Cotter expands
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COTTER'S TOURS has expanded further into the big league of coaching by taking over Bee Line Tours from the Ellerman Group.
This moves the Glasgowbased coach tours and express services group into North-East England some five months after it bought the Florence and Grange business based at Morecambe. The fleet of the group, which also includes Watson's of Dundee, now numbers over 100, and it hopes to handle around 70,000 to 80,000 passengers a year.
The Bee Line business represents around 25,000 passengers a year.
Cotter has exclusive right to use the Bee Line name, and a future owner of the Bee Line Continental business will need to rename it after a year.
Cotters director Tom Tumilty told CM that the expansion of the group maintained a policy of operating totally inclusive middle market tours. There,was no intention of entering the day excursions and private hire market, nor was Bee Line's recentlyabandoned London-North East express service likely to be revived.
The combined fleet will gradually be updated to heavyweight, probably Volvo, chassis.