Alan Payling talks to Ian Rhodes who caters for a specialised, niche market that requires a caring attitude which goes above and beyond the normal call of duty for those who work in the coach trade
It goes without saying that the coach trade is an industry that has to and does indeed look after the welfare of its customers. Whether it’s safely carrying people the length and breadth of Europe, or ensuring that people are allocated the sort of hotel rooms they need and the sort of food they require; in so many ways the standards set in the coach trade far exceed what passes for customer service in other sectors of the economy. Think for a minute – or more like many hours – if coach operators acted like parcel carriers. ‘We’ll be at the pick up between 0900 and 1800hrs, sir’. And bankruptcy would soon loom if the industry acted like the building trade. ‘We’ll be at the pick up sometime next week, madam’. In comparison, the coach trade stands head and shoulders above such people when it comes to service delivery.
Travel by Rhodes of Bestwood
Standing on those very broad shoulders is an owner operator who provides a service that puts Ian Rhodes of Travel by Rhodes of Bestwood, Nottingham not only in another class but in a league that only a few other operators occupy.[wlm_nonmember][…]
What you get with a subscription
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
While Ian operates a single coach, it is a specialised vehicle that offers his passengers a lifeline to enjoy experiences that so many of us take for granted. I say all this because Ian Rhodes operates a wheelchair accessible coach that is fully equipped to provide luxury transport for up to five people who rely completely on wheelchairs plus other passengers with disabilities and their carers. To find out more about how Ian works, while he was staying in Torquay, he kindly invited me to spend the day with him when he took his group to the House of Marbles in Bovey Tracey and then to Newton Abbot Market.
The first thing you’ll notice about Ian’s coach is the extra space he needs when he starts loading. This is because of the wheelchair lift fitted to the nearside of the coach in the space where most coaches have an emergency exit. The lift is an Access model made by Powermatic Passenger Lifts of Smethwick in the West Midlands. When fully extended the Access takes up an extra six feet, plus Ian needs another three feet to get wheelchairs off the lift.
Loading was surprisingly quick when we were getting ready to set off first thing. There were 25 people in his group, five of whom were in wheelchairs with one lady in an electric wheelchair. With this group, all but two of those in wheelchairs were able to transfer to standard seats when they got on the coach. There were also a number of other passengers with walkers. What made loading relatively quick and easy was Ian’s use of the lift to load passengers who, while they could walk and stand, would have found the steps onto the coach difficult, thereby slowing down loading. So, the lift hoisted them rapidly and safely onto the coach. Because Ian had to be on the lift to hold on to standing passengers, one lady took the opportunity to give Ian a quick cuddle. She used the lift six times that day!
Ian also had help from the carers who travel with some of his passengers. Once the lift was folded away and Ian secured the wheelchair users staying in their chairs, they quickly loaded the unused wheelchairs and walkers into the locker and off we went.
The time spent loading does depend on the sort of group Ian is carrying. It takes him up to half an hour to load the passengers from one nursing home he works for. Loading time also depends upon whether passengers are staying in their wheelchair once on board, in which case they have to be clamped securely into position. The coach can carry a maximum of five wheelchair passengers who remain in their chairs but up to 22 wheelchair passengers who transfer to standard seats can also be accommodated. Ian says that loading that many wheelchairs into the locker is an art form. In this configuration, the coach takes 38 passengers or can be upseated to a 49-seater when used by fully mobile passengers. The onboard toilet is on the same level as the seating but is not accessible by wheelchair users. The coach also has a facility to provide hot drinks so when the party has a rest stop, passengers who rely on walkers can use the onboard toilet and then have a hot drink without getting off the coach.
The vehicle
The coach itself is a 2008 Iveco EuroRider Beulas Cygnus that had already been adapted for disabled groups when Ian Rhodes bought it three years ago. Given the groups that Ian carries, I was interested to know what would happen in the case of a breakdown. Here, Ian has to consider all possible eventualities. His plan is to a) rely on his membership of National Coach Systems to get him going again and quickly and b) if he can’t get going, to put out a call for help via Don’t Travel Empty. To date, his only mechanical preoblem was a broken fan belt. He managed to drive the coach to a pub and then received speedy help via plan a) which saw Pulhams & Sons (Coaches) Ltd of Bourton-on-the-Water get him going within an hour, for which Ian was very grateful.
Operating the coach also requires careful planning ahead. Generally everything then runs smoothly, but not always. A recent trip to the Isle of Wight was in the latter category, unfortunately.
The ferry company concerned had been advised of Ian’s needs. Normally, when Ian drives onto the ferry, unless the captain agrees they can stay with the coach, all passengers have to disembark. To facilitate this, once the coach is on the ferry, a car space is left empty adjacent to the lift. Not on this occasion. Nor was it available on the return crossing. As a result, the group had to be unloaded on the dock side and join the ferry as foot passengers.
Parking can be an issue and Ian has tried on many occasions to obtain a Blue Badge. In many local authority areas in the east Midlands, Ian would be able to successfully apply for a Blue Badge for his coach given the very obvious need. Unfortunately, his local authority, Nottingham City Council, won’t entertain his application despite repeated attempts to resolve the matter and despite the help of the CPT. Where Ian has to rely on a Blue Badge, he can call upon his passengers to bring theirs but he is reluctant to do so.
