Ensign often do this to secure the second hand market to prevent other dealers acquiring the vehicle's and selling them. It makes good business sense.
I was talking about Beestons, not Ensign.
Further up thread it was stated that Beestons had acquired a batch of PSVAR vehicles from Happy Als for school contracts, but seemingly none of those vehicles actually ever entered service. One has ended up with Ipswich Buses and at least some of them have passed to Ensign.
It's just a little strange for Beestons to acquire so many vehicles which were supposedly required quickly for school contracts and then dispose of such vehicles almost as soon as they have got them. Did they suddenly lose the contracts as quick as they have gained them?
Another even more twist on the above, is now Beestons are said to be once again looking for a sizeable number of seat belted Scania based single decks for school contract works. It really does make it feel like they felt the vehicles they bought in from Happy Al's were not up to the job they were earmarked for.
In other Beestons news, the 06:45 from Sudbury is now only running between Hadleigh and Ipswich, which means it's now impossible to get a bus between Sudbury and Ipswich that arrives before 9am. (
see here)