LONDON'S famous red Routemaster buses are being replaced by a state-of-the-art fleet rolling out of a Blackburn factory.

East Lancashire Coachbuilders, based on Whitebirk Industrial Estate, will this week release the first of 55 new buses London United has bought to use on its routes.

The order -- worth £4.5million to 70-year-old East Lancashire Coachbuilders -- is the first the company has secured from London United, which operates many of the capital's routes on behalf of Mayor Ken Livingstone's Transport for London group.

The first bus was officially handed over by Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw at an open day on Saturday.

London United engineering director, Les Birchley, said: "We are committed to delivering an outstanding passenger service to the communities we serve and are investing heavily as a result.

"We are very pleased with the service we have received from ELC and these buses will help improve the quality of service people experience."

The arrival of the Disability Discrimination Act has sounded the death-knell for the traditional Routemaster buses, because they only have step access at the back of the bus.

Those buses are seen by tourists as being much a part of London life as Big Ben and Beefeaters outside the Tower of London, featuring in hundreds of movies and TV shows.

The new fleet allows for disabled access and includes CCTV cameras, comfortable seats and low exhaust emissions.

They are similar to the new double-decker buses Blackburn Transport began running last year and 36 will be used on the Shepherds Bush-Clapham junction, with another 19 running between Mill Hill Broadway and Ruislip.

John Horn, sales director at ELC, said: "This is a big order for us and hopefully the first of many from London United.

"The buses they are replacing are a part of London life but these new ones have been designed with comfort and safety in mind.

"The buses we build are now all over the world."

As well as London, buses built by ELC are now operating routes across Europe and Asia. When France last won the European Championships in 2000, the bus which carried the jubilant team on a tour of honour around Paris was built by ELC.

Mr Horn said: "Our orders can be for just one bus or a whole fleet and they really are across the world, from Blackburn to Hong Kong."