Several of us in the parts and repair of Routemasters were recently alerted to the disappearance of certain high value parts form 2 buses rendering them unusable. A lot of time was spent by people trying to find anyone who may have had these very hard to find parts in stock. The RMOOA were having some made but there was a delay in the manufacturing.

The reported loss of these parts had gone rather quiet for a while and my original source, a regular contributor on here, hadn't heard any more for a while either. A chance phone call this morning for one of those parts from another reputable repairer led to a discussion on the alleged loss of the other parts. He informed me that there may not have been a loss or theft of parts at all, it was in all likelihood an insurance fraud!

I'm not going to name names on here for obvious legal reasons, but when this apparent theft of high value, difficult to get parts was circulated, the response then was it was "a job" done to order for someone or a "traveller" type theft who didn't know what the parts were and pinched for scrap value, unlikely as these parts are not always easy to remove from running vehicles.

I suspect we've all had bits go missing over the years and a lot of us may have bought bits from shall we say "dubious sources", but these are likely to be low value parts, not parts that cost over £2500 to have specially manufactured. What some people don't realise in this business is that a lot of us know each other, we talk to each other and a lot of us have an idea of who has what spares, it's the way the bus business operates. Fraudulent insurance claims will only put up the price of insurance for all of us.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

I looked at the ones on Ebay just after this theft was reported and asked for source of them before being interested, I have just been told they are from RMA 28 !
Question is when did RMA 28 (BEA 1?)lose them? or is that a just a number plucked out of the air by the seller?

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

I wouldn't know Brian as I didn't mention what the parts were!

I've subsequently heard more about this matter which I won't put on a public forum.

My bus number (if any): RML2532