What are the best and worst bus operators in the UK?

[LancasterRed]

Whats so bad about them?
The fleet has clearly had lots of investment e.g newer buses on the 11A/11C (Outer Circle), 4/4A/6 and Platinum Routes.
Some routes have had big frequency increases, e.g University routes from irregular midi buses to frequent platinum double decks, Bromford also from single decks to more double decks (increased number of buses per hour) and more express buses on the Coventry Rd (X1/X2). There are some key routes still using older 16 year old vehicles, such as 55/94 and 97, but i'm sure they'll see investment one day.

Only main negatives are some routes suffer from regular overcrowding (e.g 11) and some main road routes frequently carry passengers smoking while on the bus. Overall I wouldn't say they are paticularly bad from my experience of using them everyday.

You definitely have more experience - mine has never been positive (except the X1 which is great) so it's just luck of the draw.

Also one that I missed. The Blackburn Bus Company, especially around Accrington. Clean, modern buses with fast WiFi and USB ports. The company that should be the benchmark for all others.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In my personal opinion these are the worst bus operators i have used in the UK (and i have used all of them multiple times)

I'm going for "BLUFF"

I'd take all this with a huge pinch of salt. The OP must be a person of at least twice my age and spend every waking hour on buses to have personal opinions on so many companies in different areas.

Absolutely - don't believe that this person has managed to travel on every single Go Ahead subsidiary multiple times to form such an opinion.

Similarly, I find it difficult to believe that there isn't a lot of other people making judgements based on what they've read or simple prejudice or personal antipathy (like the hatred of Transdev). Certainly, I don't think it's based on actually travelling on multiple vehicles!!

The love for Arriva Southern Counties is hilarious, based on my experience of seeing them in Woking. The 436 being operated by a former Southend Versa where you could see traces of the former Wave branding, and a 12 year old Citaro with the front in Max blue with branding crudely removed. The 34, instead of being worked by Max branded vehicles, had standard 11 year old enviros.

FWIW, and this based on my limited travels in the last two years:

Good: Falcon Buses, Pulhams, Stagecoach West, First Cymru, Yarrantons, Go North East, Damory, First Kernow, Arriva Yorkshire, Star Travel (Yorks), Stagecoach Cumberland, Border Buses, RATP (Bath), CT Plus (Bristol), Centrebus, Thamesdown, Salisbury Reds, First Hampshire, Bluestar, Stagecoach Cymru, White Bus (Berks), Stagecoach Yorkshire, Coachstyle (Wilts)

Fair to Middlin': Arriva North East, Edwards Coaches (Pemb), Edwards Bros (Pemb), Stagecoach Transit, Swanbrook, Stagecoach Oxfordshire, Nippy Bus, First WoE, First West Yorkshire, Stagecoach Busways, Arriva Northumbria, South West Coaches, Faresaver (Wilts), Stagecoach South (Hants), Cardiff Bus, Astons (Worcs), First Midland Red, First Berkshire, Stagecoach Manchester, Stagecoach MSL (Wigan), Arriva North West, Stagecoach Lincolnshire, TM Travel, Stagecoach East Midland, Carmel (Som)

Not great: First Manchester, First South Yorkshire, Dales and District, R&B Travel, Stagecoach Midlands, Buses of Somerset, Yorkshire Tiger, Abus (Bristol), CT Plus (Sth Yorks), New Adventure Travel, Harris (Caerphilly), Hallmark, Arriva Southern Counties (Guildford),

Terrible: Diamond (Worcs), Wessex,

 

[Belperpete]

It must be at least fifteen years since I've been on a Trent Barton service, but I do hear the point being made here. Buuuut ... is that all ruined when a branded vehicle runs on the "wrong" route, or when a "plain" vehicle is sent out on a branded route? Or does Trent Barton somehow ensure that this never - or hardly ever - happens?

They seem to keep a small pool of unbranded buses to cover for failures. In which case, you can see that it is a Trent bus, and you are reliant on the route number and destination display. I should point out that with Trent, the buses still carry their route numbers/letters and destination blinds in addition to the branding.
The only time I have experienced a bus with the wrong brand was when they put a Royal (named after the hospital) bus on the sevens route. As these are midibus routes, I suspect they have a smaller pool of unbranded midibuses. But as the two routes come nowhere near one another, there was no confusion.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I don't use buses often, but regardless I'll give a rundown of what I personally think of the bus operators which I have actually used.

