(01 Feb 2014, 6:59 pm)aureolin wrote My point wasn't down to reliability at all. Sending a Hybrid up and down the A1 makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and isn't what they won the funding for.

It is in a way because if the 308 was to get into Blyth late, but another service got there on time and had time to spare, it could then cover for the late 308 and the late 308 would make it onto another service with a couple of minutes spare. It's wrong though that Arriva don't have any fleet planning in place to cover this because if they are constantly being used for that purpose, then the Volvo B5LH'S won't last two minutes. They're only designed for town and city work, not endurance or express work.