Wish you were here?

At the time of writing, there was still no sign that operators in England would receive any kind of financial assistance, and many were still fearful for their survival. Jonathan Welch speaks to some of those involved in the Wish You Could Hear campaign.

2020 was by any measure, a year to forget. Wish you were here? No, most people would rather be anywhere but here. Although the coronavirus crisis has brought out the best in people, brought the industry and community together like never before, and seen some frankly amazing acts and gestures of kindness and goodwill, putting it bluntly: none of that will pay the bills. Fuel suppliers won’t accept ‘number of donations to foodbanks’ as a form of payment, nor will finance companies accept kindness in lieu of monthly payments. We have already seen a number of companies large and small close their doors, and others are on the edge of their seats watching with bated breath to see if any help is on the horizon.

Following on from the industry’s Honk for Hope campaign, specialist coach and bus insurance brokers McCarron Coates decided to do their bit and take things a step further to draw attention to the plight of the industry. We spoke to Directors Ian McCarron and Paul Coates to find out more about their Wish You Were Here campaign, the idea behind it and what they set out to achieve, as well as some of the operators who have been closely involved in promoting it.

“Wish You Could Hear quickly gained momentum online,” said Paul. He explained that Wish You Could Hear has been set up to compliment and further the work done by Honk for Hope, and also stressed that although some operators have expressed dissatisfaction with the CPT’s response, the message is not related to the CPT and is simply about seeking support and survival for the sector.

“We have nothing against the CPT,” he said, “all we are looking for is to further raise awareness. We all need to be lobbying the government. The more people – operators, suppliers, hoteliers, the general public – get involved, the more chance we have of it landing on the right desk.”

Ian added: “Our business survives on the coach industry. We’ve been involved with coaches for 20 years now. It’s what we know, what we live and breathe. We need to make sure the industry survives.”

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PR

“We worked with a PR company, Catapult PR, to design the campaign,” continued Ian. “We sat down and looked at what interesting spin we could put on it to get everyone talking. We decided on a postcard as it could be distributed far and wide and would not need too much effort for people to use.”

“We’ve seen on social media what good publicity can do. A letter is not very exciting. We worked closely with the PR company and challenged them to come up with something that would stand out,” said Paul. “We need to raise awareness, but we are an insurance company, not a marketing firm. Catapult said why not do something that focussed on travel, and it all stemmed from there. It has gained a lot of momentum, lots of operators have been in contact with us wanting to get involved, not just ones who are clients of ours.

“We wanted to find an easier way for operators to approach it. If there is a constant and consistent approach, someone has got to take note at some point. If you make enough noise, you can make a difference. We’ve already sent out hundreds of postcards, as well as promoting it on social media. It’s on our personal social media too, so friends and family are getting involved, even ones who have nothing to do with the industry but can see and understand the problems. It directly affects us, and lots of other businesses – from the tyre suppliers to the sandwich van.”

“We’re not doing this to gain additional business,” Ian stressed. “We’re doing it to try and ensure that we, and other suppliers who rely on the coach industry, survive. We haven’t asked people for renewals or tried to sell when they contact us.”

“We’ve been speaking to lots of operators we haven’t spoken to before. It’s not an ego trip for us,” Paul added. “We all have to stand together. Everyone is really getting behind it. If the operators stop, we stop. We’ve been doing this since we left school. It’s where our love is. It’s not just about insurance for us. We like to get involved, we go to the Coach Rally in Brighton and Blackpool.”

Can they hear?

I spoke to Paul and Ian shortly before the debate took place in the Houses of Parliament on 9 December, at which a number of MPs put forward the case for support for the sector, though to the dismay of many none was forthcoming beyond the undoubtedly welcome funding for Christmas express coach services. Despite the effort and understanding of local MPs, it still seems that the wider government is not hearing the message, or at least not acting upon it, and still seems not understand the difference between express/scheduled coaching, and the leisure, tourism and private hire sector, as well as its ability to mobilise at short notice for rail replacement. Whilst everyone recognises the valuable work carried out by the likes of National Express or Citylink across the country, those operators are not the ones who carry children to school or sports facilities or drop everything at a moment’s notice to provide emergency rail replacement.