Starting off with the bus operator I have had the most experience with, Arriva Merseyside:

Arriva Merseyside
Rating: Good
- Drivers are usually very friendly and helpful, although that could be said about most people in Liverpool.
- Buses have always been very clean and well presented when I've used them.
- I've never had timing or reliability issues with them - they've always turned up on time.

Moving onto some bus companies I have had slightly less experience with, starting with Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire, which I have admittedly only used a few times to get to Southport and back:

Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire
Rating: Good
- Drivers seemed friendly and were happy to give advice when needed.
- Buses were clean and well presented.
- Again, I haven't had any reliability issues with them.

First Bristol, Bath & The West
Rating: Satisfactory
- Drivers were generally friendly, however a few drivers I encountered seemed to really hate their job.
- Buses were clean and well presented.
- Timetables were hard to rely on - reliability was mediocre.

Arriva Kent and Surrey
Rating: Bad
- As much as I hate to say it, 90% of the drivers I have encountered on Arriva Kent and Surrey have been (sorry if I offend anyone) quite grumpy and again, seem to hate their jobs. Conversely, the bus station information centre staff are lovely though!
- The condition of buses has gradually improved over time, however they're still occasionally dirty and/or need some love. Some Arriva Kent and Surrey buses I have used a within the past few years, however, have been absolutely filthy.
- Reliability isn't too much of an issue from my experience, but I have had multiple occasions where the buses have turned up quite late.

First South Yorkshire
Rating: Satisfactory
- Drivers were decent, generally helpful but not exceptionally friendly.
- Buses were clean, however some seemed to be in quite poor condition.
- They've always been on time when I've used them.

Scottish Citylink
Rating: Good
- Drivers have always been very friendly and good at giving advice.
- Buses have always been clean and in good condition.
- I've had a few experiences where the buses have turned up late, but usually no longer than 10 minutes, however I think they're good considering they're an intercity bus operator.

A few other honorable mentions for smaller bus companies which I rate good:

- Safeguard Coaches
- Cumfybus
- Newbury & District

 

[satisnek]

I haven't travelled widely on buses all over the country so I can't really say what's good and bad, except that the companies serving my two bases are polar opposites!

I've found Trentbarton to be very good - reliable, clean, friendly drivers, evening services and, for off-peak/weekend travel, cheap (a return journey to Derby hits the Mango cap, so anything on from there - Red Arrow to Nottingham, sixes to Bakewell, Comet to Chesterfield, etc. - is effectively free!). I can see the point about all the different route liveries being confusing, but I've never had any problem. However, I don't think they help themselves by including services like Derby Skylink on their website - it's not one of their services and Mango isn't valid, but you wouldn't know unless you read the small print or get on the bus and try it! Incidentally, my local service has lost its 'villager' branding and is now just plain V3.

All of this is in total contrast to the Wacky Races in and around Kidderminster. Believe me, there's more to it than wheels falling off and the odd fire. There's no homogenised fleet - just buses of all shapes, sizes, ages and liveries (cast-offs from other Rotala companies), times are randomised (and they all pack up and go home at 8pm or earlier) and interiors are cleaned only once in a blue moon. Then you can throw in no heating, sticky doors and non-working displays necessitating a card bearing the route number stuck in the windscreen. Breakdowns are less common since they had their knuckles rapped last year and acquired the aforementioned cast-offs but they still occur. All due credit must be given to the drivers who have to work with this junk day in, day out, it can't be much fun.

 

[Mal]

I just do not understand User1234 at all. He has Lothian, Nottingham and Reading as the worst, yet these three have all growing passenger numbers. As bus enthusiasts, we may be more subjective than the the man or woman in the street, but let the ordinary passengers decide. As an aside, all three above companies don't have monopolies. Lothian compete with First, Stagecoach and Border Buses, Nottingham against the Tram and Wellglade group and Reading against Arriva, Stagecoach and local independents. As I said, the ordinary passenger decides who to travel with!

 

[Megafuss]

I have used services all over the UK and from my own experiences, the only operator I have used where I thought "this is how it should be done" is Nottingham City Transport. So, for me they are the best.

