New buses too big for Mersey tunnel
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
A new fleet of buses in Merseyside is too big to go through the Mersey Tunnel.

Arriva North West spent £7 million on 70 single decker DAF buses, but they are too wide for the toll booths at the Liverpool to Birkenhead tunnel.

The mistake was only discovered when a driver first tried to complete the route.

He had to take his passengers on an eight-mile detour because of the one-and-a-half inch discrepancy.

Arriva told the Daily Express the bus had only been used because another had broken down. "We've plenty of buses narrow enough to get through," a spokesman said.

Passenger Dave Griffith of Heswall said: "The driver was very apologetic but we were very late."

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