Glenton Tours coached to perfection
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NEW that I was going to ve problems with the :eptionist at Glenton Tours ad office.
'Good morning," I said.
ve got an appointment th Mike Rutherford."
5o far so good.
'I'll see if I can find him," a said. "Can I tell him Io's calling?"
Just tell him that it's
meone from Commercial itor,"I said awkwardly.
'And your name, sir?"
'Er ... Mike Rutherford." 'II explain. The rketing/public relations actor at South-London ;ed Glenton Tours and I ire the same name. Enough J.
denton Tours, a family firm, ; formed in 1929 when the J. F. Saxton, JP, acquired le coaches from someone ) — to put it bluntly — owed I money. That someone lived ilenton Road, London SE13, Ir Saxton, an estate agent, ally operated the coaches as ideline, although within a rt time he realised the potenand expanded his fleet. lenton Tours was soon tiding high-class inclusive ch holidays around the sh Isles, and it soon looked ter afield and made arrangeits with European coach 'ators to provide a substan;eries of Continental tours. In , Glenton can justifiably n that it pioneered British :h tours to Europe in the thir it the second world war put )p to Glenton's activities. All four of its 32 coaches were isitioned by the Govern and the company virtually ed to function. Come peace though, it re-established itas one of Britain's most :igious coach touring corn s. as well as supplying ;h clients with a service that second to none, Glenton 1 showed ambition and be;elling its domestic tours to ;eas customers.
ice then, Glenton has imN:1 further and has found a for itself as one of Britain's perators.
Jay, Glenton receives most ; bookings from overseas prners. They book their through specially appoineneral sales agents in AusCanada, the USA, South and New Zealand.
eading the Glenton word me and in faraway Cornovealth locations is obly a mammoth task. About )0 brochures are printed )reign customers every year, in addition to 200,000 copies of the "Glenton Times" (a newspaper/sales catalogue) and about 60,000 sales leaflets.
Glenton's main medium for selling tours is its range of high quality brochures and leaflets, although national press advertising is also extensive, says Mike.
Currently, about 70 per cent of Glenton's customs are from overseas countries. After studying their brochures (which quote prices in their own currency) they book their tours through local Glenton agents.
Of the 30-odd tours that Glenton offers, the "Highlights of Britain" seven-day tours and the numerous Scottish tours are extremely popular. And despite high vat and inflation rates, Ireland is still popular, although the market is "almost uncompetitive," reckons Mike.
Glenton customers can also enjoy a "limited" continental programme. After withdrawing from Europe in 1975 because of the weak pound, the company re-entered the market in 1981. But as Mike says, the backbone of the Glenton operation is its range of British tours.
It is fair to say that Glenton's UK and continental tours are not cheap. Ineed, a holiday in the Carribean might actually work out cheaper than a thirteen-day Glenton tour around Britain and Southern Ireland.
But really, it's the same old story: you get what you pay for. Undoubtedly, Glenton is expensive but the company's "slightly higher prices" represent good value for money, reckons Mike.
He believes that his company offers its customers high quality hotels, execellent meals, wellthought-out itineraries, highly experienced driver/couriers and — perhaps most important of all — superb custom-made coaches.
Mike told me that Glenton orginally used Dennis and AEC coaches and eventually settled for an all-Leyland fleet. But due to the "general unreliability" of Leyland coach chassis, the company turned to another manufacturer in the mid-seventies. Several unpleasant experiences with unreliable Leylands prompted the switch.
You'd be hard pushed to find a more typical or more traditional British company that Glenton Tours. But despite that, the corn pany turned to a foreign manufacturer — Volvo — in order to get the sort of vehicle dependability and after-sales service that it demanded and, what's more, was willing to pay a high price for.
Glenton now has 34 Plaxtonbodied Volvos in its fleet, whereas just a few years ago it had a similar number of Plaxtonbodied Leylands. Mike says the Volvos have met all expecta tions.
"They have proved to be more
reliable. What's more, we can now rely on delivery dates, and the spares back-up is superb. If we haven't got a Volvo part in stock at our Charlton workshop, we will get it within 24 hours. We're very satisfied with the Volvo fleet.
"British vehicle builders are not providing reliable chassis," says Mike. Although all Glenton Tours vehicles have Plaxton bodies, Mike reckons that the Scarborough-based bodybuilder has not been without problems of its own in the past.
"The bodybuilding industry seemed to stagnate at the end of the seventies. Plaxton coaches were becoming dated and at one time, its quality control was sus pect."
Things have now changed though, according to Mike. Quality control has been tightened and Plaxton coach bodies are as they should be — "perfect".
