Blackpool’s Flexity2 003 is back in fleet livery for the first time in over five years after its advertising vinyls for Pretty Little Thing were removed. The change to the tram occurred in the first full week of December and the tram was back in service by 10th December in the current purple and white fleet livery carried by the Flexity2 fleet.
003 is one of six Flexity2s which have carried adverts (of 18, so a third) with this design for Pretty Little Thing having been applied back in August 2018. At the same time sister 016 received an identical advert and it too is looking set to remove its vinyls soon as well.
Blackpool weren’t the only tramway in the UK to see ads for Pretty Little Thing – Stagecoach Supertram also had two (111 and 118) and these are still in place, albeit in a revised design from the original. These first appeared in April 2018. Meanwhile, Manchester Metrolink 3103 also had an ad for the company from October 2019-February 2021.
With 003’s advert having been removed (and 016’s following) it now means that 012 is the only tram with a full advert. This is for Pleasure Beach and was added in August 2023.
Back in fleet livery again, 003 heads along Queens Promenade. (Photograph by Michael Morton, 10th December 2023)
003 was seen within Starr Gate Depot late November without the Pretty Little Thing vinyls