Parks ban catches coach operators
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by Martin Hayes
• On the first few days' evidence, the restriction on the number of coaches entering London's Royal parks which began on Sunday is going to cause major problems for operators in the summer months.
Although the full weekday allocation of 95 permits •(70 on Sundays) has not been fully taken up this week, a substantial number of vehicles were turned away at a checkpoint at Admiralty Arch on Monday. In the two hours up until noon (the ban lasts between 10.00 am and 12.30 pm, the time of the Changing of the Guards ceremony) I counted only 42 coaches entering the park. Six more were turned away, including two foreign vehicles, as well as no fewer than four school buses from the Inner London Education Authority.
Only 85 of the 95 available permits had been sold on Monday but it appeared that many were not taken up because of the cold weather. Only two of the leading operators made full use of their maximum allocation
of seven -permits a day World Wide Coaches Ltd and Wallace Arnold. The situation on Sunday was similar, with 66 permits issued but only 49 taken up.
The first week day's enforcement of the restriction was watched anxiously by various senior officials from the Department of the Environment and the police. Mr E. J. White, of Frames Tours Ltd and the Passenger Vehicle Operators Association's representative on the Greater London Council's coach committee, who was also present, expressed concern at the working of the scheme. Mr White accepted that some action needed to be taken. He recalled the day last year when 249 coaches entered the park in a 45-minute period.
Mr White's main concern was the lack of flexibility in the present scheme. Operators who did not make full use of their allocation of 50p permits could return them for use by others but, as yet, no system of providing refunds had been set up. The permits were not transferable among operators.
This view was echoed by Mr A. Seaman, traffic manager of Welwyn Garden City Coaches Ltd. One of his company's vehicles, loaded with Japanese tourists, was turned away on Monday. Mr Seaman told me that much of his company's business involved short-notice work from London's leading hotels. On this particular occasion the group had booked the tour during the weekend when the permit office was closed. Mr Seaman's coach eventually dropped and picked up its load at the southside of Trafalgar Square.
At present there is nothing to prevent operators from setting down or picking up in the roads around the Royal parks. But Sgt Manuel, who heads the Metropolitan police coach advisory service, told me that draft regulations preventing this were already before the GLC and could be introduced at any time if the problem worsened. Mr White suggested that a way of reducing this difficulty would be to allow coaches to set down and pick up — but not wait -in Horseguards Parade. The idea of an underground coachpark under Horseguards, for which Westminster City Council was prepared to provide much of the necessary £2m finance, has been rejected, apparently on security grounds.
Other ways of solving the problem before the peak summer months all seem doomed to failure. The Army has already indicated that, with the continuing Irish situation, it does not have sufficient manpower available to put on a "matinee performance" of the Changing of the Guards, which would at least stagger the load.
At present all parties are "playing it by ear", to quote a police representative. But it seems inevitable that this summer will see a major conflict between tourist organizations and coach operators on one side, and the DoE on the other. Whether this will mean, as many operators fear, that large numbers of foreign tourists, who have only a limited time available will cut out London from their itinerary, remains to be seen.
Operators requiring permits should apply to the DoE, Royal Parks division, 5th floor, Gaywood House, 29 Great Peter Street, London SW! 3LW. A remittance should be included. Alternatively, advice on setting down and picking up points outside the parks is available from New Scotland Yard's coach advisory unit, telephone 01-230 3150.