Posted on Friday 19th September 2025

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After a fairly quiet few months, things picked up in August, although pressure of other work has meant I have not had time to catch up until now.

Firstly several white 25-reg Renault Kangoo Maxi electric vans were seen at Metroline garages. Given that Metroline has previously used mainly red Ford vans, we were not sure if these were company vehicles, although a couple have since been seen with red Metroline lettering. In a further twist, the first 75-reg SV to be reported was a Ford Transit Courier van in unmarked red seen at Metroline Hayes. Perhaps they are going to dual-source.

In mid-August a visitor to the Elizabeth Line depot at Plumstead found no fewer than 15 new Ford Transit electric crew vans present. All were in the standard TfL white livery and had fleetnumbers in the range 9470F-9486F. A couple of weeks later they were joined by four Ford Transit Custom electric crew vans (9461F-9464F), both types being new to the central fleet. Most of the existing white/blue/purple vehicles have now gone, apart from one VW Caddy Maxi (8637VW), and it appears that the Transit dropside trucks have been replaced by hired vehicles for now. We have been advised that a further 4 new vehicles are due in the next couple of weeks, to give a fleet total of 41. This represents a considerable enlargement over the original fleet of 24.

Fleetlists were received for both First Bus London and Go-Ahead London. The former included a lot of previously unknown service vehicles, although it appears that many were hires and were most likely operated without any markings. I took the decision to add the vans to the database but I did not bother with the many cars listed, as it was not clear which were used as crew ferries, and in any case some had already left the left.

By contrast, the Go-Ahead list did not contain any new vehicles, although some must be expected soon to start replacing the oldest Mercedes Vito crew ferry minibuses. What the list did show was the ESxx and FVxx fleetnumbers allocated to most of the existing fleet. Very few vehicles carry these numbers externally, but I have added the details to the database for info.

Potentially more interesting was a list of central fleet service vehicles that was passed on to me having been obtained through a Freedom of Information (FoI) enquiry. Unfortunately it was limited in detail, showing just the fleetnumber and vehicle type. Registration numbers, users and allocations were not included. Even so, there were some interesting points. Firstly, 8917F was listed as a Ford Transit crew van. This has never been seen, though we would assume it is 19-reg or 69-reg and in LUL white/blue/red. One to keep an eye out for.

Most (but not all) of the gaps in the known number series have been used. 9150-9152, 9161 and 9166/9167 were missed (cancelled?), while 43 unseen numbers between 9177 and 9393 are on Ford Transit Connect vans. Numbers 9330, 9337, 9372-9374, 9397 and 9398 are gaps, even though we have seen 9330F and 9374F! Similarly, 9399R-9438R are all Renault Kangoo diesel vans, apart from gaps 9411 (this one was returned as faulty), 9418, 9424 and 9432, although 9424R has been seen. Not yet seen are 9407R, 9412R, 9421R, 9425R, 9429R and 9436R. Finally, 9439R-9458R are 20 Renault Kangoo electric vans, of which 9445R, 9450R and 9456R have not yet been seen. The new vehicles for the Elizabeth Line (9461F upwards) were not yet listed.

Finally (for now), an Isuzu F110 mini-dustcart was seen at Acton Works in late August. LT73EAK was in white with a yellow stripe and TfL lettering. However, it may be just a hire, as it was not on the FoI list, and it has not had a change of ownership since it was new in December 2023.

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Posted on Monday 26th May 2025

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21 vehicles have been added to the database today, although there is little of great interest. Two more TfL Ford Transit Connects have been found, while two new makes are now represented. Stagecoach have listed a Maxus E Deliver 3 electric van at Plumstead, although no-one has seen it yet. The type has been shown on LTSV before, in Works for London livery. Two operators have Mini cars in use as crew ferries (Arriva London at Dartford and Stagecoach at Rainham), both believed to be hired.

Go-Ahead London had at least 9 21-reg unmarked white Nissan NV250 (Renault Kangoo clone) vans in use over the past year or two. Observations suggested they had all gone earlier this year and the database was updated accordingly. However, HG21XSA was seen recently (at Croydon garage) and there may be more. Perhaps related, three unmarked white 74/25-reg Citroen vans were noted at Merton garage recently, although it is not known if these were actually Go-Ahead vehicles.

Staying with Go-Ahead, another of the black BYD E6Y electric cars has been noted, at the new Ellis Road garage in Mitcham (that replaced Goat Road). It would appear that these cars are on hire from BYD, as vehicles with similar registrations have also been noted with RATP/First and Uno.

Finally, the lorry yard at Acton Works was vacated on about the 1st of May, with the lorries now being kept in the former DSM van yard within the works. Unfortunately this means that they can no longer be seen from passing trains. Bollo House remains in use at present but is also believed to be due for closure and redevelopment.

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Posted on Wednesday 30th April 2025

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There are various bits of news to catch up on. Firstly, a new Ford Transit Mk8 van in TfL livery has been noted. Numbered 9460F it is the first full-sized van to be delivered since 2021. It was noted at Tufnell Park so it may be a one-off for the power supply division, perhaps with specialist equipment. Or it could be the start of a renewal of the large number of big vans (mainly Ford Transits) in the fleet. Photo to follow.

More examples of the Ford Transit Connect and Renault Kangoo diesel vans and Renault Kangoo electric vans for TfL have been noted, with at least 8 of the latter allocated to the Elizabeth Line.


