Can agree, in part, with what is said about Arriva's drivers. There are a canny few diamonds out there who look the part and take pride in their job, but then there is a good percentage who undermine this with their attitude and lack of customer focus. OK it's not an easy position dealing with demanding timetables and often difficult passengers but that is the role in which they are trained. Add a point here, wasn't relevant until yesterday? Clipping the odd kerb is unavoidable but hitting just about every one, AKA my journey on the 1142 service 7 from Durham, was a bit much. Back to the driving school for him?

As for the fleet, what can one say? It's a mess! A complete mis-match of liveries and then styles within said liveries. What was the idea behind the latest standard livery which to bring the fleet into some sort of standardisation, cost a fortune

Then we have the issues raised against the Streetlites, MAX and Sapphire. All this came all singing and dancing but now look at it. Another mess, brand new vehicles which while not ideal should have been kept up to the spec and standard for which they were purchased .

And to finish. Just headed home on VDL Pulsar 1410 working a 29 trip out of Middlesbrough. I say this because here is a classic example of just where Arriva's fleet should be. Smart new livery externally, refurbished, or looked like it, internally and seemed to be mechanically sound. OK the NSA wasn't working but hey, do we need it?