Arriva Query

Arriva LJ11EFM in Norwich, but why?

After a few days of receiving emails and comments on fake news, I am thankful that I moderate the comments sent to this blog. Not only are they completely without foundation but they would cause some unrest in the companies concerned and would also feed duff information to enthusiasts too. That's in addition to the spam received!

You can, therefore, imagine my scepticism when I received the following message and photo from Reece Collinson.

 'I’m a keen reader of your blog.and I’m emailing you to ask if you know anything about this. It’s an Arriva London hybrid Volvo bus just driving merrily down Dereham Road in Norwich, but why on Earth is it here? Do you know anything about it? This took me by complete surprise as I NEVER expected a bus like this to be driving down here! Arriva don’t even operate in Norwich/Norfolk!'

I believe the message to be genuine and that's the reason that I am publishing it. Surprising that the destination says its heading for Aldgate on the 67 too! If any of you are aware of the reason for its appearance both Reece and myself would be pleased to know.

Afternoon Update

Following the same post on our Facebook page, another contributor provided a similar photo of the same bus also on Dereham Road thereby corroborating Reece's photo.

Subsequently a Twitter follower said it was at Volvo's Sweet Briar Road premises for warranty work and the photo was probably of LJ11EFM being road tested in nearby Dereham Road. This was also confirmed by a Facebook follower but it is quite a distance to travel for some warranty work! It was apparently sent to Norwich to even out the workload as many Volvo plants are busy doing work on other Arriva London buses.

My thanks to Reece for taking the effort to write in with the photo and my apologies for doubting his integrity. My thanks also to the local bus enthusiast community for swiftly coming up with the reason for its appearance in the city.

Roy