Worst? Take your pick from Halton, Ipswich Bus (both come across as cheap and nasty), First Essex (such a waste) and Diamond WM (awful reliability)

 

[Typhoon]

I'm

Arriva Kent and Surrey
Rating: Bad
- As much as I hate to say it, 90% of the drivers I have encountered on Arriva Kent and Surrey have been (sorry if I offend anyone) quite grumpy and again, seem to hate their jobs. Conversely, the bus station information centre staff are lovely though!
- The condition of buses has gradually improved over time, however they're still occasionally dirty and/or need some love. Some Arriva Kent and Surrey buses I have used a within the past few years, however, have been absolutely filthy.
- Reliability isn't too much of an issue from my experience, but I have had multiple occasions where the buses have turned up quite late.

I'm interested in this. From the mention of 'bus station' I guess this must be Chatham or Guildford. I use the 'Kent' part from time to time and I would not put the percentage of grumpy drivers above 50%. I don't find the buses in too bad a nick (although many are relatively new). Reliability does seem to be an issue - schedules seem to be pretty tight and there are regular hold ups in Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, the Medway towns, Stockbury Roundabout and Detling Hill. I would lump the Kent part of Kent Thameside in with this.

I'm going to print this entry out. The other day I came across a Stagecoach driver who claimed that Stagecoach were the worst company to work for. On my way off the bus, I suggested that there were worse - including Arriva. I now have evidence.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I'm
I'm interested in this. From the mention of 'bus station' I guess this must be Chatham or Guildford. I use the 'Kent' part from time to time and I would not put the percentage of grumpy drivers above 50%. I don't find the buses in too bad a nick (although many are relatively new). Reliability does seem to be an issue - schedules seem to be pretty tight and there are regular hold ups in Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, the Medway towns, Stockbury Roundabout and Detling Hill. I would lump the Kent part of Kent Thameside in with this.

I'm going to print this entry out. The other day I came across a Stagecoach driver who claimed that Stagecoach were the worst company to work for. On my way off the bus, I suggested that there were worse - including Arriva. I now have evidence.

Hi - sorry for the ambiguity. I was referring to Arriva Kent and Surrey in Guildford. I was also referring to Guildford Bus Station. I probably should've stated so in the post. I haven't used Arriva in Kent so unfortunately I can't comment about that.

 

[PeterC]

With regard to branded buses on the wrong route, here the choice is Arriva or Carousel and Arriva seem to have far more problems over allocating branded vehicles although Carousel don't always get it right. Seeing a bus branded for a service in Henley at Chesham isn't too much of a problem. However seeing branded bus at Aylesbury bus station for a route that starts there might prompt the inexperienced passenger to jump on board without first walking around the front to look at the actual destination. (Having buses boarding at the "wrong" stand has been an issue whenever I have used Aylesbury)

 

[Surreyman]

Hi - sorry for the ambiguity. I was referring to Arriva Kent and Surrey in Guildford. I was also referring to Guildford Bus Station. I probably should've stated so in the post. I haven't used Arriva in Kent so unfortunately I can't comment about that.

I'm
I'm interested in this. From the mention of 'bus station' I guess this must be Chatham or Guildford. I use the 'Kent' part from time to time and I would not put the percentage of grumpy drivers above 50%. I don't find the buses in too bad a nick (although many are relatively new). Reliability does seem to be an issue - schedules seem to be pretty tight and there are regular hold ups in Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, the Medway towns, Stockbury Roundabout and Detling Hill. I would lump the Kent part of Kent Thameside in with this.

I'm going to print this entry out. The other day I came across a Stagecoach driver who claimed that Stagecoach were the worst company to work for. On my way off the bus, I suggested that there were worse - including Arriva. I now have evidence.

It could be said that Bus Station Information Office staff are 'Very Likely to be Charming and Pleasant' - it is their job to be like that!!
Having said that I would agree that Arriva Guildford Drivers can be 'grumpy' (only some mind) It should be borne in mind that they have just received a consultation letter, potentially downgrading their pay & conditions, so that won't help.
Safeguard Drivers are nearly always cheerful and helpful.(Andrew Halliday MD seen handing out chocolates on buses recently)
Stagecoach in Guildford staff, seem on the small sample I have experienced, to be pleasant & efficient.
Would love to see Arriva exit Guildford & Woking, taking their horrible Streetlites back to Kent. (Current operation is believed to be loss making).

