England’s North East region is an absolute gem of an area for the modern day bus enthusiast.  The independent transport videos cameras made a visit to the area during 2021 to record the action for you to enjoy.  With so much to film we have had to separate the video footage into three programmes!  This, the third in the trilogy, covers an area from Darlington across to Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool and then out to the coast at Saltburn and concluding at Whitby. The main operators in this area are Arriva North East and Stagecoach North East with just a few Go North East buses seen as they pass through the area. Other operators seen briefly are independents Scarlet Band of West Cornforth and D. C. Travel of Durham.   Arriva are sporting their latest livery together with buses still in the older scheme as well as a number in both ‘Sapphire’ and ‘Max’ brands.  Stagecoach is another operator introducing new livery schemes and these are seen on this programme in abundance.  Our filming begins at Darlington where we see a number of MAN Ecocity single-deckers with Caetano bodywork operated by Arriva alongside Optare Solos and Wrightbus Pulsar-bodied VDL single-deckers. 
   
The next location is Middlesbrough where our cameras visit the bus station recording all of the action from both Arriva and Stagecoach.  Arriva operate 25 rare Temsa Avenue single-deckers with Temsa Safari bodywork of which all are allocated, at the time of filming, to their Redcar depot and are seen at the bus station in both the old and new style Arriva livery.  From Middlesbrough we move onto Stockton-on-Tees.  Here again we see Arriva and Stagecoach in action together on the streets of the town centre.  For a change we pause the bus action and witness the daily phenomena of the ‘Stockton Flyer’. This is a sculpture commissioned by the Stockton-on-Tees council for which it aims to celebrate Stockton’s railway heritage.  This piece of ‘artwork’ comes alive every day at 1pm.  It is very entertaining, as you will see! 
   
Our next filming location is Hartlepool, again with Arriva and Stagecoach operating in the town.  Moving to the coast at Saltburn we see Arriva buses in action climbing the snaking hill that is Saltburn Road before our final location at Whitby.  Here we see a Transdev ‘Coastliner’ Wright-bodied double-decker on the service into Whitby from Leeds.  Filming commences in Whitby with the sight of a Plaxton President open-topper on the Whitby Town Tour operated by Coastal & Country Coaches of Whitby.  Vehicles filmed here are from the Arriva North East fleet and offer a good variety of both double and single-deckers for you to see.  We hope that you enjoy this third and final part of our 2021 visit to England’s North East featuring the many buses operating here.