“We met our local MP and did photocalls with several operators,” Ian continued. “Two of those were clients of ours, two weren’t. Our MP was keen to get some numbers on the losses and we had an interesting conversation about finance holidays. We are really making a big push now. We need to get as many letters and calls to MPs as possible to raise awareness.”

Credibility

Although the CPT has come in for some criticism from some for its response to the situation and perceived lack of support for smaller operators, the support of Jane Cole, Blackpool Transport Managing Director and upcoming CPT President for the Wish You Could Hear campaign gave some hope that the voice of smaller operators is now being heard.

“Jane brings credibility,” said Paul, “and raises awareness. It isn’t just a few disgruntled operators and suppliers. If the incoming CPT President believes in us, it adds credibility to our voice. We need to be united, not divided.”
Speaking after the parliamentary debate had taken place, Jane told CBW “The Covid-19 outbreak is having a devastating effect on our Coach industry and I know that CPT are doing everything they can to ensure businesses are at the fore front of every Government agenda lobbying for much needed support.

“Government recognised the value of coach in last week’s debate in Parliament but they need to now provide support to the sector as a matter of urgency so that we can see more coach companies start to recover and help kick start the economy through moving more people efficiently and growing tourism in the UK.”

Keeping on track

Ian continued: “We are going to keep up the message until we get to a point where we get a result. The big thing now is for people to get in touch with their local MPs. We want the message to be clear, and we want local operators to be able to get behind it and raise the issue themselves. We hope for relief soon, the number of people who depend on the industry is huge. The full effect is yet to be seen.

“We saw the importance of the industry back in March when people were being flown home and moved around on coaches. Richard Bamber called it ‘almost the fourth emergency service.’ It’s not just about the luxury of going on holiday. Operators don’t shout about it, there is a huge modesty, but at times like when the rail is off, it really shows its worth.”

Bleak outlook

“I think the government has got to look at a support package,” said Paul. “Otherwise 2021 looks very bleak for a lot of people. There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet, no one can make any plans. Operators have had to spend a lot of money to comply with the government’s policies, the investment has been huge, but when they need a hand they are not getting it.

“The government points out that lots of grants have been available but these have been of limited use to coach operators, and you have to take into account that vehicle values have been dramatically reduced at the same time.

You can only borrow against that low value. Everything is conspiring against operators.

“We understand that there is not an unlimited pot of money for every business. Some will fail. But operators are not expecting to sit back and to be paid for doing nothing. They just want a level playing field.

“It’s not just about holidays. For lots of people, it’s about mental health: socialising is good for people. And that simply isn’t economically viable right now. If this continues indefinitely, we will lose experienced professional drivers to other industries. Tour drivers will go off to become HGV drivers, and if there are no experienced drivers left, the quality of the industry will suffer and the industry will be left with a problem. We’re already starting to see it.”

Ian and Paul were keen to emphasise that Wish You Could Hear is very much a personal initiative, and that it is open to everyone, whether or not they are customers of McCarron Coates. “We’ve grown up with the industry,” Ian said. “We’ve put a small logo on the postcard, but that’s all. There’s no sales pitch.”

Operator involvement

A number of operators have been involved with publicising the campaign, which builds on the work started by Jenna Rush of North East Coach Travel in organising the Honk for Hope events. “I think it is fantastic that our suppliers are helping to support the industry,” said Jenna. “As we all know it is not just the coach industry at risk, it is our entire supply chain that is also feeling it. Paul and Ian have put a lot of hard work and effort into producing and promoting this and they are doing an excellent job.

“It paints a true picture of the entire industry right now, and I am sure I speak for many operators who agree it is a truly torrid time, with black clouds ever present. Lets hope the MPs receiving the postcards hear our plight and get on board with the other supporting MPs to strengthen our case in Parliament.”

J&B Coaches

Both J&B Coaches of Stanningley, near Leeds, and Waltons Coaches in Lancashire featured in photoshoots to launch Wish You Could Hear. I started by speaking to Paul Lynn at J&B Coaches to find out more about why he got involved, and the effect the pandemic is having on his business.

