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Page 68
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:ontinued from page 65
Although the driver can nanage roadside repairs, the ;ontinental vehicles carry only he minimum number of such tems as injector pipes. If rouble is likely to take more han a few hours to fix, the ompany policy is to send out mother vehicle and bring the lisabled unit back to England or repairs.
The vehicle used for the atest Italian trip, a Leyland ..eopard with Plaxton coachvork, was one drawn from the rehicle pool and received the :ame maintenance as the rest yf the fleet. However, all o nt inental vehicles are horoughly checked by main:enance staff immediately )efore departure; this rule is )bserved even if only 48 hours Yefore the vehicle has had a 'ull service.
This particular vehicle is itted with 53 seats. Mr. Appleby said that the company ilways recommends 43 seats is being the maximum for continental work, but as the charge is the same organisers asually go for the higher capacity unit.
Retarders
Interestingly in view of the fact that the tour involved mountainous sections a nd several of the company's coaches are fitted with electric retarders, this particular Leopard was not so equipped. In fact the brakes had to be adjusted by the driver on arrival in Venice and again before returning through the mountains to France. Apparently, frequent brake adjustment is standard practice on the Leopard even in UK tours to such places as Torquay. Mr Appleby told me that the heavily shrouded brakes of the Leopard are hard pushed to cope with increases in vehicle power and speed since the chassis was introduced some considerable time ago.
The Appleby business has maintenance depots at North Somercoates (17 vehicles), Bardney (13) and Caistor (15). Parking facilities are provided at Market Rasen, Lincoln, Grimsby and Horncastle, and there are booking offices and travel agencies at Horncastle and Grimsby.