When he was in Torquay recently, Alan Payling met up with Steve Mason, founder of NK Holidays, who, having opened a coach holiday company during a global pandemic, has ended up sitting pretty in Sittingbourne while his passengers love to be tortured in Torquay
The Covid pandemic was a tragedy for so many people. In the coach holiday trade, it was a turning point for operators large and small as they shut up shop. But, for some coaching people, they saw opportunities. After all, while there might be fewer coach operators, post-pandemic, they felt that there would still be a demand for coach holidays. One such person was Steve Mason from Kent who has worked in the industry as a driver and manager for over 40 years. He started on Green Line coaches running from Dunton Green on the Tunbridge Wells to London route. Steve also covered duplication work to Torquay.
He then progressed into management with National Express as a night controller and later worked for Metrobus when it had a coach division. He then spent time with London Coaches. More recently, he worked as Traffic Manager, also covering many tours behind the wheel, driving for 12 years with Jay & Kay Coach Tours in south east London.
While working for Jay & Kay, he had mentioned to the owner that he thought Sittingbourne in Kent would be a good place to operate from. While Steve’s idea was ignored, he didn’t forget it because he was sure Sittingbourne did have a lot of potential for an enterprising coach operator. With 46.42% of the town’s population of 54,392 people aged over 50, it was ideal territory to sell coach holidays.
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The original idea had been to sell coach holidays but to sub-contract the coach requirement to local operators. A big factor in persuading Steve to become a coach operator though was the availability of good quality vehicles coming on to the market due to Covid-19 induced closures. Some very good but redundant vehicles at bargain basement prices from companies like Shearings were just too good to miss. There were some real bargains to be had.
The first coach Steve bought was an ex-Shearings ‘16’ plate Mercedes-Benz Tourismo tri-axle that was purchased for £60,000 in July 2021. It had just over 300,000km on the clock. Not only was it a bargain, it has been a very reliable coach for NK. The company has looked after it, having it serviced every six weeks with preventative maintenance being the strict regime it adopted. Its second coach was another Mercedes-Benz Tourismo, again ex-Shearings. Number two was a ‘15’ plate that came via Grange Travel. This time Steve paid £65,000. Unfortunately, it has has not been quite so reliable, having had a retarder problem and DPF problems, requiring some £10k to be spent on it. Still good value though.
NK’s third coach won’t be quite so cheap, but Steve’s choice gives you an idea of the speedy success of the company. This will be a brand new Mercedes Tourismo tri-axle. The purchase means that the second coach will be for sale later this year; keep your eyes open in CBW’s Coach & Bus Market section then folks!
Location, location location
One of the other lucky breaks that Steve benefited from was the travel shop he opened in 2020. To start with, NK was just advertising in the shop’s window and then dealing with telephone enquiries, as Covid restrictions did not allow people to enter. Like many, there was initially a temptation to go down the online selling route. But with so many potential passengers still heading into Sittingbourne’s busy town centre to shop, bank, and more, getting the right location, location, location was imperative.
And he hit lucky. Situated on Central Avenue, while it is a side street, the shop he opened is on a major pedestrian route for people heading to and from the town’s High Street, the post office, and the library with a convenient car park for older people only a few feet away. Some older coach people will remember Sittingbourne’s High Street used to be the main route from London to Dover and is still listed as the A2. For the town’s many prospective coach passengers, rather than dealing with someone, something – a robot, God forbid – in the ether, the people of Sittingbourne had a shop window displaying NK’s holidays and excursions. Bingo!
Later, when Covid restrictions were lifted, a friendly personal service was provided to all. The shop and direct sales strategy was a smart move as 90% of their sales now come directly through the shop. Many of those are personal recommendations from the ever increasing number of satisfied passengers.
The retail side is ably administered by Gill Piper in her position as office manager. She was described by Steve as a ‘Rottweiler and magpie.’ I think that means that it is a friendly shop, but if you visit, tread warily and listen! A lot do. Gill is ably assisted in the shop by Rebecca Older. Both Gill and Rebecca ride shotgun on some of NK’s tours and excursions. This gives them a working, first hand knowledge of what the company has to offer their passengers.
