(02 Jan 2017, 11:13 am)NK53 TKT I sampled PCL for the first time on Saturday with the 15 and M1 and I was impressed.

The driver on the 15 was nice and told me some things about the company and said that his boss was away in London collecting another dart that is similar to the current two but not identical. He let me on with my explorer even though he was not supposed to. It arrived in Alnwick early on 15 and then left 3 minutes early towards Sainsbury's. The bus went on to Rothbury and was quite quiet with only two other passengers. 
The bus itself was in good mechanical condition not how Jimmy described it and it had no panels missing. The only other issue was that the side destination display was stuck on S1 Morpeth. The bus was LG02 FFR. The driver also said that he takes the bus home on an evening and parks it in a layby round the corner somewhere in Alnwick as this saves the company £180 a week in fuel. 

I then boarded the M1 which was not so great. The bus was the green optare solo. It was quite old and underpowered plus it was not nice on the inside and is not very suitable for the route in my opinion. The driver was a bit grumpy and refused my explorer and singles are quite pricey for such a small route. So personally I don't know peoples issues with these services. 

Also when I went past Lionheart on the X15 I passed a Glen Valley coach that was being driven by Steve Hurst the ex MD of Spirit Buses.

With new buses in mind I would recommend the following fleet allocation when the new dart arrives:
LG02 FFR M1
LG02 FFP S1
V470 GBF (solo) T1
MX07 LBG (travelsure primo) 15/16
BAZ7053 (Van Hool Ailzee) 808
Other primo Northumberland local services and 79
New Dart Hexham local services

(02 Jan 2017, 11:13 am)NK53 TKT I sampled PCL for the first time on Saturday with the 15 and M1 and I was impressed.

The driver on the 15 was nice and told me some things about the company and said that his boss was away in London collecting another dart that is similar to the current two but not identical. He let me on with my explorer even though he was not supposed to. It arrived in Alnwick early on 15 and then left 3 minutes early towards Sainsbury's. The bus went on to Rothbury and was quite quiet with only two other passengers. 
The bus itself was in good mechanical condition not how Jimmy described it and it had no panels missing. The only other issue was that the side destination display was stuck on S1 Morpeth. The bus was LG02 FFR. The driver also said that he takes the bus home on an evening and parks it in a layby round the corner somewhere in Alnwick as this saves the company £180 a week in fuel. 

I then boarded the M1 which was not so great. The bus was the green optare solo. It was quite old and underpowered plus it was not nice on the inside and is not very suitable for the route in my opinion. The driver was a bit grumpy and refused my explorer and singles are quite pricey for such a small route. So personally I don't know peoples issues with these services. 

Also when I went past Lionheart on the X15 I passed a Glen Valley coach that was being driven by Steve Hurst the ex MD of Spirit Buses.

With new buses in mind I would recommend the following fleet allocation when the new dart arrives:
LG02 FFR M1
LG02 FFP S1
V470 GBF (solo) T1
MX07 LBG (travelsure primo) 15/16
BAZ7053 (Van Hool Ailzee) 808
Other primo Northumberland local services and 79
New Dart Hexham local services

(02 Jan 2017, 11:13 am)NK53 TKT I sampled PCL for the first time on Saturday with the 15 and M1 and I was impressed.

The driver on the 15 was nice and told me some things about the company and said that his boss was away in London collecting another dart that is similar to the current two but not identical. He let me on with my explorer even though he was not supposed to. It arrived in Alnwick early on 15 and then left 3 minutes early towards Sainsbury's. The bus went on to Rothbury and was quite quiet with only two other passengers. 
The bus itself was in good mechanical condition not how Jimmy described it and it had no panels missing. The only other issue was that the side destination display was stuck on S1 Morpeth. The bus was LG02 FFR. The driver also said that he takes the bus home on an evening and parks it in a layby round the corner somewhere in Alnwick as this saves the company £180 a week in fuel. 

I then boarded the M1 which was not so great. The bus was the green optare solo. It was quite old and underpowered plus it was not nice on the inside and is not very suitable for the route in my opinion. The driver was a bit grumpy and refused my explorer and singles are quite pricey for such a small route. So personally I don't know peoples issues with these services. 

Also when I went past Lionheart on the X15 I passed a Glen Valley coach that was being driven by Steve Hurst the ex MD of Spirit Buses.

With new buses in mind I would recommend the following fleet allocation when the new dart arrives:
LG02 FFR M1
LG02 FFP S1
V470 GBF (solo) T1
MX07 LBG (travelsure primo) 15/16
BAZ7053 (Van Hool Ailzee) 808
Other primo Northumberland local services and 79
New Dart Hexham local services

(02 Jan 2017, 12:22 pm)South Tyne Lad PCL don't accept Explorers, So it was just pure luck you managed to get on the first time.

He moved to manage the Social Media Relations at Glen Valley, But retain's his PCV licence.

(02 Jan 2017, 4:34 pm)Charles41 Finally I believe X62CHG is still owned but currently not in use

Charles

(02 Jan 2017, 12:12 pm)Jimmi I stand by my statements about the state of the Dart I had on the 15 a few months back, the fact that there was a panel that was just dumped on the back shelf was not a pleasing sight, I uploaded the same photo of that panel that I uploaded to this forum to my photo Facebook page and I had a few comments saying that is was probably worthy of a PG9. The fact that a few weeks later Charles41 reported that it was in the same state weeks later worries me.

Despite my previous statement saying that I would never ride them again... I did actually ride the Primo on the S1 on Christmas Eve and I have no complaints there.

As for your allocations:
M1/T1 interwork, so it has to be the same bus and I think some T1 runs are covered by the Primo on the S1 (not 100%). This method of interworking keeps the number of buses required down to two, rather than requiring one for each service which would potentially cost more to do.

Think BAZ7053 left the fleet? Also, why  would you put a coach on service which is contracted for a 16 seater bus? Apart from a few Saturday's on the run up to Christmas, it has never needed anything bigger than that, so putting that on would just be ridiculous.

There is only one Primo. The 79 was withdrawn when the M1 was introduced as the 79 route was incorporated into a diversion of the M1 route on Wednesday's and Saturday's (now just Wednesday's).

As for the Hexham services, LG02FFP is usually allocated to the 885 on a Tuesday. The 613 which runs on a Tuesday and 885 which runs on a Saturday normally use LDV Convoy MH06WCU, both of these services also run on the 808 in the morning and afternoon. No idea what does the 815 on a Friday but would imagine it's MH06WCU or if not that, LG02FFP, Asda MetroCentre Free Bus from Prudhoe? on a Monday uses LG02FFP.

(10 Jan 2017, 6:46 pm)thetravelman Apparently their white Primo was involved in an RTA recently and is currently off the road, 
I believe the white Solo SR is possibly just a Loan vehicle at present.

(11 Jan 2017, 11:12 am)Jimmi What service(s) is the Solo SR being used on?

(10 Jan 2017, 6:46 pm)thetravelman Apparently their white Primo was involved in an RTA recently and is currently off the road, 
I believe the white Solo SR is possibly just a Loan vehicle at present.

(06 Feb 2017, 8:34 am)thetravelman Looks like PCL have possibly aquired a White 'W' Reg MPD.

Saw it this morning at Blaydon around 7am ish, then again travelling North up the A1 towards Morpeth, maybe 20 mins or so later.

The only evidence I could see that it possibly belongs to PCL, is that it had 'Rural Link' on the front. No other Stickers or ID visiible, from a distance travelling in the dark!

(07 Feb 2017, 6:10 pm)jaimz13 Do the T1 S1 M1 all interwork cause I've looked that the timetables I can't see how it would work