"Spirit of London" was first shown to the public on 3 October 2005. It was the first production Enviro400 to be built; the Enviro400 was Alexander Dennis' successor to the Dennis Trident and Alexander ALX400. It was originally assigned Stagecoach fleet number 18500, which is otherwise used for Trident-based vehicles. After a long promotional tour, "Spirit of London" went into use on route 30 in January 2006, five months after the Tavistock Square attack had occurred on the same route. 