(13 Jan 2016, 9:22 am)Dan wrote Obviously my original post was tongue-in-cheek, and I knew it was an abbreviation of Sedgefield.
Bus operators use via points to make passengers aware of the places that service calls at, before reaching the terminal point. The use of via points is also an effective way of marketing the service "on the go" - potential customers who are using other means of transportation (car, walking, etc) may not be aware that the service calls at those locations, and may realise that the service may be worth trying out.
Abbreviated via points are of little to no use to potential customers who aren't familiar with the bus company's network of services. There is no requirement to only use one page on a destination display (indeed, several services in Durham use two or three if I recall correctly), so makes very little sense (in my opinion), not to take advantage of the destination display's full capabilities.
That was obviously just a hypothesis, rather than confirmed information!
Since you believe that this is not a sensible way of advising tourists of areas they are unaware of, would you like to take up your gripe with the Highways Agency also? I've lost count the amount of times I have passed signs denoting places using abbreviations (M'boro, S'ton, D'ham, Ch-l-St) - are these all incorrect too?