(02 Apr 2026, 3:52 pm)morritt89 wrote When I used to do the 4274 scholars in Durham, the contract was for a minimum number of seats (40) and Euro 5 or better. I'm unsure if there was an age limit, but did use a Scania L94 a couple of times on the route and they were 54 plates. I remember once breaking down and someone sent one of the second hand Citaros which didn't have enough seats....
The council were regularly at the school checking (as were VOSA who were very thorough). Griersons also had a contract at the same school, not sure what their specification was but they were not Euro 5 or better and nor were the vehicles Disabled Friendly (whatever the regulations are).
Don't know if it is still the case, but service work in County Durham certainly used to have a 15 year age limit and a minimum seated capacity on each contract - unsure if any changes have been made in recent years to any contracts as some buses now exceed that age limit and some of Hodgsons services in Bishop Auckland now often use Sprinters when previously these would've fallen short on capacity.
I know Stagecoach can't use 83000 on the Sedgefield scholars to/from Wynyard as it doesn't have enough seats.
Think the Nexus contracts used to be minimum overall capacity (seating & standees) as quite a few were minimum 23 passengers on routes like the 168 which those Fiat Bluebirds were used on.
