Vehicle Details
Registration: NK61 FEX
Chassis: Optare Solo SR M890
Bodywork: Optare
Depot: Drew Wilson Coach Sales
Livery: Little Coasters
Year new: 2011
Vehicle History
June 2020
Go North East
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From Monday 1 June 2020, in line with guidance from the government, Go North East's bus services will start returning to what can be considered a 'normal' level of service on weekdays (albeit still reduced on weekends), also with some minor changes which had originally been planned to take place from 17 May 2020. The depots which were temporarily 'mothballed' for the duration of the crisis have now re-opened, except for Saltmeadows Road, which is where most of the National Express coaches are stored. The central works facility remains open as usual. Therefore, this vehicle has now transferred from Riverside Depot to Percy Main.
April 2020
Go North East
Having sustained defects which will take some time to repair, this vehicle has been taken out of service. It is expected to be formally delicensed closer to the end of the month, in order to allow the company to claim a tax refund.
March 2020
Go North East
On March 23 2020, Boris Johnson placed the country on "lockdown", enforcing rules on people only leaving the house to shop for necessities, to exercise once a day, for medical needs or to provide care, or to travel to and from work (if they can't work from home). Shops, pubs, restaurants and theatres have all been closed, as well as mass gatherings being banned, schools being closed, and sporting events being cancelled. Therefore, further changes were made to bus timetables from Saturday 28 March, reflecting a mass reduction in customer demand for buses. As part of these timetable revisions; Chester-le-Street, Percy Main and Washington Depots were temporarily 'mothballed' with services operated out of key depots Consett, Deptford (including Peterlee outstation) and Riverside (including Hexham outstation) only. Therefore, this vehicle has transferred from Percy Main Depot to Riverside.
September 2019
Go North East
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Following repaint, this vehicle has received "Little Coasters" branding.
September 2019
Go North East
This vehicle has been repainted into a new two-tone blue base livery, having previously carried Go North East's 2016 fleet livery.
May 2019
Go North East
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In line with service changes and the introduction of new brand identities, there were a large number of vehicle re-allocations which took place on Sunday 19 May, the significance of which have been likened to the South Shields and Bishop Auckland depot closures in 2005 and 2006 respectively. This vehicle has transferred from Riverside Depot to Percy Main, in order to operate "Little Coasters" services 40/41/42.
May 2019
Go North East
Upcoming vehicle transfers will see this vehicle re-allocated to Percy Main to be allocated to services 11 and 40/41/42. As such; ahead of this transfer taking place, this vehicle has been fitted with free Wi-Fi.
September 2017
Go North East
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Having been fitted with the original yellow 'flash' style tagline, which was subsequently amended based on poor visibility of the wording used on the tagline, it has now been stripped and instead fitted with a tagline in the new style. This example now carries the "Recharge your batteries | Many of our buses have power sockets on board" variant.
November 2016
Go North East
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This vehicle has been treated to a partial repaint into Go North East's new corporate livery. The new livery design is a a lot more eye-catching and features a two-tone base livery, with the traditional key colour of red towards the front of the bus, and non-metallic dark blue towards the back. The design sees vinyls added above the windows in a yellow 'flash' to reflect the quality and customer values of Go North East. There will be different variations of the tagline, and this bus has the "Our buses run 35 million miles a year - that's like going to the moon and back 72 times." variant.
August 2016
Go North East
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The recent renewal of Nexus contracts has seen a change in the contractual requirements of some Nexus-secured services. One of the changes to contractual requirements is that vehicles allocated to these services no longer have to carry "Nexus" branding. As such; this vehicle, having previously carried "Nexus" branding, has been repainted into Go North East's corporate livery.
February 2015
Go North East
All of Saltmeadows Road's operations have transferred to Riverside Depot, which has resulted in the transfer of this vehicle from Saltmeadows Road Depot to Riverside. It is not yet known what the future will hold for Saltmeadows Road Depot, but maintenance and repairs, repaints and re-trims, and the storage of new vehicles, is still expected to be held at Saltmeadows Road Depot for the foreseeable future.
December 2011
Go North East
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This vehicle has entered service at Saltmeadows Road Depot.
December 2011
Go North East
Ahead of its entry into service, this vehicle has received "Nexus" branding.
December 2011
Go North East
This vehicle, which carries a grey and red base livery, has arrived into the Go North East fleet, and is currently being prepared for service at Saltmeadows Road Depot. It will be allocated to Saltmeadows Road Depot's low-cost unit comprising of Nexus-secured services.
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May 2016
Go North East
This vehicle has entered service at Deptford Depot, on "Prince Bishops" services 20/20A/X20 (South Shields - Durham).
May 2009
Go North East
This vehicle has been repainted into a plain yellow base livery and has transferred from Ashington Depot to Winlaton.