The journey begins

When we visit operators, it’s normally a long-standing company which has spent years building up its business, its fleet, its reputation and its story. And whilst it’s true that most operators out there have been in the industry for a good while, there are still new entrants, often led by enthusiastic managers who are keen to plough their own furrow in the industry, to go it alone and build a new business their own way. One such company is the relatively newly formed City Coach Hire, based in the West Midlands and headed up by Khurum Butt. We met up with 28 year old Khurum to find out more about his story.

“I want people to know that there is fresh blood coming into the industry,” he said. “I don’t feel like this is a job, it’s a hobby that’s turned into a passion that had become a reality for me, and I want to tell that story. There are not many young people coming into the industry, so it’s important to show them that it’s possible, and that’s what I want to highlight.”

 

From an early age

So where does his passion for coaches come from? Khurum explained: “As a young child, I always loved big vehicles. Growing up, my mum used to run a play centre in our local community. She used to organise trips and I used to get involved. I loved the presence of the vehicle when it turned up, and I loved sitting on the coach. It’s a hard thing to explain, but it was a sense of awe and fulfilment from watching the driver when I saw the large vehicle negotiating narrow streets and tight bends. It was the road presence.

“Because of those connections, a lot of people used to come to me when they wanted to book a coach. I used to put them in contact with coach companies that I knew, and then I thought ‘why am I not making money from this?’ so I set up a company called Blue Banana Travel. It was a bit like a broker, but I saw myself as a coach company rather than a broker, because my goal was always to operate my own vehicles.