(27 May 2014, 6:03 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Yup, they were in the swoop style livery for just a short period.
Could have sworn it was prior to Jan 2008 though they went black - although Jan 08 could have been when they went into livery.
As I say, going solely off memory - I was working as a sub-contractor within an organisation that had sites across the NE, including one in East Gateshead until late 07 and I remember seeing the newly repainted black Solars which had transferred from Chester, before then.
I cant remember any specific Kickstart livery - pretty sure the original livery on each of the vehicles, was always to do with the East Gateshead partnership in an adaptation of the 'swoop' livery - prior to the two black versions.
Pretty sure the initial batch were in the first version (as per the photo) and when the frequency was increased by the Chester arrivals, then it went black.
There's a tagline which says something about a 'Kickstart Partnership' at the very top, so they'll both be the same.
Regarding the black repaints... This photograph is the only one I can find of the initial black repaint for the Scanias, and it was taken in January 2008.