Only a week ago the third casualty among the increasingly ill-starred Mercedes-Benz Citaro G type occurred before the bus had even got to London! One of Arriva London North's first batch for the 149, due to go over on 24th April, was burnt out on delivery. Not long before that London Central lost the rear half of MAL 51 to a fire, joining the completely destroyed MAL 36.

A variety of explanations has been put forward for these fires, which by sheer luck alone have not claimed any lives, but London is not the only place where Citaros have been burnt out; several vehicles operating with firms on the Continent have also suffered high-profile demises.

I think it's time TfL put a stop to conversions of routes to articulated buses, on physical, cultural and financial grounds. Nobody wants them, they are grossly ill-suited for London and they're dangerous!

There was absolutely nothing left of the New Cross MAL after it went up last night - not even the numberplate - so I'm using a generic shot of MAL 54 (BL52 ODM) on the 436 to illustrate what the type looks like.