Given the above issues I was curious to know what sort of places Ian Rhodes takes his groups to. Well, as to where Ian can take his groups is very much a case of who dares wins. For Ian there is potentially nowhere that is out of bounds for his coach and his passengers. Ian does have to do a bit more research to ensure the space he needs to unload the coach is going to be available and the site is going to be accessible for his passengers. If he does have a problem, Ian says that when people see him unloading his passengers, even if he has to block of one lane of a road, they are generally understanding. Looking at the attention some people paid to the coach unloading, it is a bit of an event when he rolls up. At the House of Marbles, a family group with one member in a wheelchair were mightily impressed by the ease with which Ian loaded everyone.
It is not only a bit of an event; it is also a marketing opportunity as Ian didn’t miss a trick as business cards were very quickly handed round!
Generally though, because of Ian’s placid and patient nature, his wide experience and his on-board helpers, things generally go to plan. Looking at the time I spent with him it seemed like Ian could deal with any eventuality.
Passengers
The passengers that Ian carries vary considerably and when I was with him they were a mix of the disabled and the able bodied. In that respect, Ian’s coach could be seen as a normal coach that just happens to cater for disabled passengers, but for his passengers it is much more than that. What I didn’t realise is that Ian’s coach allows families who have a disabled member to travel away on holiday together. In one case that Ian cited, a new disabled passenger hadn’t been away on holiday with his family for 20 years. Ian’s coach is a lifeline not just for the disabled but for whole families to enjoy valuable time together. For Ian it meant that on one occasion he got a booking for a large group because one member was disabled. Previously the disabled member had had to follow the group’s coach in a car.
Ian Rhodes caters to passengers with a wide range of disabilities including people without legs and the visually impaired, amongst many others. It is perhaps easier to ask which disabled people Ian hasn’t carried; that is a very short list.
Many of the people Ian carries need their carers to travel with them. In such cases the passengers will pay their carer’s costs and make a contribution to their wages. However, some charities offer grants to cover the cost of holidays. For example, the Nottingham Stroke Group will cover the cost of the coach while group members pay for their hotel accommodation.
One big difference in the service Ian offers is the space his passengers take up, which has a big impact upon how many seats he can fill. One fixed wheelchair uses the space normally taken up by four standard seats. For a passenger who uses an electric wheelchair, where they transfer to a standard seat, it means they take up five seats. Despite this, looking at Ian’s price for his five day holiday in Torquay at £275 per head, his wheelchair bound passengers pay the same as everyone else and pay a rate not dissimilar to that charged by other operators for a holiday in Torquay in late May. A balance does have to be struck here though. Ian has to say he will only provide space for a maximum of five wheelchairs but it still means that for 20 seats he can only be paid for five.
Holidays
Careful planning is also required when it comes to Ian’s choice of hotels and when he is actually arranging a holiday to meet the specific needs of his group. I met Ian when he was staying at the Babbacombe Hotel, formally the Sefton Hotel on Babbacombe Downs at Torquay. For the specialised hotels he needs, the Babbacombe Hotel is a good choice. He could not praise the staff and the Manager, Andrea Biddulph, highly enough. Prior to the visit Ian had some six conversations with Andrea outlining the needs of his group. When they arrived, Ian was delighted that all the planning and co-operation of Andrea and her staff meant his passengers were provided with everything they required.
Ian runs six of his own holidays a year, the Babbacombe Hotel trip being one of them. He also runs tours for other groups which they plan themselves with input from Ian given his experience of this niche market. Nottingham Stroke Group for example will soon be hiring in Ian to take a party to the specialised Esplanade Hotel in Llandudno. Ian described this hotel as being state-of-the-art for disabled groups given the hotel’s owners have just spent some £4.2milion on refurbishment and improvements.
The rest of his work is made up of day trips for predominantly older people from nursing homes, coffee clubs, MS groups and stroke groups amongst many others.
The man himself
So, what sort of a man takes on this work? Not surprisingly, Ian Rhodes comes from a caring background. He started driving ambulances for St John’s Ambulance in 1995 while also teaching first aid for the charity. He also spent time driving community vehicles in the Nottingham area. He started driving coaches when St John’s bought a 10m coach in 1998 which did not need a PSV. When St John’s bought a new full-size coach in 1999 Ian took his PSV test. In 2006 however, St John’s got rid of their coach. At this point Ian set up on his own initially with an external transport manager but he quickly took and passed his CPC Passenger National exam. If you do happen see Ian across the water at any time it will be as a driver for someone else’s coach.
Insofar as Ian is concerned, his job is reward itself given the impact he has upon people’s lives, as he operates the only coach with disabled facilities in the Nottingham area that takes such groups away on holiday. There is another wheelchair accessible coach available locally but they only offer day trips. His passengers have told Ian that if it wasn’t for him, they would be sat staring at the four walls at home with limited social contact. As mentioned above, Ian also drives conventional coaches for other companies. Having seen Ian at work, whoever he was driving for would find they had a thoroughly professional and exceptionally caring driver. For Ian, when it comes to job satisfaction, his greatest joy comes from the work he does with his own passengers. It really shows with his loyal passengers thoroughly enjoying themselves during their day out in Devon.
I am grateful to Ian for inviting me to spend the day with him. It was a real eye-opener how easily he dealt with his passengers. They were having a lovely time chatting away and having a laugh and a joke with their driver: not so different to so many other groups I have spent time with. Except of course for their driver. This is not a job for Ian: this is a vocation, almost a calling you might say. I sometimes wonder about the honours system and the old pals and cronies that all too often get rewarded with gongs – and for what? Yet, if there is anyone I have ever met in the coach trade that surely deserves an award for services to coaching, and I have met a few, it is Ian Rhodes, a real credit to his industry for the joy he has spread around. Nominations to Buckingham Palace please.
Take a look at Ian’s website to find out more about his business: https://coaches-nottingham.co.uk/ [/wlm_ismember]
