Family coach company near Grantham spreads positive messages as it gets on road again

An award-winning, family-run coach company is preparing to welcome its customers back with positive messages and words of hope emblazoned on its coaches.

A&P Travel, which is based in the former post office in Osbournby High Street, was forced to cancel all day trips and holiday tours when the UK went into lockdown last March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, just as the company was about to enter its busiest time of the year.

After managing to open for a short season last summer, the coach company has been closed ever since.

But with restrictions now easing, staff are preparing to welcome their first customers back with a mystery day trip next week.

To celebrate the beginning of the new season and to mark the end of a tough year for the industry, positive messages have been printed on the sides of the company’s coaches.

Paul Cartwright, who set up A&P Travel with his dad Alan in 2006, said: “The travel and tourism industry has been hit so hard. The restrictions surrounding limiting socialising and travelling have hit us right at the core, but we are now ready to get back out there again and this has given us all something to look forward.

“We plan to stay local first to put money back into our community.”

The messages printed on the coaches include Captain Sir Tom Moore’s famous catchphrase, ‘Tomorrow will be a good day’ while ‘All will become good again’ has also been printed.

The coach company, which won ‘Coach of the Year 2018’ at the annual UK Coach Rally in Blackpool, has been inundated with bookings since releasing its latest brochure, which has now been sent to 5,000 local addresses.

Paul added: “People are desperate to get out. Our four new day trips have flown off shelves, including a coastal path walk in Norfolk.

“We are a lifeline to many of our customers. Some have said that they had tears in their eyes when they received the brochure and that it had given them hope again. We just want to spread some positivity in the world. It’s what our industry is all about.”

They are also hoping to attract some new customers as well.

Paul added: “Although we are so grateful for our current clientèle and will always look after them, we are also hoping to tap into a different clientèle too with our new environmentally-friendly green message.

“We want to encourage more people to consider coach trips for days out as it’s better for the environment to all travel in one vehicle as opposed to several going to the same destination.”

The office will be open for customers to visit from next week.

Paul added: "Even if customers just want to chat about any concerns or just want to have a chat. We are here."

Last July Paul joined other coach companies in calling on the Government to provide more support for the coaching industry during the pandemic, after many of them felt “forgotten” as they were not classed in the leisure and tourism sector, which received extra help.

Paul joined a convoy of 200 coaches from across the UK to Blackpool to highlight their plight.

Photos: Terry Baker