Went to see another rML with a customer in Germany (RML2567). A good runner, but found the power steering inoperative as the reservoir was empty and the ram leaking like a sieve round the outlet pipe; brakes almost non-existant as the o/s/r wheel cylinder had leaked over a lengthy period; both accumulators empty; handbrake non-existant, exhaust flexible had been taken by the rust fairies.

Looking at the last TuV (MoT) certificate, all they were worried about was the additional position lights required for Germany, no tacho and the operation of the assault alarm!!

Quite how it was driven several hundred km from the south of Germany to the north is beyond me!

Anyway, more work for me, back in a couple of weeks with a couple off accumulators and a stering ram!

BTW, they also bought a 4-axle Neoplan double decker (yes, 4 axle), 17m long and weighing in at 33tonnes, purpose built as a disco bus!

Any wonder that Vosa target foreign registered vehicles.

The MOT regime in Europe is tighter than that in the UK. Tests are every 6 months at least in France for buses and lorries.
We just had to change the rear shoes on a bus with a UK MOT less than 5 weeks old due to 50% difference in rear wheel braking when put in for a French CT!!

Test stations are independent of garages and have no links. The test is very thorough but you don't actually fail, you can get up to two months to get the vehicle repaired.

Some items are written as advisory, some will state that they will not be accepted for next test eg king pin movement. However, vehicles over 30 years are exempt from these tests and only have to be tested every five years, so it is up to the owners to keep them maintained.

One dodge used by some bus operators in Europe is to run on another country's plates, hoping that foreign plates will avoid checks by Police There is a company in Marseilles who do this, running on Belgian plates with no MOTs whatsoever. On Facebook they call themselves London Bus France which is our trading name! Have a look at their photos, there is at least two showing a bus on the move with the flag down! What is more worrying is he seems to carry passengers!!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, M 961, M 271 and several RTs

This must be our friend whose bus got badly burnt a short while ago!