Mitcham Belle lasted a little over five years, coming onto the London bus scene on 10th April 1999 with the acquisition of route 127 from the mixed bag of operators that had been running it. Twelve 10.7-metre Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Dart SLFs were purchased, introducing a red, white and blue livery and a fleetname in Celtic script. A year later they picked up the 200 and 201 from London General, with 10-metre Darts this time. They followed this in 2001 with the 152 and new route 493, both of which saw a change of allegiance from Plaxton to Caetano Nimbus bodywork, the adoption of a numeric fleetnumbering system and a new, mostly-red livery. While their new buses arrived, they acquired a handful of former Sovereign Darts, which added some blue and cream to the fleet. Many of these subsequently wandered from operator to operator and have only recently returned in time for the Centra takeover. The minibus component of the Mitcham Belle fleet comprised four Optare Solos for the K5.

Centra had been making their reputation on rail replacements until their first stage services came with the acquisition of Thames Bus. While they are getting their newly expanded fleet back into fighting shape, they have hired vehicles from all over. Another example of a wandering batch of very youthful buses is DCL 413 (T413 LGP), a Caetano Compass-bodied Dennis Dart SLF new to Limebourne in 1999 and then discarded by successors Connex shortly after its routes were converted back to double-deck operation. On hire from Ensignbus's sales stock, it is seen in Mitcham on Sunday 12th September, with the cauliflower-shaped Centra logo added to its red livery.