On Thursday 9 September 2010 I travelled on Midland Classic's new X12 service from Burton to Lichfield at 12:35 returning at 14:05. It was very good with a clean modern bus running on time and with friendly drivers. Considering it was only the fourth day of operation the loads were good in both directions although mostly of pensioners.

ABOVE & BELOW: Obviously an ex-London decker on Midland Classic's half hourly service 21 to Swadlincote. Unusally the centre door had been used for alighting passengers although I wasn't quick enough to get a picture.

Dash is a recently introduced local service in Burton.

Midland Classic's X12 arriving in Lichfield.

Midland is the trading name of Lyell Ltd and a subsidiary of D&G.

ABOVE & BELOW: Heartlands Bus of Tamworth has provided a home for a former tb Dart.

This bus belongs to Paragon Travel Ltd, The Bus Garage, Spath, Uttoxeter which sounds very like the old Stevensons address. I also saw a Paragon bus in Burton but don't know where it was going.

Central Connect is a Rotala subsidiary.

Finally back in Burton. 1 was Stevensons number for the Burton to Uttoxeter service. This bus is route branded for Burton to Birmingham.

Richard Lomas writes

Yesterday (9 September 2010) we arrived in Derby at 17:30 and the area around the bus station was gridlocked. There had been an accident and EastGate which forms part of the inner ring road leading to the A38 north and the A52 east was closed. Traffic in the city centre was at a virtual standstill and when it did move no attempt was made to leave a path for the buses to get to/from the bus station. All buses were running very late. The 17:50 Trans Peak to Buxton arrived at 18:40 and the 18:15 Red Arrow to Chesterfield left at exactly 19:00 with me on board. For most of the time the bus station itself was virtually empty as the buses sat outside waiting to inch forward.