open rear entrance and a front exit with doors. The open platform did not work well with an underfloor-engined bus and as in Sheffield, Edinburgh, Pontypridd and West Bromwich, the Bournemouth buses were converted to front entrance layout. Manchester Corporation started a spell as a Burlingham customer with the purchase of a batch of split-level coaches for its airport service: the first six were on Leyland Royal Tiger chassis in 1953 and, like the contemporary British European Airways' AEC Regal IVs, carried the roof line from the raised rear passenger section through to the front of the bus. Of this batch three were completed at Blackpool and the other three were sent as framed chassis to be finished by S. H. Bond of Wythenshawe. Three similar bodies came on Tiger Cub chassis in 1956. Manchester then took double-deck bodies which were similar to the mid-1950s Ribble outline but highbridge with a more upright front to fit the maximum number of seats in a 27-foot-long bus. These were taken on 62 BUT 9612T trolleybuses and 80 Daimler CVG6 and Leyland Titan PD2 buses. Ribble's mid-1950s design had a sliding rear platform door. After the large order in 1949/50 Blackpool took no more new buses until 1956, when it took five rear-entrance Titans with full fronts. These were highbridge with open platform but of similar styling to the Ribble vehicles. The single-deck body was developed for lighter-weight underfloor-engined chassis such as the Leyland Tiger Cub, AEC Reliance and Guy Arab LUF from 1953. For urban operators starting to experiment with driver-only operation a centre exit door was optionally available, this was specified by Sunderland and Reading Corporation amongst others. In 1956 double-deckers were allowed to be as long as single-deckers (30 ft or 9.2m), and a double-decker could now seat 72. Ribble were immediately attracted to the idea and placed 105 Burlingham 72-seat highbridge bodies on Titan PD3/4 chassis into service during 1957/58. These had full fronts and a sliding entry door just behind the front wheel. Wolverhampton Corporation took one identical body on a Guy Arab IV whilst another but with half-cab and exposed radiator went to Samuel Morgan of Armthorpe Yorkshire. Scout Motor Services bought 5 PD3s similar to the Ribble models in 1958/59 but with half-cabs, these buses passing to Ribble upon their purchase of the Scout business in 1961. Sunderland District Omnibus Co took a batch of 13