|
|
|
|
Welcome to WHEELS HERITAGE - Classic Buses and Coaches. |
|
Welcome to 2009 - Spring is Here !
We have had an interesting Winter Season.
December was busier than usual. We operated some trips to drive through the
festive lights of various Midlands towns which went rather well, and our Day
Trips were all busy especially those favourites like Worcester and Ludlow which
are now very popular annual events.
Our Midland Red Travel Club is going from strength to strength with some customers buying Membership for their friends as part of their Christmas Present - a great and useful idea.
We have been visiting some Groups and Residential Homes in our operating area, giving talks on the Midland Red and our Travel Club; a small fee is levied and subsequently groups which join our Club have the fee deducted from the first of any coach hire charge plus pick ups at the door!
Our 2009 Day Trip leaflet has the information on prices which Travel Club members pay, and there are lots of great discounts on most of our trips. You can print off your own copy from the excursions and events page by clicking the highlighted link above.
Now that the model shop in Coventry which took Midland Red bookings has closed as the lease has come to an end, please book by telephone with us direct until we have appointed a booking agent in Coventry. The telephone number is the same as that printed on our Brochure - 024 76 633624. This number gets directly to us, but if we are engaged or with clients, you will be able to leave a message and we can return your call, but please leave your name, number and more importantly a message so that we can get back to you with some accurate information. You can Book Day Trips, Private Hire etc by telephone and pay by Card, or by Cheque just as normal. We look forward to hearing from you.
There were more Winter Weddings than usual too - in locations including Coleshill, Birmingham, and Berkeswell, as well as some Corporate Private Hire bookings - some as far afield as Cambridge.
Then 2009 introduced itself with the weather we thankfully only get every eighteen or twenty years. But unlike London's red buses, our Midland Red classics carried on serving our customers.
See some of our winter work in pictures below
 |
 |
 |
| Angie's 70th Birthday event was set in the Derbyshire countryside just outside Ashbourne. Passengers braved the frosty day for a 1920's style Charabanc ride, picking up the Birthday Girl on the way for a celebration meal | Janis (in the yellow top) and friends set off from home to take a vintage Midland Red D9 bus ride into Worcester for a special Sunday Lunch with wonderful food and a surprise when one of the diners took the microphone and gave a singing rendition to complete the event. | The classic Bristol RE coach and our red D9 double decker were far away from home in Cambridge on a Corporate Hire for a London company. The lunch was held in a University Hall, with guest speaker Michael Portillo. |
On the Left: A D9 in the heart of Worcester on a
sleety afternoon taking guests and friends of the Birthday Girl out for a very
special Sunday Lunch Bash.
On the Right: An S23 temporarily parked in our car park at our depot
and making a seasonal postcard picture.
Midland Red continued to operate in the snow...
These were really tough conditions - snow covering the entire front of the bus with the driver having to get out regularly and clean snow from the windscreen.
An extract of a letter from the Customer who hired the bus:
More customers' letters can be found on our Buses for Business and Buses for Pleasure page |
|
After a
year of running as the lead coach on our Day Trip programme, we have now
completed the refurbishment of our British Classic Leyland coach.
This coach has 43 spacious coach seats fitted with retractor seatbelts and footrests, display curtains, and lots of legroom. The improvements will make for added comfort of our loyal passengers.
In addition, there are two areas designed as seating areas for groups, where between three and eight passengers can sit together as one group.
The coach will again head our Day Trip programme for 2009 - with even more choice of destinations, more departures, and now an improved coach to ride aboard !
This modern classic Coach can also be available for PRIVATE HIRE - Ask us for details.
Update NEWS !!
We have added a comprehensive package of
information for you to see on our WEDDINGS and FUNERALS
pages. These are services which we have offered for a long time,
and we have a wealth of experience in offerering these services for you - please take a
look at these new pages.
Also, our new 2009 Classic Day Trip leaflet is now available - print off your own copy
from our Excursions, Tours and
Events page.
Great Fun on our "Limited Edition"
Charabanc Outings
After
many requests, this year we included a small number of our 2008 Day Trips using our
open-sided unique Charabanc. These were a great success and we have
decided to make these tours a feature of our future programmes.
The South Warwickshire Countryside Tour will feature the Charabanc in future. This leisurely tour visits such places as Stoneleigh Abbey, Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwick, then travels eastwards via Offchurch, and then on the Roman Fosse Way to Hunningham Hill where we make a stop at Hill Top Farm. This is a farm with a countryside shop, selling all manner of locally produced food, including a great selection of breads, fresh meat and vegetable produce, pickles and chutneys. Further inside you will discover their Eatery - the quality of food here is excellent, and is fresh from the farm-shop next door! You will find a range of hot and cold dishes, and the sandwiches are a meal in themselves too! Then from here it's back home via a ride around the country lanes.
