The vehicle was one of those rescued by Dan Shears at the 11th hour when storage was lost in the Bournemouth area and taken for safety to his premises at Winkleigh in North Devon.

Following a request to him regarding a possible loan of the Leopard (to be offset by restorative work), it came to Reliance Bus Works in the care of Martyn Hearson and Tim Machin in 2012.

Initial works centered around making the bus properly roadworthy and giving it a deep clean. In 2020 the seats were removed and re-trimmed in a joint project with Dan Shears. Whilst the seats were out, all glazing rubber was replaced. Between those two dates, the bus was externally re-painted also. CRU 103C still resides in the Stoke on Trent area and is active on the preservation scene.

Although smaller, the resultant conversion proved a success. 55 was the only bus in the Corporation's Roadliner fleet to be so converted (effectively becoming an SRP8) and with it became head and shoulders more reliable than its siblings. Of the batch, it was the one chosen to be put aside for future preservation.

55 was another of the buses rescued by Dan Shears and a similar request for its loan, like 103, to myself and Tim Machin was met by a favourable reply. Restoration began and it wasn't too long before 55 was making its presence known in and around Stoke on Trent (a spiritual Roadliner home . . . but that's another story!). In a remarkably generous move, I (Martyn Hearson) was gifted 55 by Dan Shears for my 55th birthday and the bus has remained active in North Staffordshire since. It has also made two round trips to Bournemouth and the surrounding area in that time without incident, each one being over 450 miles.