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4049 on the 5. takes ages pulling away and going up the Newton Road hill just after Hamstead Road, compared to others such as 4114 and 4083 which seem to fly up there.

Some days I could have cried at the p**s poor speed of that bus!!!!!!! the fact that L Plate Drivers, Farmers in Tractors and OAP's in Mobility Scooters could outrun it on that hill was just so cringe worthy!!! lol

With National Express only buying new fleet and Diamond following suit, not many operators in the area to sell too, only so many buses that Banga can buy. My family has brought Trucks from Volant in the last few months for our Haulage Firm, and the 4 that we have purchased have been excellent, the service was superb. We certainly would use them again rather than go back to Keltruck.

Its good to see them still in business, I know that they do have a smaller stock of buses now but as a firm they have adapted and evolved to the enviroment that they are in and are making it work for them.

Its always sad when I go past Miller St and see that all those Metrobuses are not there anymore and now those spaces are being filled up with Mercs (although not too sad to see the back of the B6's!!!!!!)  :'( ;D :'( ;D

They seem to be focusing on commercial vehicles as the site is now full of HGV's and Trailers. There is just not the market for Buses to be the sole market for them, more haulage companies out there than bus companies. Also the vehicles they had stored on the old Zaks Buses site are now no longer there and the site is again empty.

I hope they survive, the people there have always been helpful and willing to locate stock and fleet for me in the past.

I remember Diamond on the 451 for a few weeks a couple of years back then they abandoned it!

Petes did ok on the 451 but let it die with old buses and not responding to NXWM if like the 401 and 2 they stuck at it I think diamond would have inherited a good route the short time i was at petes and used a good bus on it I picked up good loads all day and a bonus (by doing things correctly and by the book it was TWM who were the bad ones cut up by them by agressive behaviour not saying all WB drivers are like that)

I remember the Pete's Travel 451, it used to only go from Sutton to Kingstamnding Circle and my cousin caught it wanting to go to Pheasey and had to walk from Kingstanding!

If i remember right Pete's ran a full service, they also used to do a 452 service which i think went to Falcon Lodge and ran only on Sundays. Midland Rider used to run the 451 from Kingstanding to Sutton.

Just had a Fantastic Idea!!!!

Use the Miller St Graveyard as the Night Bus Depot and instead of using Brand New Fleet for Night Services, use the fleet of Crappy B6's, that way no one would be able to tell that they had been trashed running round the Night Services and the only people who would see them would be too P***ed to care lol  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

lovely article in today's Birmingham Mail about this. Company has banned from Bradford Place for 3 years from next February and have also been told they can only operate 3 buses max.

The article goes on to say that the firm was described as being " an amateurish operation" with "drivers driving dangerously, blocking departure stands, and running services early to stop a competitor picking up passengers in Walsall despite several warnings" The report also describes the firms sole director Sukhwinder Singh as a "Poor Communicator"

The firm released a short statement that they would be appealing the ruling.

Public Inquiry (45335) to be held at The Public Inquiry Room, 38 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1PL, on 15 November 2012 commencing at 14:00 (Previous Publication:(2160))
PD0001724 SI
VIP CONTRACTS LTD
DIRECTOR(s): SARBJIT SINGH RAJU, USHA RAJU .
WHARF STREET, HOCKLEY , BIRMINGHAM B18 5HS, GB
PSV - S17 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 17 (The Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981)
PSV - Sch.3 - Consideration of Transport Managers Repute under Schedule 3 (The Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981)
PSV - S28 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 28 (The Transport Act 1985)

Oh dear oh dear, well it was shite while it lasted lol

4281 was on the 651 on a Saturday duty during the Summer once. Obviously there was either a shortage at PB or an engineer decided to have a right laugh while the boss was distracted  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I'm claiming about 5000 points then lol, 50 for appearing in one of Tony's photos (Driving a branded 451) and the other 4950 for every time I spotted Tony on revenue checks in Sutton and Birmingham, sometimes 6 times a day lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

down the newton road the presidents always hit the limiter about 45/46mph, but with a good tailwind the needle goes close to 50mph, but as tony says, the speedometers are not always accurate. the speed traps in west brom bus station are another thing - once i was caught doing 26mph when sitting on a stand with no other buses around.....

i'm sure someone said they got a b6 up to 60mph once...... or was that a dream? ;D

If you pushed the B6 off a cliff then it would just about hit 60mph lol ;D ;D ;D

I tried to get on a VIP Bus on the 424 a few weeks ago. The locals said that the bus is due to run across the Gorse Farm Estate at 15-20 past the hour to go to Perry Beeches. I waited till 35 past and with a bit of help from Google I managed to find VIP Travel's "Travel Line" What a huge pile of shit!!!! I was greeted by someone who could barely speak english, when I asked if I had the right company his reply was "Erm yes I think we run that route" and when I asked for the time the bus was due he said he "Couldn't help me as he did not have a copy of the timetable in front of him" and with that he put the phone down.

Oh how I miss the days of Zaks Buses, Pete's Travel, and even Birmingham Motor Traction operating the route.

Seems like nearly everyone ran the 424 at sometime or another. Think I may look at buying 5 buses and having a bash at it myself, it's constantly full from 9.30 till 5 6 days a week going into City. Lets face it I think anyone could run it better than VIP!!!!

I was on a merc today on the 406 and the driver gave it a good thrashing all the way to West Bromwich up the Newton Road, good bit of road to see a merc,b6le or president get thrashed but the mercs seem to give the best journey for speed.

The Mercs were always good fun going towards Scott Arms down the Newton Road, especially when you get them into the dip at the bottom before the Speed Camera. They could also get up to speed bloody quick off the lights.

Lodge Farm on the 81. It even made the local rag when passengers had to get off to let a PE B6 go uphill!

I remember that, it was funny lol

God breakdowns!!!! Once broke down in a Metrobus at the main traffic lights at the Junction of Cape Hill and Windmill Lane facing towards Smethwick on a Friday Afternoon Rush Hour with a trainee driving. Oh it was tipping it down of rain, cold as F&*K and having to stand behind the vehicle because the people of Cape Hill don't know what Hazard Lights and the Bonnet being up mean. Was there for around 3 hours, an 87 driver kindly stopped and gave me 4 smokes and a lighter. Don't need the breakdowns on the last trip but hey the 2.5 hours overtime was appreciated.

Another was a warm Saturday Afternoon, 451's all day, had already done 1 trip and coming back along Newton Road towards West Bromwich the bus went silly and decided it was too nice a day to be doing all this running around so decided to overheat and lose power at the bus stop opposite Wigmore Lane, where after transfering my passengers onto the 406H, I spent the next 2 and a bit hours reading the paper, and waving at other drivers as they merrily tooted their horns and waved hand signals at me.............. Then again maybe they were not that friendly lol. By the time the bus had cooled down enough and been nursed back to WB Depot, and another bus was eventually found for me (a rather nice Merc!!!) I was run private to Pheasey to make a return trip and finish my shift. Total trips made = 2, and a nice suntan!!! shame all Saturdays were not like this lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hamstead Hill which the 16 operates on can be a pain in the ass during the morning rush hour, the metros used to get stuck in crawl gear lol. Also Harborne Road going up to Warley Water Tower on the 447/448 could be a pain during the Winter Months. And Finally Portsdown Road which is on the 244/417 Route is quite steep.