(26 Jul 2014, 1:43 pm)Dan wrote Arriva would have planned when the vehicles were purchased to sell them by a certain year - enough time for the company to pay for the vehicles and make a profit from them, and then sell them on to obtain the maximum amount of revenue to pay towards new vehicles.

They'll be bringing the average fleet age down, and the vehicles, due to their age, may not be as reliable as they once were.

Some of Durham's Lowlanders are terrible for reliability, everytime I see 7444 in Durham its being pulled off a service because there is something wrong with it and then you don't see it for ages at times. I once noticed 7441 upstairs interior lights flickering on and off then a few months later I saw it and the upstairs lights weren't on at all so it was pitch black at night upstairs. 7443 also recently broke down on the roundabout outside New College.