally supplied to Cleveland Transit) is still running today for Kingsley's of Washington as a school bus service or as a replacement bus service.

The Dominator also appealed to municipal operators such as Leicester City Transport who from 1977 bought 143, mainly with East Lancs bodies although seven had Marshall bodies, all of which were withdrawn from public service by 2005. It was also sold in reasonable numbers to Central Scottish from 1981 with Alexander low-height RL-type bodywork.

Production of the Dominator was less consistent after bus deregulation in 1986 with production being sporadic during the 1992–6 period. Eight were built in 1992; three in 1993; none in 1994 or 1995; and a final four built in 1996.

Preservation rallying sees a number of these buses, especially the Sheffield rally based usually the first or second Sunday in September at the Meadowhall shopping centre located at junction 34 of the M1. The trolleybus is located at the Sandtoft museum near Doncaster.