Bruce of Shotts (National Express contractor) V10 NAT - New Years Day 1 Jan 2004

Thursday 1 January 2004 at 0922 - Every drivers dream! New Year’s Day is a public holiday so there was little traffic about when I snapped Bruce of Shotts V10 NAT, a Bova Futura, cruising on the almost deserted A34 road at Sutton Scotney in Hampshire. National Express ran a very minimal route network on both Boxing Day (26 December) and New Year’s Day with most services being combinations of the normal route patterns making some interesting alternatives to the norm. However the 539 Bournemouth to Edinburgh service ran in it’s normal format leaving the south coast resort at 0745 arriving in the Scottish capital at 2105. Bruce is the regular operator of the route which serves Ringwood (0800), Southampton (0835-0840), Winchester (0910), Newbury (0955), Oxford (Break 1035-1055), Stratford-upon-Avon (1200), Birmingham (Lunch 1305-1345), Penrith (1720), Carlisle (1755), Hamilton (1930) and Glasgow (1955-2000). (A 20 minute break also being made at Forton near Lancaster).