I met up with Steve because NK was running a tour to the Abbey Lawn Hotel for a holiday entitled – and this was a new one on me as well – ‘Torture in Torquay – The Sequel.’ The first time the company had run an anniversary celebration party tour after three years in business, it was held at the Abbey Lawn in January 2023. So this was, well, a sequel. A repeat, if you like. One feature of the Torquay celebration holiday that was promised was some ‘awesome local talent.’ No, that wasn’t the reason I went along, but I was curious. Nobody’s said that about some of Torquay’s entertainers since Peter Cook died.
But the Torquay break was just an additional side show though, as the main celebration event for 2024 to celebrate the ‘toddler’s’ four years in business occurred on 22 January at the Daish’s hotel at Shanklin, Isle of Wight. This was sold out with two happy coach loads crossing the Solent to take over the hotel. Whether there was also awesome local talent on the island I know not, but all of NK’s staff were there, and on the Wednesday night, everyone was in fancy dress.
With Torquay being so well liked, and the company becoming so popular, an extra anniversary celebration tour was planned for mid-February. Hence ‘Torture in Torquay – The Sequel’ was booked and a whole coach load were enjoying it when I met Steve.
NK uses such tours very successfully to celebrate the firm’s anniversaries and to bond passengers to the company. These tours have been a roaring success, and the 2025 anniversary party is to be held at the Imperial Hotel in Eastbourne. Here, the company will be taking over the whole of
the hotel to accommodate three coach loads.
Money, money money
The company operates a healthy, varied and interesting package of day excursions and tours. I had a look at its website in mid-February. This revealed that all of its day excursions later that month and on into March were marked with that banner that any coach operator loves to use: ‘SOLD OUT!’ Others were marked ‘limited space left!’
Given its proximity to London, a big, big seller is to see Abba Voyage. In total, NK will be running five separate coaches to see the Swedish holograms this year, at £95.00 per head.
So if you ever hear Steve singing Thank you for the music and Money, Money, Money, then you’ll know why. Having said that, Steve did point out he doesn’t see his passengers as cash cows and tries to keep his excursions reasonably priced. That must be one reason, out of many, that in 2022 his average day excursion loadings numbered 43 which then went up to an average of 44 in 2023.
The tours side offers a wide variety of holidays throughout the UK and into Ireland, but nothing across the English Channel. In 2024, some 40 tours ranging from two days up to eight days are on offer. It’s an imaginative and ambitious offering which will suit many tastes. Whether the patrons of Sittingbourne and on the Isle of Sheppey want to visit cities, the countryside, tattoos, illuminations, spectaculars, broads, bombers, soap operas, steam railways, coastal resorts or the world’s most famous pop group, then NK’s is the shop window to have a look in. The latter tour, which heads to Liverpool, should be a good seller now that early Beatles’ fans are close to or have enjoyed their 64th birthdays. So a few days at the Hard Day’s Night Hotel should see lots of people wanting to buy a ticket to ride there. And if you hear Steve singing ‘Give me money, that’s what I want, that’s what I want,’ then you’ll know the reason why. But being so successful, I bet he will also share the sentiments of Taxman!
While Steve has shared a lot of the driving to date with his other driver, Gino Malloy, he has been looking for a second driver. And here NK has also been fortunate. Placing an ad on Facebook for drivers he was very pleased to receive five applications – and they weren’t online avatars either but good drivers. So, while singing ‘I should be so lucky, lucky-lucky-lucky…’ at time of writing Steve was thinking about whether to engage one or two of them.
Given NK’s success, it looks like Benjamin Franklin was spot on when he famously said ‘out of adversity comes opportunity.’ ‘Ben’ had a lot of other interesting things to say, many of which make me think that he is NK’s patron saint. But one thing he would not approve of is coach passengers being tortured. But in NK’s case, they just love it and just want more, and more, and more… which is why the reunion to celebrate five years operation at the Imperial Hotel in Eastbourne is now on sale and selling well. Of the three coaches planned, two are already sold out – a year in advance. To paraphrase old Ben, ‘Never leave till tomorrow that which you can book today.’