“Ian and Paul are our insurance brokers,” he explained. “We were doing our renewal, and I suggested they needed to look at themselves and their business – they are specific to the coach sector, so if it affects us, it will affect them. We do all kinds of work, including rail replacement, airport redirects, home to school transport, and are always ready to assist other operators if they need it. Tourism only accounts for 10% of our turnover,” he said, stressing that the government needs to stop overlooking the other valuable work the coach industry does besides holidays.

Paul is a member of the CPT, having joined in March, and noted: “There are only a few at the regional meetings who are fully tourist-focussed. All the others are traditional coach operators. I don’t think the CPT talks us up enough.”

Although J&B Travel has been hit hard by the pandemic, and not unsurprisingly seen large drops in turnover and profit, Paul said that the company remained in a good position, having invested in PSVAR-compliant coaches over the last five years, and so had been able to pick up a good amount of rail replacement work to keep the wheels turning.

Fleet investment

J&B Travel runs a fleet of modern vehicles including a number of wheelchair accessible MobiPeople coaches (two on MAN chassis and one Scania), and a Scania Interlink. “We have very much gone down the route of inclusivity and PSVAR,” Paul explained. “When we are on the rail, we still see people turn up with old service buses, and running for reduced rates. Our fleet is fully EuroVI, and 14 of our 17 vehicles are PSVAR-compliant. We have had to make a massive investment for the Leeds LEZ. We’ve complied with everything, we can’t do any more.”

There seems to be an optimism across the industry that March is when it will will start to see an upturn in business. “We will make March,” continued Paul. “We will still be here. We are tending to see enquiries for bookings, but people are saying they will come back to us once they know more about what is happening. Nobody knows where Boris Johnson will take us. The sector will take a massive hit. We’re very much annoyed that Baroness Vere didn’t show more support, and we need the likes of Ian and Paul to promote the industry. We think MP Emma Hardy has done a fantastic job, she was a primary school teacher before becoming an MP, so understands more about coaches as she used them. She has been a great voice for us.

“We need to make the government realise what it could lose if we weren’t here. It is not just our sector that will be hit. We did a Powerpoint presentation to show what the effect has been for us. Our fuel supplier for example, which is based next door to us – we spend nearly £30k per month with them in normal times. Now it is down to between £5k and £10k. There’s the family firm across the road which does our maintenance. They say they would have to lose two full-time members of staff if they weren’t doing our work. It’s not just us. There are lots of family businesses, that’s what MPs don’t seem to understand. The impact to their constituents as well as small businesses like Ian and Paul’s could be huge.”

Walton’s Coaches

I also spoke to Jill Walton at Walton’s Coaches, which featured in the publicity photos in front of Blackpool Tower, an icon of British tourism. The family-run company operates a fleet of 18 vehicles, including five buses and 13 coaches, and has nine full time drivers plus one member of office staff and an apprentice mechanic, alongside Jill, her husband and her parents. “We were originally involved with Honk for Hope,” Jill explained. “We knew Jane Cole, and she got in touch to ask if we would be involved with some publicity for Wish You Could Hear using the giant postcard. Coaches have had a rough time, and now that she is taking on a role with the CPT, she wanted to be pro-active and asked us to get involved.

“Like everyone, we’ve had a terrible time and lots of sleepless nights. Most of our work dried up, and we didn’t want to have to lay people off. We do some work for a local blue chip company, which has dropped from five to three coaches per day. It has brought us some constant income but nowhere near enough. We have heavily invested in our vehicles and facilities. We own our premises outright but still have to pay things like rates and insurance.

“We had things like pantomimes booked for December, the theatres were going to do one show per school, but then when we went in to Covid tier 3, they were all cancelled. We had bookings for seven coaches per school, which were all cancelled.”

Get involved

At the time of writing, it remains to be seen what help, if any, the leisure and private coaching sector will receive from the government, either in the form of funding or extensions to existing finance holidays. The industry remains positive, and is looking to the future with an eye on the springtime as a catalyst for growth again, but for many operators, the three short months between now and then may well still prove to be too long.

Operators, suppliers and others connected with the coach industry wanting to get involved in the Wish You Could Hear campaign, or who would like postcards to send on to their MPs, can contact Ian and Paul at McCarron Coates on [email protected] or by telephone on 0113 298 3489

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