Shaw's rally triumph
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A YORKSHIRE operator whose recent application for an operator's licence was opposed by the Bus and Coach Council triumphed last weekend to win the driving contest at the National Coach Rally in Blackpool.
Terry Shaw, of Terry Shaw Coachways of Barnsley, drove his Plaxton-bodied Volvo with such skill that he outshone the seven other finalists in manoeuvres completed last Sunday afternoon in seasonally kind weather.
For Mr Shaw, it was consolation for a Traffic Court battle earlier this year (CM, January 28) when BCC members in his area questioned the repute of Drapeweb, the new company he formed to take over his coach fleet, after an earlier company was wound up, owing other coach operators and hoteliers money.
Coach of the Year, in an event dominated by bodied coaches rather than exotic integrals, was a 28-seat luxury specification Volvo B1OM with Plaxton Paramount 3500 body. It was entered by National Car Parks subsidiary Marton Car and Coach Hire, of West Drayton, Middlesex, and was painted in a tasteful metallic blue livery.
Runner-up was one of the few double-deck coaches, a Neoplan 122 Clubliner entered by Granville Coaches of Freckleton, Lancashire. Its bold multi-coloured livery, for Continental shuttle work, turned heads throughout the two-day event.
And it was consolation for Cranville, too, as one of its coaches was written off recently after being damaged aboard a Channel ferry in heavy seas.