 

[Mal]

There will always be occasions where branded buses are on the wrong route. It's called utilising resources especially in these times when all companies have to watch the pennies. Even Lothian (sometimes hailed as the best bus company in Britain) do it!

 

[swt class 450]

Thanks for all the further replies so far. Interesting to hear your views. Certainly some very different opinions! But each to their own!

I must say i am not really a fan of Safeguard buses. I am in Guildford regularly and will always wait for the Arriva bus instead. I find Safeguard to be rather childish and unprofessional. Look at what they have been posting on Twitter recently. They are often retweeting and liking negative tweets about Arriva and posting links to negative news articles about Arriva as well. Never been particularly impressed with their customer service either. I have come across some rude staff working for them at times.

Another one i am not really a fan of is Seaford & District who operate around the Sussex area. They wasted a huge amount of money buying all these personalised registration plates and fully refurbishing the interiors of all vehicles they bought and then started complaining that they couldn't afford to run their local bus services and they weren't viable to run. I imagine all that money wasted was one of the reasons why (although i know this probably wasn't the sole reason). I have also had very poor customer service from them. They have some very rude staff working for them.

One of my pet hates is when bus operators put personalised registration numbers on their buses. It is pointless and just a massive waste of money and goes to show that the bus operator doesn't know how to manage their money properly.

Finally i think Cityfox deserves a mention. I call them something else that starts with Sh and rhymes with Cityfox. I know there is a thread about this already but this company has got to be one of the very worst. For years their clueless immature owner (Rhys Hand) has been basically running a fantasy bus company and only just now started running a route after years of pretending to run bus services. Rhys Hand has a major attitude problem. Just look at some of his past tweets on Twitter which can be extremely rude and unprofessional. This company is laughing stock. It's more like a comedy show than a bus company.

I am still surprised at all the negatively about Arriva from others. Maybe i have just been lucky but i use them all the time and have found them to be excellent. Personally i don't think they are anywhere near as bad as many people say. I have always been very happy with Arriva.

 

[goldisgood]

I must say i am not really a fan of Safeguard buses. I am in Guildford regularly and will always wait for the Arriva bus instead. I find Safeguard to be rather childish and unprofessional. Look at what they have been posting on Twitter recently.

They provide honest and informative updates?

Service 5 currently experiencing disruption due to an incident at the rear of Guildford Train Station. We apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Service 5 currently delayed due to an Arriva Bus planting itself in the rear of our vehicle outside Guildford Station. Apologies for the delay.

Better than saying 'Due to an incident with one of our vehicles' - it states exactly what has happened and who is to blame. They have every right to do this after Arriva threw their toys out of the pram after losing the University of Surrey contract, starting routes in direct competition, mainly with Safeguard which could (although it is unlikely) put them out of business.

One of my pet hates is when bus operators put personalised registration numbers on their buses. It is pointless and just a massive waste of money and goes to show that the bus operator doesn't know how to manage their money properly.

I don't quite see your point here? Money can be managed fine whilst using personalised registrations?

 

[Andyh82]

One of my pet hates is when bus operators put personalised registration numbers on their buses. It is pointless and just a massive waste of money and goes to show that the bus operator doesn't know how to manage their money properly

This unveiled yesterday will blow your mind

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70333100@N08/40213560763/

 

[swt class 450]

Yes a lot of bus operators do it unfortunately. Although at least Arriva only very rarely use personalised registration numbers. They don't do it with all their buses like certain other companies. Also they are owned by the German government so they can probably afford it (although i still don't think buying personalised registration numbers is a good use of money).

 

[Typhoon]

Having said that I would agree that Arriva Guildford Drivers can be 'grumpy' (only some mind) It should be borne in mind that they have just received a consultation letter, potentially downgrading their pay & conditions, so that won't help.

I wouldn't have thought that Guildford was the sort of area where you could afford to take a cut in pay so every sympathy for them.

Would love to see Arriva exit Guildford & Woking, taking their horrible Streetlites back to Kent.

No thank you, we have enough already!​

 

[Typhoon]

Hi - sorry for the ambiguity. I was referring to Arriva Kent and Surrey in Guildford. I was also referring to Guildford Bus Station. I probably should've stated so in the post. I haven't used Arriva in Kent so unfortunately I can't comment about that.