The 34 Volvo B58s and B10Ms in the Glenton fleet are fitted with Plaxton Supreme, Viewmaster or Paramount bodies, the Paramounts being — or becoming — the major stay of the fleet. It's a great pity that Plaxton did not come up with them a damn sight earlier, says Mike.
Take a closer look at Glenton's all Volvo/Plaxton fleet and you'll understand why the company claims to be Britain's leading and most prestigious coach tour operator. Many of the vehicles have full air suspension, all have forced air-ventilation and most have hydraulic steps which aid older customers. (Though Glenton's clients range from people in their teens to people in their eightes, it is probably fair to say that the average customer is in his or her forties).
Glenton is also renowned for its centre entrances — some thing that is now disappearing, although 80 per cent of the vehicles still have the feature.
The llm coaches are also fitted with 38 rather than the usual 50 passenger seats, which creates masses of leg room, says Mike. "Sitting with your knees under your chin is not on as far as we're concerned."
All seats have adjustable foot and head rests, too, and are unique in that they are stag gered, says Mike (the result being that aisle passengers, instead of seeing the profile of a fellow passenger, can actually look out of the window.) "They're Plaxton seats, but to our design. And Plaxton don't provide the same type of seating to anyone else."
I was surprised to learn that Glenton's coaches do not have such luxuries as on board toilets, videos and bars. Mike explained why.
"We operate touring coaches, not express coaches. We don't have videos but if we were running express services between, say, London and Glasgow we probably would. Our customers come to our tours to see the countryside."
On-board loos, says Mike, are irrelevant due to "superb itine rary planning." Itineraries are so designed that vehicles travel 200 miles a day at the most — with frequent stops.
For the same reasons, drinks are not served on Glenton's coaches. Why serve drinks on board when there are so many regular stops at service areas?
"Besides, there's nothing more sordid that a plastic cup on a coach that's travelling along a bumpy road," reckons Mike.
It is also because of the carefully planned and far from hectic itineraries that driver/couriers are used rather than drivers plus couriers. All Glenton driver/couriers are highly exper
ienced and most have been with the company for years.
Although the company operates a limited winter tour programme, most of the vehicles are de-taxed and garaged at the Charlton workshop/depot during the winter season.
That means that from about November to March most of Glenton's 27 driver/couriers and four couriers (who are used on continental tours) either take on other jobs or put their feet up for a few months.
Some are fortunate enough to be able to do that abroad, although most, if not all of them, return to Glenton in the spring.
There are no difficulties in replacing the few that are lost, says Mike — the company has a waiting list of about 100 driver/ couriers who want to join.
Apart from those 27 driver/ couriers and four couriers, Glenton has nine head-office staff dealing with reservations, accounts and day to day administration, plus a further 1 2 employees at Charlton who are responsible for the maintenance, repair, inspection and cleaning of vehicles.
Most of the work can be carried out at the four bay workshop at Charlton (a Plaxton body was removed from a chassis earlier this year) although major accident damage — on the rare occasions that there is any — is handled by Plaxton at Ware or Scarborough.
Needless to say, Glenton's vehicles are spotlessly clean, excellently maintained (all of them have post-tour inspections) and are in demand when they are sold. Most of them are replaced every seven years, and because they cover relatively few miles and are superbly maintained, they are excellent second-hand buys.
Mike says that Glenton's decision to subscribe to the Bus and Coach Council's bonded scheme has paid dividends. (The scheme ensures customers that in the event of a company ceasing to trade, their holidays are financially protected.) "We're well and truly in the scheme and that has helped us win business. And from our market research we've discovered that well over 50 per cent of our agents are aware of the scheme."
Mike, incidentally, is chairman of the BCC's bonded coach holiday section.
Glenton Tours has an annual capacity of about 22,000 seats. The last three years have be tight, and the company has be unable to enjoy full load facto admits Mike.
But that does not appear concern Glenton Tours undt. The company resists the ten tation to offer "cheapies" an suppose, it is to its advantz that it can actually tell custom that their coaches are r usually fully occupied a therefore, there is even m room for them — if, indeed tl needed any more.
Much of Glenton's busines repeat business, although tomers do compare Glen with others but, thankfully s Mike, usually return at a I date. He is not being over c. plimentary of his own comp when he says "it is so up mai there are very few competitc Glenton is in a league aL most other operators.
The facts really speak themselves. Glenton hat army of satisfied custom around the world, many whom receive replies to q tionaires they have filled in a tour. When was the last you filled in a questionaire actually received a respons your criticisms or praise? It's that kind of attentio
detail, not to mention its quality coaches, driver/cow itineraries, and choice of h that makes Glenton Tours Britain's quality coach
operators.
I'm saving up to sample of the delights they have to'