Dear Edward Thomas & Son management team,

We are the E322 Users Group, and over the last 1 and 1/2 years, the condition of our current coach (a Leyland Tiger with the registration of D458 ENV) has slowly been going downhill.

We feel that the continued use of this coach on the home to school contract route E322 (Ash - Kings International College) is quite unsatisfactory because:
• The engine is so noisy that you have to speak up and often can’t have a proper conversation
• The suspension is very hard so every time you go over a little bump, the whole bus jolts around (and recently it has had to be repaired because of suspension problems)
• It is 28 years old, so getting the spares will be getting harder for the repairs team
• It must have a high fuel consumption because lots of smoke comes out the exhaust when pulling away from bus stops
• The cogent seats lack side support, so when turning corners (and there are lots of them on the route, particuly around the Deepcut area) people wobble around within their seat
• One of the passenger doors takes ages to shut and sometimes require a push
• It has no power steering so it is hard for our driver to turn the wheel sometimes, particularly around one mini roundabout

As D458 ENV has just had suspension problems, we have been recently been having EAZ 2576. That was a much more pleasant experience, and all of the bullet points above were resolved because of having EAZ 2576 (or ‘easy’ for short).

We are aware that EAZ 2576 (which is 21 years old) must be coming to the end of its frontline service as a private hire (full time) coach. We are also aware that a driver who used to have TIL 8272, a Leyland tiger) has just received a new coach (NHN 193).

So, when EAZ 2576 (or a similar coach) does come to the end of it’s full time life, it will have a very warm welcome from the people who take the E322!

Thank you for reading this, E322 Users Group