Burtons Coaches XL04 BCL - January 2007 (566-18A)

(Thursday 18?) January 2007 - Sometimes being in the wrong place at the right time can have its advantages! Just as I was about to leave Haverhill for home a problem arose. The two regular drivers employed on the skiweekends.com contract, former Harris Coaches drivers that lived in Kent that had transferred to the TGM Group when Harris was taken over, were travelling to Haverhill by car to start work. A number of accidents had occurred on the M11 motorway and they got seriously delayed. Plan ‘B’ was brought into operation and it was decided to send the coach to meet them at Birchanger Services near Stansted Airport. They could then get to the starting point of their tour (Victoria Coach Station, London departing at 1700) without further delay. It was suddenly realised by someone that the driver chosen to take the coach to meet them was not licenced to drive manual gearbox vehicles which XL04 BCL, a 14 metre long tri-axle Bova Futura, was. Step forward the only driver around with a manual licence! Who? Me!! Pleased as punch I set off but of course made a photostop which was near Horseheath on the A1307 at approx 1500.

Having collected the skiers from Victoria the drivers take them to Brides-les-Baines a ski resort in the Rhône-Alpes region of France leaving them there for the duration of their holiday. They return almost immediately with a homeward bound party. This is their regular run which they do two or three times a week during the ski season. The distance from London to the resort is about 650 miles – a similar distance as that from London to the north west tip of Scotland. The journey from London to Brides-les-Bains takes about 15/16 hours giving an arrival there of about 0800/0900 the following morning.