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Peter Hicks
• Peter Hicks, managing director of Winsway Ltd, the Accrington-based coaching firm whose Van Hool Grand Tourer took first prize at both the Blackpool and Brighton coach rallies this year, must surely believe in the old proverb: "If you can't beat'em, join'em."
Fourteen years ago, when he was 29 years old and employed as a British Rail station master at Helmshaw, Lancs, Peter decided to enter the coaching industry. He says he had become frustrated at British Rail's apparent lack of effort to attract new passengers.
Now he is an established and successful coach operator in his own right and declares, although modestly, that his fleet of coaches — three Van Hools, one Plaxton and a minibus — is one of the best in Britain. His recent rally victories — and his past achievements when he entered as Hicks Coaches, Accrington, of which he was proprietor and managing director until the firm was taken over in 1971 — would certainly seem to substantiate this claim.
This is why Peter has been "buying foreign". He says that in his experience British bodybuilders are just not prepared to provide the luxury extras such as tinted windows and reclining seats which he and his established passengers have come to accept as standard fittings.
Like most coach operators. Peter Hicks is involved in a lot of private hire work but he is also licensed to operate British and Spanish tours. Because of the long journeys involved on the Spanish trips he feels that passengers should be made as comfortable as possible and thinks that bodybuilders should work towards this goal by sacrificing seats in order to provide more leg-room.
When it comes to licensing regulations Peter thinks there is not enough competition in the coaching industry today, as a result of the present licensing system. Although he would not like to see "a free for all'' he would also welcome firms which have been established five years or so being given a better deal and allowed to operate excursions more freely.
It is a long time since Peter handed in his station master's whistle and stop watch, but the railways still fascinate him and what little time he has to spare he devotes to his hobby. He hopes eventually to find enough time to start a model railway collection —
to add to his model coach collection. T.O'T.