We now know of 191 Transit Connects, 29 diesel Kangoos and 14 electric Kangoos delivered since spring 2024. If the fleetnumbers are in continuous blocks (as appears to be the case), then there could be around 40 more Transit Connects, 11 diesel Kangoos and 6 electric Kangoos still to be reported. Updating the last news story, the Transit Connects at Silwood Triangle are now known to be 9290F and 9358F. Photos - if you can't guess - are to follow.

The first 25-reg SVs to be seen were a pair of Ford Tourneo Custom minibuses for Metroline at Potters Bar (AY25JBU and AY25JCU). These replaced youthful AY21KFT and AY21KKT, from which they differed by being electric (not diesel) and unmarked white (not unmarked red). Photos to follow.

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Posted on Friday 21st March 2025

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Most notable amongst recently reported fleet additions are no fewer than 8 Renault Kangoo electric crew vans at the Elizabeth Line depot in Plumstead, where they appear to have replaced most of the VW Caddy Maxi crew vans. The new vans are in the plain TfL white and are numbered in the range 9442R to 9455R. This suggests the batch is multi-user, as 9444R, 9453R and 9457R have been seen working for LBSL. There are also reported to be a couple of TfL Kangoos with London Overground at Silwood Triangle, the identities for which are not yet available.

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Posted on Sunday 2nd March 2025

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More TfL Renault Kangoos have been noted recently. The short-wheelbase diesel vans are numbered in the range 9399R to 9437R, with 20 reported (plus 2 for which fleetnumbers were not obtained). These have been followed by a batch of long-wheelbase electric crew vans, with just 4 seen so far, numbered between 9439R and 9457R. One each has been noted at Blackwall (Naval Row) and Acton Works, with 2 at Eltham Bus Station, although it is not entirely clear who the user of these is. Of the Eltham vans, one featured yellow safety stripes along the sides and red/yellow chevrons on the rear, while the other lacked the stripes and had a plain white rear.


Talking of safety stripes, these have also been noted on a few other vehicles, including a new diesel Kangoo, one of the Ford Transit Connect vans delivered last year and, surprisingly, on an LUL-liveried Ford Transit Custom crew van.


It is not yet clear if the yellow stripes are to become a standard livery feature, or only applied for particular roles. Reports of any sightings would be welcomed. I have not yet decided if this detail should be included in the liveries recorded on the LTSV database, but I have started producing icons to allow it to be shown there (see today's Site News).

Ahead of producing a new SUP24 booklet for LOTS, I have been trying to track vehicles that have left the fleet recently, making use of license and V5C data from the DVLA. This is not foolproof however, as a vehicle can be delicensed and/or have a new V5C but still be in the fleet. Departures have included yet more cars, including the last 2 Ford Mondeos. There are now fewer than 30 cars in the central fleet (down from about 120 a year ago), although I suspect that the actual total will be even less. Some cars are certainly out of use (though still 'in stock'), while others have not been seen for years and may well have already gone.

There is not much to report from the bus company fleets. The nine (or so) anonymous white Nissan NV250 vans with HG21xxx registrations that had been used by Go-Ahead London have all been marked as withdrawn, since none have been reported for a couple of months. There are also now (thankfully) fewer anonymous hired crew ferry cars at Arriva London's Dartford garage, following the loss of 3 bus routes on re-tendering recently. The big news however is that the sale of RATP-Dev's London bus operations to First was completed on the last day of February. London United, London Sovereign, and London Transit are all now part of First Bus London, although it is not yet known whether the subsidiary company names are being retained or changed. Also unknown is whether First will implement a fleet renumbering, although this would seem likely.

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Posted on Thursday 12th December 2024

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The monopoly on new deliveries by Ford Transit Connects was finally broken when 11 Renault Kangoo vans were delivered to Acton Works last week. This is a bit strange as the Kangoo is broadly similar to the Transit Connect in size and capacity. I had expected any variety to be in the form of larger vans, minibuses or dropsides. Still, it is at least some variety. The new vans are in the same all white with blue TfL markings, and they were numbered in the range 9399R to 9437R, suggesting a batch of at least 40 is on the way. It is too early to say where they are going to be allocated but a reporter passing the lorry yard today noted that most of the Kangoos had already departed, and in their place were a variety of LUL and TfL cars, perhaps having been replaced.

We are not yet done with the Transit Connects though. There are now 172 in the database, for which fleetnumbers are not known for 20. The known number range is from 9169F to 9396F, and I suspect that this entire run of 228 vehicles will indeed be Transit Connects. A correspondent has identified about 50 additional registration marks which could well be TfL vehicles. We just need somebody to see (and report) them all, which might take some time. Having said all that, a couple of 24-reg Transit Connects were seen at Acton Works in late November. They were in the normal registration series but were unmarked, and it appears that they had only just been delivered, despite having been registered 7 months earlier. By the following week, the two vans had gained TfL markings, and they were numbered as 9247F and 9459F, the latter number being well after the block of Renault Kangoos.

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Posted on Sunday 3rd November 2024

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Deliveries of new vehicles for TfL have continued, now into 74 registrations but still only featuring various types of Ford Transit Connect vans. A total of 151 have been reported, and it is highly probable that there are some others that we have missed. The newest arrivals have pushed the fleetnumbers up to 9395F, meaning that the range now covers 227 numbers (9169F to 9395F). However, they are not arriving in numerical order, so some of the missing 76 vehicles may not yet have been delivered. Of the 151 known vehicles, 106 are crew vans (all but one being of the longer variety), while the 45 vans are split almost equally between the two lengths available.

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