More major problems at A-Line

The day started off fairly uneventful. I was expecting some odd bus to appear from the bottom of the road but it turned out to be X891 YGU the Vario usually used on the Narkus school bus. The journey was very pleasant on this much nicer Vario and is picture in Cremyll above looking splendid.

The bus continued on its routes until the 10 o'clock change over to Derrick Cuff. Though as Derrick pulled away literally just up the road, guess what happened. X891 YGU's Turbo went BANG! Exactly the same fault as on the R reg just a few days earlier!! How can this happen and under the same driver too? Very unlucky for Mr Cuff though was not his fault. It seems he has just been very unlucky. But this did cause major problems for A-Line. There was now no spare bus available as M152 LPL was still off the road and the coaches were not able to do this route. This meant that the rest of the services had to be cancelled until another bus could be sourced. The X reg took a very steady journey back to the depot with Jim at the wheel where Derrick went ahead to get oil from the depot. The bus was giving out huge clouds of smoke and oil was leaking badly. If this oil hadn't been sourced it was likely the engine would have blown. By the afternoon 80 services a bus had been hired in the form of an LDV Minibus SK02 WDX supplied by Torpoint Minibuses. This continued the services through the evening with no hitches, though did need a conductor in the busier journey, that being me. Jumping in and out of the front opening the doors! Bit of fun for an afternoon! It also meant the bus could serve some places it currently is not able to such as going right down into the village of Cawsand both ends, a great help to passengers on board this service. So very bad news for A-Line, not even a year since the 2 Varios were acquired they are both out of service with the same problem. 2 LDV minibuses are currently on loan from Cremyll Coaches and Torpoint Minibuses. Is has been rumoured that M152 LPL may try to be brought back to service in the very near future if the problem cannot be fixed soon. More updates as they come!