Wigan Album
Wigan Parish Church
3 CommentsPhoto: Nadine
Item #: 17411
That is one of the old Greater Manchester Ford Transit police vans on the left.
They were pale blue with white front doors. You can just make out the Police stop lamp over the rear doors.
I'd heard that the old Bluecoat School building on the left, just outside the church gates, had once been used as a garage for Police cars. In my mind I pictured this as being back in the days of little black Morris Minors - but it looks as if Transits were being serviced there in this pic.
I think the van may have been one belonging to Lancashire County Police. Although Greater Manchester Police took over policing for Wigan in 1974, for some reason Lancashire County Police maintained an office in Gerrard Winstanley House in Crawford St. Probably connected with the fact that there were County Court Offices in the same building. I seem to recall that the building immediately in front of the van was used to garage Lancashire Police vehicles, but I may be wrong on that one.