Southern Vectis Poole, and Solent Blue Line in Southampton. The new operations used older Southern Vectis buses and second-hand double-deckers. Southern Vectis also moved into other business areas on the isle of Wight. The company bought a self-drive van hire firm. It also bought two Ford Granada taxis, which it ran from the Cowes pontoon and began taxibus services which continued till 1989. In 2003, Southern Vectis started "The Pink Peril", a pink bus designed to take students to and from school. The vehicle, an Iveco minibus (fleet number 283) was the oldest in the fleet. In July 2005, Southern Vectis and
Britain (place name) linguist Karl Schmidt states that the "name of the island was originally transmitted as Πρεττανία (with Π instead of Β) ... as is confirmed by its etymology". According to Barry Cunliffe: Following Julius Caesar's expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC, "Brit(t)an(n)ia" was predominantly used to refer simply to the island of Great Britain. After the Roman conquest under the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, it came to be used to refer to the Roman province of Britain (later two provinces), which at one stage consist of part of the island of Great Britain south of Hadrian's wall.