– It is very boring.

It is approaching 11 p.m. on Monday evening when the police check the first Russian bus of the night.

The police stop only the driver who is in the Russian bus. He is on his way to Bærums Verk to pick up party-ready junk.

He won’t get that far. During the inspection of the Russian bus, the police and the Norwegian Road Administration find a number of faults.

Suddenly the bus is impounded and the driver loses his driving licence.

Russian bus and driver’s license confiscated

The Russe bus lacks an emergency exit window and the vehicle card does not match digital data. The speakers are not attached well enough. Nor are the handles for the standing places.

Power cables hang criss-cross behind the driver. Metal rubs against the main power cable from the unit. The tachograph, which measures the driver’s driving and rest time, has not been calibrated for five years.

The police can’t find any information about the trailer hitch either, even though it pulls a load of 1,800 kilograms.

The bus is therefore towed away and sent for further inspection by the Norwegian Road Administration.

– What we are looking for is whether the bus is in a safe condition, so that no danger or personal injury can arise on board. When you see it here, you get quite upset, says police officer Kenneth at the Oslo police district.

He does not want his full name in print due to his usual duties in the police.

– We have put a lot of time and money into it

It was supposed to be the first day of rolling after the Helltrain bus returned from a week at the workshop, but now they have to wait for clarification from the Norwegian Road Administration on whether the bus can run again.

– It is very boring. We have put a lot of time and money into it, says bus member Jørgen Holserher (18).

It has been three years since they started saving for the Russian bus. They find it incredibly disappointing that it has now been seized.

They fear it will take a long time before the errors are rectified. In the meantime, they have to roll with others or use a backup bus.

– There are ten days left of the rush hour, so it’s a bit hectic, says bus manager Markus Melkior Berg Jansson (18).

Acted as a driver for one evening

The driver who was stopped by the blue lights on the night of Tuesday says that he is not the actual driver of the Helltrain.

When the daughter asked if she could join in rolling with the older Russian, the father said that it was not relevant unless he could join.

Since he has been driving buses for years, they agreed that he could drive the Russian bus this particular evening.

– I didn’t think it was going to be relevant, but when I first said it was fine, I almost had to stand for it, says the driver.

Ideally, he would have liked to get rid of driving the Russian bus and rather go to sleep. On Tuesday morning, he has to go to work at 08:00.

But because of the promise to his daughter, he has now had his driver’s license confiscated.

– Too bad it’s possible

Helltrain’s bus manager says they were not aware of the faults with the Russian bus until the night’s inspection.

– It was EU approved two months ago, so if it had been driven in Sweden it would have been approved.

The bus the boys at Helltrain have rented, is registered in Sweden.

Recently, there have been more and more Swedish-registered Russian buses on Norwegian roads, says police officer Kennet.

By renting Swedish-registered buses, Russians can get hold of buses that would not be possible to get approved in Norway, such as buses with side-by-side seats and approved standing places.

This is something many Russians want.

– It is a shame that is possible in terms of traffic safety for the Russians, says police officer Kenneth.

On Tuesday morning, the police still could not say how many Russian buses were checked and seized.