1980: BATTLE of the BUSES | The Risk Business | Retro Transport | BBC Archive

The double-decker bus is as British an institution as fish and chips or cricket, and, as the British Empire expanded, so did the market for these peculiarly British products. Today, the United Kingdom satisfies 90 per cent of the world's demand for double-decker buses.

But, as the world energy crisis expands, Britain's supremacy in the market is under threat. At home, Government policy looks set to reduce demand for new double-deckers and whilst British manufacturers work out how to handle that crisis, other manufacturers from all over the world are gearing up to meet the challenge. Confident that everyone needs more rather than fewer double-deckers, both the Swedes and the Germans are now developing plans to bring their double-deckers to Britain.

Judith Hann and Michael Rodd investigate why Britain's new generation of super double-deckers face problems, report on the new tactics of Britain's global competitors and meet the British bus operators who say they may have to buy foreign buses.

Clip taken from The Risk Business: The Clash of the Titans, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 21 May, 1980.

You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.

Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive

You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website