When Adam Levinson, Fleet Manager from East Riding of Yorkshire Council visited our Rochdale site recently, all eight of their new Mercedes-Benz Strata HF buses were lined up and ready for his inspection. What he saw was the result of our thorough quality assurance process from inline inspections to end of line quality sign off that makes sure every vehicle leaving our facility is built right first time.

“All inspected, all meet specification and no quality issues,” said Levinson. “After feedback from customers, Mellor have implemented new quality control which enhanced processes. ERYC are impressed with the speed of inspections.”

At Mellor, we don’t just inspect vehicles at the end. We check them throughout the entire build. From the moment a chassis arrives to the final handover, we’re constantly making sure everything is done to the customer’s exact requirements.

For East Riding of Yorkshire Council, this meant building eight identical 16-passenger buses, each able to carry six wheelchairs, with internally mounted tail lifts, air climate systems, CCTV, and removable seats.

Our quality assurance starts during the build itself. We make sure the chassis and framework are the right size, welding matches the engineering drawings, and parts are fitted correctly and safely at every stage. This means we full control from end-to-end.

When a vehicle is finished, it goes through our Pre-Delivery Inspection – a detailed final check using specific criteria gathered from each stage of the build wrapped up in a final sign off. Our team systematically check critical to safety features from fuel lines to seats, including our paintwork is perfect. These critical passenger safety checks on accessible buses include tail lifts, wheelchair restraints at a minimum.

During the final inspection visit, East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s team performed a detailed self-inspection which included, the underseal, tested the tail lifts, functionality of the lights, electrics, cycled the doors, and made sure the bell pushes worked on all eight vehicles. Having all the buses on site at once made the inspection efficient and let them compare vehicles side by side.

This delivery shows East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s ongoing trust in Mellor – we now supply half of their 100-bus fleet. The Council chose these vehicles through a competitive tender. The fact they keep coming back to us shows the relationship we’ve built through consistent quality and good service.

Mark Padgett, Assistant Fleet Service Manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, explained the vehicles will be used for local authority services, taking children to school, adult social care, and respite care.

Eight vehicles that passed inspection with no quality issues, ready to start serving the communities of East Riding of Yorkshire with the reliability and safety standards our customers expect.

Our Pre-Delivery Inspection isn’t about paperwork – it’s about making sure that when operators like East Riding of Yorkshire Council put passengers in our vehicles, they can do it knowing everything has been checked properly. That’s something we take seriously with every inspection, on every vehicle, every day.