Hams Travel at Flimwell might be worth calling, I have used them a couple of times.
Martin:
Hams Travel at Flimwell might be worth calling, I have used them a couple of times.
I used to talk to quite a few of their drivers when working railway replacements together with them. They’d regularly pull a 15 hour Sunday finishing at 2am and be out the next day at 7am for a school run. This was over 10-15 years ago so things may well have changed. Seems most coach firms have struggled to run 100% legit at some time or another. Even the likes of Brighton & Hove have been in trouble lately with the TC for maintenance issues.
nurburg340:
Got a quote back. £6200 plus driver accommodation.
That price seems somewhat excessive for the length of trip you are planning. However it is now Summer Season within the coach industry and most firms will have already got booked and planned a good chunk of the summers work and tours.
Recently when the school has organised trips abroad for the children, they have used the services of PGL Activity Holidays and PGL book the coaches. One coach company was Taw and Torridge Coaches from North Devon and another was Cropley Coaches from Boston in Lincolnshire. I live in South West London.
You could try someone far away. They will come and get you, arrange the tunnel/ferry crossings etc and drop you back. If it’s fits in with something else they are doing and the coaches don’t have to return home after the trip then that will keep your costs down.
Worthing coaches worth a try, they run decent kit and I know a few of the drivers.
Rambler Coaches in Hastings, and a bit further afield Buzzlines at Hythe and Safeguard at Guildford are all established coach firms with a good name. Buzzlines have recently had a major investment in new kit; Safeguard’s is a bit older but they run most of their stuff from brand new to the scrapyard and look after it. The guy in charge in the garage there is top notch.
£6,200 is steep for what you want even after ferry/train crossings are factored in and any tolls, if applicable. I know that Manchester to Wembley and back in a day with two drivers on board is about £1,200 with a decent firm on a 53-seater.
Bear in mind that the more expensive operators will be only too happy to show you their risk assessments, driver training programmes, etc etc. The cheaper ones won’t, and you may find out that your all-singing, all-dancing executive coach turns out to be a 20-year old Dennis.
mucker85:
Worthing coaches worth a try, they run decent kit and I know a few of the drivers.
Yep, has incorporated what used to also be Eastbourne coaches. Have a friend who worked for them and didn’t hear of any horrors. Crawley Luxury who are on the same estate however…
A reasonably good guide to a coach company is to find out what their reputation is like for the reliability of their schools service and what they put out for the children to travel on.
When I worked for Coach & Bus Week we’d occasionally get calls from angry punters about the state of coaches they’d hired for outings and functions.
“It was old and smelly and so was the driver, it wasn’t safe etc”
I always asked what criteria they’d used to select the company. Had they asked about the age of the coach, did it have air-con, when was it last MoT’d etc?
“Oh, no I just called around until I got the cheapest”
Well you certainly did dear…you pays your money and you makes your choice…comfort and safety cost.
Overnight or rest period driver accommodation is a hot topic currently. This is particularly important if the return trip needs the drivers to sleep during the day. The standard to be achieved is for an individual room for each driver in a quiet part of the hotel. The load being a little bit more precious than a few shrink wrapped pallets.
cav551:
A reasonably good guide to a coach company is to find out what their reputation is like for the reliability of their schools service and what they put out for the children to travel on.
Sadly some of the school coaches are the worst around because it’s all come down to who can do the work the cheapest.
As I mentioned in my earlier post - Crawley Luxury got their licence suspended recently for driving hours offences (this was a joke in itself as the suspension was only valid for the xmas half term when they weren’t operating) and the state of some of their coaches beggars belief. Yet they still continue to operate locally on school contracts for the local councils.
m1cks:
As I mentioned in my earlier post - Crawley Luxury got their licence suspended recently for driving hours offences (this was a joke in itself as the suspension was only valid for the Christmas half term when they weren’t operating) and the state of some of their coaches beggars belief. Yet they still continue to operate locally on school contracts for the local councils.
Corrected your spelling m1cks, sorry mate it stuck out in red 
It wasn’t just hours offences, it was maintenance issues and failing to keep correct drivers records of who exactly was driving which particular coach when some of the vehicles Crawley operate speed through various red lights on numerous occasions 
einstein:
m1cks:
As I mentioned in my earlier post - Crawley Luxury got their licence suspended recently for driving hours offences (this was a joke in itself as the suspension was only valid for the Christmas half term when they weren’t operating) and the state of some of their coaches beggars belief. Yet they still continue to operate locally on school contracts for the local councils.Corrected your spelling m1cks, sorry mate it stuck out in red
It wasn’t just hours offences, it was maintenance issues and failing to keep correct drivers records of who exactly was driving which particular coach when some of the vehicles Crawley operate speed through various red lights on numerous occasions
I’ve corrected it myself! The pitfalls of posting on a phone with a warped sense of auto correct and not having the time to proof read.
I was aware of all the other offences too and surprised at the way the TC dealt with it. Being banned from operating at a time when they didn’t need to operate always seemed a but defeatest.