Fenn Holidays of Cambridgeshire has been among early adopters of Arriva Bus & Coach’s fixed-price maintenance packages. A renowned Van Hool customer, Fenn Holidays has a small fleet of four 14-metre TX17 Astrons which are exclusively run on tour work, with destinations throughout the UK and Europe. With experience of coach touring going back to […]
Two highly popular events staged in Morecambe last weekend delivered a fitting commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the formation of Ribble Motor Company. Stuart Jones attended both. At its peak, Ribble Motor Conmpany ran 1,300 buses and coaches, employed 5,500 staff and carried 216m passengers annually (1956). The first, held on the Saturday, was […]
Something special was called for Marshalls of Sutton-on-Trent’s 30th year in business. The anniversary came just at the time the operator was seeking a small coach. So to mark the occasion, the company went for a brand new 10.8m VDL Futura FHD2. What also makes this new vehicle noteworthy is it is the first coach […]
It’s in a picture-postcard location, right on the border between Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, but the prompt for my visit to Taf Valley Coaches on that occasion wasn’t the scenery but a newly refurbished office. And now I’m back, this time for a new, purpose-built (indeed, Edwards-built) two-storey office block. That’s the headline, but much more […]
The death of Alan White, founder of Minis to Midis, last year was a great shock as was the closure of this leading minicoach dealer a few months later. The loss of the dealer left Noones, the Irish producers of the popular Turas range of minicoaches, without a UK dealer. In October they rectified this […]
From a minibus point of view Treka well and truly stole the Show at this year’s CV Show held in Birmingham. A new vehicle from Treka is very, very rare. It is known across the industry for producing very practical coachbuilt and van conversion 16-22 seat wheelchair accessible conversions on the 5/5.5 tonnes Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, […]
Small bus manufacturers from across Europe were in Madrid recently answering the invitation to put forward their latest vehicles as candidates for the Minibus of the Year accolade. First they had to participate in the second-ever Minibus Euro Test. Stuart Jones was there. The international Bus & Coach of the Year Jury, which has been […]
It is more than two and a half years since I first drove the exciting new VW Crafter replacement for the popular LT Crafter. So what’s that got to do with MAN TGE? They are essentially the same vehicle save for the badging. The old LT was, of course, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter body which was […]