Coach operators have criticised the coach parking facilities at Thorpe Park in Surrey.
The dedicated coach park is graveled, while other facilities are tarmac, leading to claims that coach operators are treated as “second class citizens”.
Georgina Bates of Appledorebased coach operator Scotland and Bates, told CBW: “Passengers are being made to walk through unacceptable conditions. The car park is covered in potholes filled with water several inches deep, even when it hasn’t rained on the same day.
“The potholes can be seen from Googlemaps. Children often don’t keep their feet on the coach floor after traversing such conditions and as a result coach interiors can take a lot of effort to clean.”
However, she was keen to stress: “Hundreds of coach operators visit Thorpe Park and a number of them are quite irate. It’s a good venue and I don’t wish to dissuade operators from visiting it, but the park needs to stop treating coach operators as something they can just push to the side if our business is important to them.”
In a statement, the park told CBW: “Thorpe Park enjoys visits from thousands of school parties each year and we have a very robust system for dealing with the large number of coaches that visit. Our coach park has to remain gravelled due to our proximity to a lake and should it flood we have to have adequate drainage.
“We regularly re-grade the car park, which is especially important following the poor weather we have had. We welcome the feedback from the coach drivers and we are continuously looking at ways to improve the whole experience of visitors at the Park.”