I would say that Arriva in Kent was OK; some trouble with keeping to time but you are not missing anything.

 

[Wirewiper]

Something i forgot to mention, however on the topic of Exact fares. I think rural services should give change, but in the case of city services there's really no reason to.

Which is what Reading Buses does - the only "out-of-town" route using fareboxes is the 25 to Peppard Common, as it is interworked with route 22 for reasons of economy.

 

[goldisgood]

Yes a lot of bus operators do it unfortunately. Although at least Arriva only very rarely use personalised registration numbers. They don't do it with all their buses like certain other companies. Also they are owned by the German government so they can probably afford it (although i still don't think buying personalised registration numbers is a good use of money).

Currently DB are in billions of euros of debt, so I doubt they can really afford the Irish registration plate. You seem to be backtracking on what you've said - you criticise other companies for using personalised registration plates, yet not Arriva as they can 'probably afford it'. I'm sure most of the other companies can 'probably afford it' or they'd be out of business...

 

[carlberry]

Another one i am not really a fan of is Seaford & District who operate around the Sussex area. They wasted a huge amount of money buying all these personalised registration plates and fully refurbishing the interiors of all vehicles they bought and then started complaining that they couldn't afford to run their local bus services and they weren't viable to run. I imagine all that money wasted was one of the reasons why (although i know this probably wasn't the sole reason). I have also had very poor customer service from them. They have some very rude staff working for them.

Yes it's horrible when bus companies try to refurbish vehicles, much better to leave them in a state; it's what the plebs deserve!

 

[carlberry]

One of my pet hates is when bus operators put personalised registration numbers on their buses. It is pointless and just a massive waste of money and goes to show that the bus operator doesn't know how to manage their money properly.

Lots of operators put Northern Irish plates on vehicles, mostly to disguise their age. It works very well as a lot of the general public can tell a vehicle's age from the registration and those that can tend to then regard them as 'old' if they're more than a few years old. The only money 'wasted' is the transfer fee however most operators see it as an investment in the same way that it costs money to repaint or refurbish a vehicle. If the registration is one of the actual personalised plates then it's more likely that it'll be worth more in a couple of years time than it is now so it's quite a good way of looking after their money.

 

[PeterC]

There will always be occasions where branded buses are on the wrong route. It's called utilising resources especially in these times when all companies have to watch the pennies. Even Lothian (sometimes hailed as the best bus company in Britain) do it!

I don't see how putting "route A" branding on a bus that is to be regularly used on "route B" saves any pennies.

 

[Lynford1976]

I'm wondering the same too...

 

[swt class 450]

I don't think most passengers look at reg numbers. It is probably only a very tiny percentage that do. It is really only bus enthusiasts that will look at the reg numbers. In fact most people who don't drive (and even some who do drive) don't even understand reg numbers and wouldn't have a clue what the numbers and letters meant anyway.

 

[carlberry]

I don't think most passengers look at reg numbers. It is probably only a very tiny percentage that do. It is really only bus enthusiasts that will look at the reg numbers. In fact most people who don't drive (and even some who do drive) don't even understand reg numbers and wouldn't have a clue what the numbers and letters meant anyway.

That would be a logical view, however the number of Northern Irish registered vehicles on the mainland suggests otherwise.
Ask any group of small/medium sized coach company owners what the most common complaints they get are and 'age of vehicles' will be near the top of the list and it dosent matter what their fleet age profile is. Put dateless registrations on and, suddenly, the complaints either go away (if the vehicles are well maintained) or change to ones about condition (which are much more valid).
The big groups tend not to care as much (however First and Stagecoach do have a set of numbers that they've acquired over the years), I think Arriva is the only one that's acquired NI plates recently.

 

[AJW12]

Based on operators I've used:

Best
Lothian Buses - by a mile. Their fleet standard (when I was last up there) was second to none - one of the cleanest and best maintained fleet of very modern buses. Frequent services, buses are lovely and comfortable and is just a wonderful service that most other operators could easily learn from. It's the little things - such as drivers being asked to remove rubbish from their buses at every terminus point.

Stagecoach East Midlands - odd one to mention but I've seen a massive improvement on some of their services recently. Particularly driven by DDA requirements but my local network used to be comprised of end of life, poor quality vehicles and now uses much more modern ones. Other developments like a proper app and contactless payment really have made them stand out imo. Only criticism is their day tickets are very expensive.

