This article is written from the perspective of the UK mainland and does not touch on the special situation on the island of Ireland. The governments in Wales and Scotland will have some scope to walk in different directions in devolved policy areas, but the practicalities of taking a coach party to Europe will not […]
One of the most vocal MPs fighting for the future of the coach industry in recent months has been Emma Hardy, MP for Hull West and Hessle. Since October last year, Emma has campaigned to gain Government support for the sector. Despite experiencing a setback in her goal in December when she was told no […]
With shops re-opening and a range of retailers online, there’s still time to get that special model bus in time for Christmas. The range of new models is more limited this year as production capacity in China experienced the early impact of the pandemic and demand has been high for those releases that have reached […]
The business was started by Chris’s father, Ernie Dudley, a motor mechanic, in July 1938. He had completed an apprenticeship with the Austin dealers, Morralls of Evesham, and subsequently worked for Ford dealers, Coulters, which explained his preference for the Ford brand in the early years. It wasn’t initially a coach business but a retail […]
The hard fact is, buses are proportionately more involved in bridge strikes than trucks, and it’s time to do more to prevent them, says Senior Traffic Commissioner, Kevin Rooney. Stone King’s ‘Bridge Strike Awareness’ even brought together bus operators and a number of experts from academia and from National Rail to find out what’s happening, […]
Auctions of coach and bus fleets are, at the moment, an uncomfortable truth. The current succession of sales are, very sadly, at the behest of a liquidator, as operators continue to succumb to the current crisis in the industry. It’s also a fact that prices being achieved at auction are significantly below the aspirations you […]
Rikki Wilson‘s face may be familiar to some readers as he appeared on the BBC’s The Politics Show explaining the difficulties he and many in the industry are facing. He contacted his local MP, Newcastle’s Chi Onwurah, who took the question to the Houses of Parliament and asked the Prime Minister whether the coach industry […]
News of operators starting tours and holidays again and tourism bodies still encouraging Christmas visits from groups were some of the positive things being said at the Coach Tourism Association’s (CTA’s) recent Zoom conference. However, there was a shot of realism on the current coach tour situation, with some very real difficulties mentioned, even for […]