THIS TOUR CAN ALSO BE ARRANGED FOR PRIVATE GROUPS using the Charabanc or any
of our other classic vehicles. The route may vary depending on your place
of origin. Please email us to discuss details.
For many years WHEELS has had an Accessible Transport policy and
have vehicles equipped with wheelchair facilities with passenger and or
wheelchair lifts. These vehicles are available for wheelchair-bound passengers,
and those who find it easier to use their wheelchair for part of the day and
wish to transfer to a coach seat for the journey. WHEELS / Midland Red Coaches can also use the
wheelchair accessible vehicles for disabled holidays too. We welcome enquiries
from residential homes and sheltered housing groups.
Midland Red Coaches will help make any Day Out a special event.
This picture features the Bedworth Fellowship for the Handicapped
who we have taken on holidays and day trips for a number of years. Mrs
Aston, their organiser is exceptional in her ability to cater for all needs,
and in providing such a comprehensive package of knowledge and safety measures
(including calling register to make sure everyone is aboard, and in having
detailed notes of passengers' medication etc). She deserves a medal for her
work!
This picture features a holiday in Eastbourne,
photographed outside the hotel. The famous Eastbourne Tennis tournaments are
held in the stadium behind the coach.
We are here for all your Midland Red Coaches Bus and Coach Hire enquiries and bookings, Day Trips
out, Wedding Transport, Weekend Breaks, Turkey & Tinsel, traditional Coach
Cruise Holidays by GrandUK, Wheelchair Access Coach, Classic Funeral Transport. And for Group
Organisers - we can make your life easier and your group
members' day out enjoyable. Get in touch - by email us - buses@wheels.co.uk
or by calling 02476 633624
Charabanc Summoned to Lichfield Cathedral
Special
permission was granted to our Charabanc to park in the main entrance of
Lichfield's beautiful Cathedral. It was for a outing to celebrate a special
birthday of the Arch Deacon of the Cathedral.
After picking up in The Close, unsuspecting family members were waiting at the outlying bus stops en-route, unaware that our unique Charabanc was coming to pick them up. At each bus stop the passengers were welcomed aboard and were shocked to see their head of family sitting happily on the front seat!
When the Arch Deacon was in his late teens he worked for a coach company in northern Staffordshire, so was able to tell the Driver some tales of how it was in the Good Old Days.
First stop was Trentham Gardens for Lunch, followed by a ride around some old haunts, then it was on to Shugborough Hall for Afternoon Tea.
It really was a splendid day - and perfect Charabanc weather was ordered too. How could He refuse?
We operate various Tours and Day Trips to Lichfield - a
perfect opportunity to visit the Cathedral. This tour (and similar tours)
can also be arranged for Private Groups, using the Charabanc or any
of our other classic vehicles. The route may vary depending on your place
of origin. Please discuss this with us.
You will quickly see that we no ordinary bus and coach operator! Wheels/Midland Red Coaches is a specialist company operating a range of traditional style vintage buses and classic coaches to suit most occasions. WHEELS / Midland Red Coaches is based in the midlands and operates over an approximate sixty mile radius of our base. We obviously make some exceptions to this according to specific itineraries. We travel anywhere in the UK for TV and Film work which we wish to be involved in. We cover all midlands areas including Coventry, Bedworth, Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth, Hinckley, Leicester, Coleshill and North Warwickshire, Birmingham, and in fact most of the East Midlands and West Midlands area.
Our
vehicles are suitable for most occasions:
a stylish Wedding with white
ribbons and flowers, an important product launch, a trip to the zoo, a Stately
Home, or a day at
the races watching the horses from the elevated position of our open sided
Charabanc or from the top of one of our double deckers; a
simple transfer to the airport, or the transport for an entire conference.
Recapture those lazy afternoons on a nostalgic Mystery Tour, or we could be simply
providing vehicles for important railway replacement services during the
rebuilding of our railway network. We can provide buses for Television and
Film
makers - our patient and uniformed Drivers are used to long or difficult shoots
- interesting buses for transport rallies or carnivals or village fates, and we
can even provide transport arrangements for funerals too. Whether it be a
plain and simple journey or whether you need us to organise highly complex
arrangements - every journey is special, and every arrangement deserving the
best in care and attention to detail and organised by professionals with many
years of experience in the business..
Although the bus and coach interests of WHEELS
/ Midland Red Coaches go back a long way, our staff
themselves have even more years of experience with some of the biggest and best
companies in the people-moving industry. So often today, in all types of
business, people with little or no product knowledge and precious little
experience offer you second rate service. Wheels / Midland Red Coaches staff have practical
skills and an in-depth knowledge gained from years of hands-on experience, to
give you confidence and peace of mind.
