(25 May 2014, 5:06 am)Richard Smiles wrote I doubt it will be before June Michael, due to where we are in the month, again this is down to the Road Tax issue.

For example, if a bus is taxed for a year on say the 28 May 2014, the Road Tax would actually expire on the 30 April 2015 having to be renewed for the 1 May 2015, rather than the 28 May 2015, so potentially you would be taxing the vehicle for less than a year in the first instance, so I would expect the vehicles to be taxed from early June & of course it is 1 June next Sunday.

It will also depend on Scania pulling there finger out & registering the vehicles, which will then allow Stagecoach North East to get the Road Tax Organised for them. The fact that they are gradually being moved into the Garage suggests to me that, they are being prepared for service by having Fleet Names & Numbers applied, as well as the Legal lettering and Ticket Machines fitted as well of course.

I would also expect perhaps they will stagger into service, as ALL of the previous batch had been on site for sometime before entering service, due to awaiting completion of the Gas refuelling Station.

This is what happened with the 369xx series last year, so many entering service each day over a certain period, once fully prepped for service.

Finally for now, the Period 2 Fleet Allocation Cards are expected during this coming week, so these may? shed a little bit more light on the situation. No doubt Mr Toyota will contradict this of course (as usual).