Stagecoach Manchester - I think generally their network is very good. Their vehicles are well presented and they've made a lot of investment over the years in modern comfortable vehicles. When I was last in Manchester the contrast between Stagecoach and First's service was massive. Just standing round Piccadilly Gardens and looking at the generally well presented Stagecoach fleet against the tired First fleet.

Nottingham City Transport and Trent Barton - I spent a week in Nottingham using numerous local bus services and both operators have excellent modern fleets and great services. And it is the only location I've ever visited where 100% of the drivers said Good Morning/Afternoon or Hello to me when boarding and an enthusiastic Thank You as I got off.

Worst
First York - I cannot actually find anything nice to say about them. Their network has been chipped away more and more recently with services having frequencies cut and the fares continually rise at an insane level. But their fleet. I don't know where to start. Incredibly old, tired looking, badly presented and their interiors - does anyone who runs that network see inside the buses? They're so tired and dingy - seat covers that probably haven't been replaced since 2001 and dirty grimy windows. Using their buses just makes me so angry - how can the MD swan around confused as to why their passenger numbers aren't growing enough? Does he really think that plastering fifty window covering contactless stickers per vehicle will do the job?

Love but Hate
London Buses (I regularly use Go-Ahead, Stagecoach and Arriva) - I love the generally high frequency services, the fact that unlike most areas of the UK, their service doesn't reduce to less than 25% of their daytime frequency after 7pm, and the fact that in general, vehicles are very new. But recently TfL's aim to chip away at their services to save money have been making things worse. Some of the buses I use in the South East are overcrowded and the frequency is only set to decrease. And also sometimes the vehicle conditions - some of them are quite tired looking and they are by far the worst for rubbish on board everywhere. Bottles rolling around the floor, food packaging all over the place... And too often I fall victim to "the destination of this bus has changed...." mid-journey when it's 3 degrees outside.

Transdev Blazefield - their new vehicles are generally really good and their new Coastliner vehicles are some of the most comfortable I've ever been on. But I just can't stand how the company is operated any more. It's a giant load of PR - "amazing" this, "amazing" that, ignoring and blocking anyone who dares criticise them, and their reliability has really gone down recently. The Coastliner used to run like clockwork but so many journeys have been cancelled recently due to "technical issues". And their fares are huge and increase substantially, twice a year - £4.60 for a Harrogate Day Ticket?! On a network that runs only a handful of services? Just seems very expensive. Coastliner/CityZap fares are really expensive too, especially when they decided the Daytripper was no longer welcome there. That's where the PR bit annoys me more - posting endless "Beat the Rail Fare rise" messages in January. Rail fares have gone up about 7-8% in two years, whereas some of their return prices have gone up 20% in the same period. That's not "amazing".

 

[Typhoon]

Lots of operators put Northern Irish plates on vehicles, mostly to disguise their age.

They seem to be less common on buses currently*. I wonder whether this has anything to do with the implementation of the DDA, which drove step entrance vehicles from the streets, leaving newer vehicles. But with operators having to cut back on costs (including of new vehicles), they might wish to disguise the ages of buses once again.

Coaches are a different matter. There is a Kent based company which operates 'school buses' and rail replacement that has coaches pushing twenty years of age, most of which have NI plates and, because of the style of vehicle, no-one is the wiser. I am sure they are not unique.

* - except, of course, the LTZ series!

 

[Typhoon]

One of my pet hates is when bus operators put personalised registration numbers on their buses. It is pointless and just a massive waste of money and goes to show that the bus operator doesn't know how to manage their money properly.

I think a lot depends on the personalisation. A personalisation on the pride of the fleet does not seem excessive, especially with a small operator, trying to stand out from the crowd. Possibly helpful in getting private hire work. Registrations including 'BUS' or the operators name (hopefully in full) - 'HAM' and 'ASD' come to mind - might be a talking point or identifier. And I'm not certain about a 'massive waste of money' you can pick up a 'BUS' registration for less than £300 (including charges).

 

[vlad]

Like DG64 BUS, from Stoke's own D&G, you mean?

At least that's a local number plate. D&G also operate WT08 BUS and WT58 BUS (which I assume they inherited from Arriva Wardle's), which is a Bristol registration.