Wigan Album

Do drivers get commission for taking passengers to a brewery/distillery?

Yes I’m sure they do Peter P. On the way to Norfolk we were taken to a cafe cum ‘gift’ shop that sold plants and veg.
I-think most coach companies do.

Jack & Victor on a distillery tour.
https://youtu.be/Dq-3gsb8eb4?si=6-jK45Kb9IQ8WlLX

Dobbies' Garden Centres seem to be regular stopping places on our tours....
The coach is a Volvo B10 with Jonkheere bodywork - it was new to Kerrys of Killarney as 00-KY-4026 in 2000 - so would have been re-registered when it came into the UK - hence the Preston registration number. Its history is a bit jumbled - said to have been with Hiltons of Newton-le-Willows before Grayway acquired it. It was last photographed in 2021, still in Grayway livery with their name removed, at Charlton Coaches in Bristol, after passing through other hands. The BUSES website records it as having been re-registered as RHZ 6570 when it went to Coast to Coast Coaches in Ardrossan, Scotland in 2023... but that number is also said to have gone to ex-Shearings P709 YDS (also registered as P5 VLT at sometime) at Coast to Coast around the same time. Images of RHZ 6570, however, show a very different coach from W675 FRN, to my eyes.

Veronica. Stops at a "garden centre" now seem to be compulsory !

My wife and I actually stopped going on coach tours ( after many enjoyable ones over the years) when they started spending more time at such venues and less in the places that were meant to be the main attraction.

They even do it abroad Carolean. But I must say the one that stopped in Austria a couple of years ago was really good. There was wine to taste as much as you wanted! I only bought some cream for aches and pains it must have sold well as we were on our way to the Italian Mountains where the skiing is. I still have a jar in the bathroom.
When we stopped at the one in Norfolk I bought 2 Clematis plants which are still growing prolifically.
No doubt we will be stopping somewhere interesting in May up in the wilds of Scotland. I enjoy mooching in the places the coach stops. It’s all part and parcel I don’t mind at all.

Veronica. I think these stops can work out well when you are travelling a fair distance, especially abroad. What got us however were the times when, on short UK breaks you were going to a couple of interesting destinations in a day and they gave little time in the destinations but always found time for a 2 hour break in a garden centre type place on the way back to the hotel. We still refer to the trip we took when the published highlight was meant to see Hadrian's Wall. On the day the driver simply drove past a small heap of stones in a field and announced " That's Hadrian's Wall on the right" !!

I hope you complained about that day trip to Hadrian’s Wall ! No I wouldn't like that Carolean. That happened once to us when we were only going to the Lakes and the coach did two stops! We had set off at 9 30 and got there at
1 00. Never again - I go on the train up there nowadays. I find it’s much better.

We were going to the Lakes and the coach did no stops at all. We had set off at 9.30 and got there at 11.30, but I'd wet myself twice.

You shouldn’t be going on coach journey’s then Mr Kerr.

Please don’t think I haven’t noticed your choice of name tag. Tiny mind and all that…

Ps have you ever thought of incontinence pads? I have heard they’re very good they hold a lot of water. They’re always advertised on’t telly.