News

On Friday afternoon Ceri Taylor of Applegates Coaches in Gloucestershire found himself in a position no operator wants to be in. One of his Double Decker Buses was de-roofed by a railway bridge near Bristol. Luckily the bus was empty and there were no cars following so nobody was injured, however Ceri needed a replacement quickly. By Monday afternoon he was the new owner of this Volvo B7TL Alexander ALX400 79 Seat Belted Decker. This was aided by the team at Yelloway arranging to meet Ceri at Hilton Park services on the M6 to speed up delivery. Following a quick PMI the Volvo was out on Tuesday morning helping get Gloucestershire’s students to school, job done. Whilst no operator wants to be in this position it’s important to remember that here at Odyssey Coach Sales we will do our best to get you back on the road [...]

Our latest sale is of this Express Motors Optare Solo M920 to PM Training & Assessing Ltd of Brecon, Mid Wales. It’s new role will be as a mobile class room for training to railway signalmen and other personnel. Prior to collection Ian and his team at Express Motors removed most of the seats, grab rails, and internal fittings and supplied it with a new Class V MOT. Seen with Darren collecting the bus from the Express premises in Penygroes are Paul and Pam Martin of PM Training & Assessing prior to the drive back down through Wales. Thanks go to the team at Express Motors for preparing the vehicle exactly as the customer requested and we’d like to wish Paul and Pam the best of luck with their new training room.

We have sold another immaculately presented vehicle on behalf of Express Coaches of Batley, West Yorkshire. This 15 year old Mercedes Benz Vario Sitcar Beluga 33 Seat Midicoach was presented in the usual pristine condition we have come to expect from this operator. It’s heading off to a new life with Rees Coaches of Abergavenny in Mid Wales who’s history dates back to the early 20th Century. Seen here collecting the coach from Express’s premises is Nigel Rees of Rees Coaches.

Another recent sale to a Cheshire based operator has been this very well presented Volvo B10M Van Hool T9 Alizee which popped across the M6 from Stantons of Stoke to Barratt’s Coaches based in Sandbach, Cheshire. 20 years ago you would see Barratt’s Coaches, then based in Nantwich in all four corners of the UK as well as all over Europe but now Gill and her team are more content pottering around the leafy lanes of Cheshire taking the kids to school. This particular Van Hool was new to Shearings Holidays but over the years has been downgraded to a standard 55 seater. You can’t keep a good B10M Van Hool down, and there wasn’t many bad ‘uns. I’m sure there’s a lot of life left in this old lass yet!

We recently supplied this Volvo B10M Jonckheere Mistral to Merediths Coaches of Malpas, Cheshire to replace an ageing Plaxton Premiere that has sadly come to the end of it’s working life. David Meredith chose this vehicle having operated B10Ms for many years, in fact some of the current school fleet were on front line tour duties 20 years ago. Let’s face it, they’re bomb proof. The attraction of this particular vehicle was it’s 70 Seats and ZF Automatic Gearbox. Whilst she’s ready for a repaint this old girl has dropped straight in on School Contracts around the Cheshire villages. Thanks to Adam and Alan Warburton of Viking Travel from Heywood, Greater Manchester for kindly delivering the coach to Malpas. Hopefully there’s a good number of years left in the old lass yet!

Last Monday I received a call from Debbie Weekes at Mikro Coaches in Crewe, Cheshire. One of their Double Deckers had been involved in a non fault collision with a car. Fortunately no one was seriously injured but the bus was a mess and likely to be a total loss. Could we help?……………………………………………Well of course we could! After a couple of phone calls and emails, and a quick spruce up we dispatched a driver from Tyrer’s off down the M6 to Crewe with this 2003 Dennis Trident 73 Seat Decker, ironically sister to one already in The Mikro Coaches fleet. A deal was struck on the Tyrer’s driver dispatched back to Chorley by train, job done! We still have a few of these 7 Tridents left at Tyrer’s so if you’re in need of [...]

About a week or so ago I was visiting a couple of operators in Kent when I chanced upon Brian Jones Coaches in Gravesend. I had some time to spare so I called in and introduced myself and explained about what we do here at Odyssey. Almost two weeks later they were driving out of Tyrers yard in Chorley with their latest purchase, this 2000 ex Lothian Dennis Trident Plaxton President 75 Seat Belted Double Deck Bus. Seen here is Terry Mee one of the new owners of Brian Jones Coaches prior to setting off from Lancashire on the long slow journey back to Kent. Before setting off Team Tyrer ensured the bus was full of fuel, was fully checked, and even provided some supplies for the journey. Thanks to Terry and [...]

Today we handed this Volvo B12B Plaxton Panther 70 Seater over to Fishers Tours of Dundee. This vehicle was turned round quite quickly as Fishers lost a vehicle last week due to severe damage caused by a falling tree. The Volvo is fitted with a ZF Automatic Gearbox, 70 Lusso Seats, LED Destination Display, and is wired for CCTV. Once again the team at Odyssey in conjunction with GB Coaches have pulled out all the stops to help an Operator out of a sticky spot. 

A recent sale has been this former Dublin Volvo B7TL Alexander ALX400 Double Decker to Keane Travel of Grays, Essex. It was collected from previous owner Bryan’s Coaches from Denny, Stirlingshire by proprietor Kevin Mortlock and bravely driven back to Essex in time for the new school term with the help of one of his team of drivers. Kevin openly admits that his business is heading down the road of being predominantly a transport provider to local schools and finds the Volvo B7TL a reliable workhorse so has taken the decision to standardise on them. This vehicle is one of two B7TLs added to the fleet over the summer break. I took the opportunity to pop in earlier today to catch up with Kevin and grabbed a quick photo opportunity whilst I was there.

This weekend we handed over this 2015 Neoplan P22 Tourliner to Mitul Kerai of MIT Luxury Travel of Watford, Hertfordshire. Having previously been a one vehicle operation recent contract gains have allowed Mitul to double his fleet whilst also getting ahead of the forthcoming Central London Ultra Low Emission Zone. Following an early train journey Mitul collected the 59 seat 13.8m beast from Weardale Motor Services premises in Crook Co. Durham on Saturday morning and took it home where it joins a Euro 5 49 Seat Tourliner. The coach was presented in exactly the condition you’d expect from this old established North East operator having been power polished and serviced by the local MAN dealer. Thanks to Anthony and Ian and all the team at Weardale for ensuring we have another satisfied [...]