The £225,000 coach is named after Special Olympian Omar Haddad, who the operator first transported 20 years ago
Anthony’s Travel has named its new Beulas Spica after Special Olympian Omar Haddad.
When Anne, Richard and Tony Bamber were looking for an inspirational person after whom to name their latest coach purchase, they looked no further than Omar, who they first transported to school 20 years ago.
Anthony’s Travel’s purpose-built 49-seater MAN-powered Beulas Spica coach was officially launched at the Euro Bus Expo last November and entered service in December. The fully accessible coach is fitted with a wheelchair lift.
Explaining the decision to invest £225,000 in the coach, Richard said: “We had noticed a growing demand for high quality fully accessible coach travel. While other options were available to us, many of the coaches being offered to us sacrificed facilities for additional seating. What we wanted to ensure was that none of our passengers missed out and this coach has slightly more facilities than our other 49-seater executive coaches.
“Onboard facilities include air conditioning, a washroom, drinks machine, microwave, powerpoints, WiFi, a DVD player and even a karaoke machine.
“The tag line of the coach is ‘Access for all’ and therefore we thought it was only natural to name the coach after Omar.
“Omar has that shown that despite his disabilities they do not need to be a barrier. He has competed at the highest level and is a truly inspirational young man of whom we are all very proud.
“In selection of vehicle and facilities we have also received great support and advice from Bob Bryant of the Lets Go Stroke Club, a person and organisation which provide a real example of positive thinking.
“Bob tires us out just talking to him! His energy and enthusiasm certainly puts us more able bodied people to shame!”
