TALK TO YORK
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CANNON DID. • L, —York Freight-master:You can't cut costs by cutting corners.
and complain when they said that there is a saying e Continent: "The first pero use the toilet is the last in". However, he had no t that the obvious problems lets will be overcome and :ually they will be standard iment.
freshment bars, cocktail coffee and tea bars and hot ;old drink dispensers have, been highly successful would continue to grow in larity.
said the courier is essential :ircular tour and the host or :ss is essential to the ex. service. The customer to have a company repreitive on board to steer him igh formalities of immigrato give advice and informaabout what happens in reto serve drinks and most of be a direct means of Corncation with the travel com
matter how good vehicles no matter what efforts are -; by directors, management staff of holiday companies et things right, all this is ed effort if the drivers, couand hosts do not do their properly.
.er seats, he said, drivers in more complaints than 'ling else. The situation is avated by the fact that it is necessary to employ so y more drivers as relief drivThese are often left at stagmsts on the Continent and not be contacted by mangent for long periods at a . This means that cornits take too long to invest'. It can mean a lot of unpy passengers and a erely dented company je.
ach operators must spend ?. time training drivers to after passengers and deal )matically with any situation may arise. Drivers must also ; that it is the passengers have paid the money so the coach can run and they efore deserve a service :h is prompt and courteous I times.
e customer wants more someone who knows how :lye a coach. He wants a perwho is cheerful even under ;s, helpful and willing to put ;elf out to make the journey
)y.
t us concentrate on adding personal service which will e customers come back year after year, was the brunt of his message.
Finally, talking purely from the hirer's point of view, he wondered if it was not time that the licences granted by the Department of Transport for coach ser vices in the UK and on the Continent should not be applied for and granted to the tour organiser rather than the coach operator, providing that the anticipated coach operator or operators are approved by the various Departments of Transport. In this way, a tour operator who had a genuine, lawful reason for wishing to change his coach operator in mid-season could, with the Department of Transport's permission, transfer his licence to another coach operator immediately.
At the moment, a tour operator can find himself with a coach operator not performing to the standards he requires yet he is unable to change him without a long-drawn-out procedure taking weeks, during which time his reputation is being ruined.
Most delegates agreed with Mr Holloway on the importance of coach drivers, though some said that they found that they brought more compliments than Oomplaints.