I was hooked on a bus simulator game, so I bought my own double-decker at 15 – now I’ve passed my test and drive it
BUS fan Liv Rayment is driving a double-decker she bought seven years ago — at the age of 15.
Hooked on a bus simulator video game, she stumped up £4,500 for the Arriva vehicle thanks to a loan from a pal.
The bus, four months older than her, was set to be scrapped.
Liv, now 22, has since given it a fresh lick of paint but chose to keep the original seats.
She said: “When I was 13, I had a friend of a friend who owned a bus and there’s a community of people who own them.
“I found the idea of owning a bus and restoring old ones really cool.
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“My parents weren’t too warm to it and thought it was a bit odd. But they were quite happy that I wasn’t going out and doing bad things at the weekend.”
Liv, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, passed her bus test ten months after completing her A-levels.
She now works as a coach driver and admin manager at Warwickshire-based Ridleys Coaches.
She drives her double-decker to bus-owner rallies, as well as using it to train other young learner bus drivers. And she has racked up 100,000 followers on TikTok.
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Liv added: “My boyfriend has no idea what’s going on but I’d rather it stay that way because otherwise you’re getting home and talking about work.”