In preparation for the Midland Red Centenary and in view of our past connections
with the Company and its successors we were successful in buying the Midland Red
Coaches company and name and subsequently FOUR ex Midland Red vehicles including
our famous
D9 double decker and a unique charabanc with origins dating from 1929 and
S23 single deck models. 2006 brought another cause for celebration when our
BMMO D9 had its 40th Birthday Party.
The WHEELS fleet of buses and coaches is picked
from a fine pedigree of
traditional British names - Leyland, BMMO, Bristol, AEC. These were once the
foundation of the British bus and coach industry. Well engineered, rugged
and reliable, most were the classic British heavyweight designs. In fact
all our fleet is of British design and manufacture ! Not many companies
can say that these days !
It goes without saying that our fleet is well maintained, and that our vehicles are driven by properly licenced, experienced and smartly uniformed drivers, and our vehicles are correctly insured for operating for hire. Our vehicles also carry the blue operators' licence disc in the windscreen in addition to the normal tax disc. It has been known for some vintage bus owners to hire out their vehicles without an operators' licence and without correct insurance which puts their unsuspecting passengers at serious risk.
(We are pleased to announce that the vacancy below is now filled).
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
WE CURRENTLY HAVE A VACANCY
FOR A BUS AND COACH ENGINEER / FITTER
If you can maintain vehicles to MOT standards and more, undertake inspections
and general repairs, or have any specialist skills in Bodywork, Electrics, or
Restoration, then please get in touch.
Hours can be arranged to suit the right person and can be PART TIME OR
FULL TIME
Please email us to introduce yourself to us, or pass on this information to someone who may be
interested, Thank you.
We choose our drivers and engineering and office staff very carefully, Excellent customer care skills, reliability and good character are just our basic requirements. We are always pleased to hear from suitably qualified and experienced drivers who have that special ability to convert a journey ... into a joy !
If you are an Engineer who can repair - rather than just "fit" a new
component, and who have some experienced with traditional engines like Leyland,
BMMO (Midland Red) and
Gardner types especially, which are fitted in our vehicles we would also be pleased to hear from
you.
We can offer many opportunities that will fit in with your time off - even if
you are only able to help at Weekends, or Evenings please introduce yourself to
us.
PART TIME DRIVERS
If you have previously worked as a bus or coach driver and would like to
help us occasionally on our Heritage, Tour, Excursion and Private Hire work,
please contact us and get our Application Form. We will be keen to hear
from you if you are a good communicator, are absolutely reliable, of good
character and get on well with customers and of course have a good driving
record and can demonstrate that you can care for our buses and coaches..
LATEST NEWS
Don't forget to check regularly by clicking Latest News
section.
ADVERTISING ON OUR BUSES -- FOR BUSINESS - If you are in business why not consider advertising on our buses, We have internal and external advertising spaces all at very reasonable prices. The income assists us with our restorations projects and the advertising exposure brings new opportunities to you. We can design in conjunction with you, produce and fit the adverts for a time to suit your business. Speak to us soon!Wheels Coach Hire - Excursions Tours and Events
BUSES FOR BUSINESS - Conferences, Exhibitions, Hotel Transfers, Tourist Services, TV and Films, Park & Ride, Railway Replacement Services.
BUSES FOR PLEASURE - Weddings, Anniversaries, Theatre Trips, Mystery Tours, Transport Rallies, Carnivals, Excursions, Holidays, and lots more!
INCOMING COACH OPERATORS NOTE:
We can help with your local requirements when you are in the Midlands area. We can often provide a vehicle with driver to help most other bus or coach operators in times of acute shortage, whether this be vehicle breakdown, or your driver needs cover for (RTA) Drivers Hours regulations, or even if you are simply short of a vehicle. WHEELS / Midland Red Coaches are experienced in Local Bus Services as well as Coach Operations, although we normally have an operational radius of around 60 miles from start point. We will handle all bus and coach work, and we can arrange Tour Planning, Itineraries, all inclusive hotel accommodation, Guides for specific or general locations, food and refreshments and admissions as necessary. We also work with other respected names in the bus industry if your booking requires other types of buses or coaches which we consider more suitable to your needs - e.g. mass movement etc. We will of course make you aware of any other companies involvement in your travel plans, unless this is made in an emergency. Contact WHEELS / Midland Red Coaches- we will try to help.
Have a look through our bus and coach pages where you can see some of our vehicles and read a little about their long and interesting history, see our list of Excursions and Heritage Tours, and do check our Latest News page to find out the up-to-date gossip.
[Home] [Shop] [Coach Hire] [Midland Red Models] [Preservabus]
[For Business] [For Pleasure] [Excursions & Events] [Our Vehicles] [Latest News]
