Guido Fawked - London Bus Fib BUSTED

Sometimes the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog get it wrong. Sometimes they get it so wrong as to invite ridicule; this they have done today in no style at all. After once again sneering “Fake News” at left-leaning site Skwawkbox, the Fawkes folks have opened mouth and inserted boot as they have demonstrated that their knowledge of the transport industry is not unadjacent to Sweet Jack.

The Great Guido wants adoring readers - whomsoever they be - to not dwell on the gathering clusterf*** that is Brexit, by running lots of posts telling how wonderful things are going to be after Britain leaves the EU. The inconvenient fact that we have not yet left is never allowed to enter. Today’s variation on that theme is the deal assisted by UK Export Finance which will see benefits for a number of exporters.

That bus looks like ...

“We’re Gonna Build Some Buses And Mexico Is Going To Pay” swagger the Fawkes rabble, seemingly unaware that it is normal practice for those who order buses to pay for them. To illustrate the post, an image showing a New Bus For London (NB4L), aka the BozzaMaster, is shown. And it is here where The Great Guido fouls up.

“The UK will export 90 iconic red London buses to Mexico as export finance worth £1.7 billion enables buoyant Brexit Britain to break free into global markets. Theresa May will today visit the Alexander Dennis bus factory in Guildford today, just one of 137 firms helped by UK Export Finance (UKEF) since it was put under the control of the Department for International Trade” gurgles the post. But this is plain flat wrong.

... one of these, BUT ...

The BBC, whose standard of reportage is, shall we say, markedly more accurate, has a photo of the kind of bus that will be built for the Mexico contract, and an “iconic red London bus” it is not. It’s an Enviro 500, and eagle-eyed readers will note that, unlike the BozzaMaster, it has a double rear axle, and so unlike Bozza’s folly, will have no problem carrying its design load. It is also readily available in left hand drive form.

... it's going to be one of these

This is because Alexander Dennis already exports to countries that drive on the right - like Canada - and has also exported the three-axle technology to places like Hong Kong. Had the Fawkes rabble been paying attention at the time, they would have known that when the BozzaMaster made its promotional trip to the former colony, operators stated firmly that they would not be ordering the NB4L. But they would be buying British.

And guess what that means? You got it

That is because they bought … the Enviro 500. They ordered hundreds of them. As I said at the time, there was a zero export market for the BozzaMaster. No operator was going to foot the bill for reconfiguring the chassis for left hand drive. And the vehicle’s useless air cooling system makes it a non-starter for warmer climates, like that in Mexico City.

There will be no “iconic red London buses” going to Mexico. The order has gone instead to the company prepared to build what operators want. Who have done export business with the UK firmly in the EU. ADL don’t need Liam Fox to help them get orders.

The Great Guido knows all about Fake News. That’s because the site churns out so much of it. Another fine mess, once again.