Quite true, No need for MOT, no need for PMIs, no need for recording working hours, no need to actually know the proposed route which quite often requires using width limited roads with no knowledge of whether permission has been granted. No need for any actual experience other than having the correct valid licence and medical.You even see vehicles carrying the spare wheel inside the bus. Plenty of obsolete tickets issued as souvenirs, but frequently poor observation of the platform and too much distraction by another old bus seen. Vehicle stops outside a pretty pub or the site of a demolished former bus garage and swarms of photographers decamp and stand in the middle of the road to get a 'piccy'.

Not just enthusiasts on board but joe public and his young family carried who are totally oblivious to all this.

The organisers are to be congratulated for their hard work because they try very hard indeed and the families love the idea, but the participants do need to be so much more professional about it.

Exactly Roy that’s the worry - one unfortunate incident somewhere in the country could cause a knee jerk reaction by the powers that be that could put an end to the enjoyment for hundreds of people as at best it's a very grey area legally ?

My bus number (if any): RML 2747

Which then leads us on to the whole question of why the UK appears to be the only country in Europe that lets people without a D qualification drive a bus around fully loaded providing it is not for money. In most other countries there's also no difference between a class 5 and class 6 bus But that is a separate discussion outside this heading. A bus is a bus. They can all carry a lot of people. They all have to meet the same standards. Some countries have the testing exemption we enjoy for all vehicles over a certain age. But drivers must have a class D entitlement and buses have to be up to standard.

My bus number (if any): RML2532