Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
If anybody requires a person who has no sense, find the person who allocated Plaxton Pointer 2 T322 PNB (2322) onto a 311 duty this morning! This bus was absolutely terrible - it didn't manage to reach a speed over about 30-MPH. At the back, internally, a diesel-type-of-smell made me feel light-headed after a while. After driving the struggling bus through Westhead, the driver stopped the bus at Skelmersdale War Memorial and checked the back of the bus, which was black-ridden. He then told us, his passengers, that he couldn't carry-on his journey because the oil gasket had blown and the bus' engine was seizing-up.

I had Plaxton Pointer 2 X224 ANC (2224) on my 311 journey home - from Skelmersdale Bus Station to Aintree Retail Park. This bus spends most of its time on the 311 at the moment, so I was expecting it to be a smooth-running, fast bus. WRONG! The bus lost speed at every inclined road along the way, although it performed excellently (after a while!) on Northway - or "Ormskirk Bypass" if you're local to the area!

2322's replacement seemed to have been DAF/ALX400 T302 FGN (4062). And despite the sheds that I had to cope with today, Pulsar 2 MX09 LYJ (2947) was unusually among the buses that were allocated onto the 311 this morning.

Enviro400 MX09 LXJ (4427) started its day on the 52/52A today, so credit to that person who had no sense this morning!