Outside of London this was a corporate livery of aquamarine with a Cotswold stone (cream) swoop, Arriva branding and a strap-line of the region the bus was operating in.

In late Summer 1998, Arriva North West (rather than GMPTE) became responsible for the management of the bus station at the new Trafford Centre shopping mall.

However, the Nova Scotia acquisition would soon prove a minor event for Arriva North West's future development which significantly changed as a consequence of the impending bankruptcy and sale of Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings.

Arriva's acquisition of MTL significantly increased its presence within Merseyside's bus market with the effect that Aintree based CMT Buses remained its only meaningful competitor.

However, at the 11th hour, this deal broke down and instead Go Ahead acquired Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd merging it into its established Metrobus operation.

Gillmoss was eventually purchased on 15 July 2001 by two former MTL managers - Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell who formed Glenvale Transport (GT).

GT began expanding its service network against Arriva North West and in June 2003 acquired CMT Buses, further strengthening its position in Liverpool, in particular.