The UK Coach Operators Association (UKCOA) has announced details of its approaching annual conference for 2025, which will be held on Monday 10 March at the Volvo Bus UK and Ireland headquarters in Warwick. It follows a successful 2024 conference at that venue.
It will be preceded on Sunday 9 March by a dinner at the Stratford Manor Hotel. Conference delegates will hear a keynote address from Alex Mayer (pictured), MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard and a member of the Transport Committee.
Other presenters include Zemo Partnership Managing Director Claire Haigh and Backhouse Jones Legal Director Ian Jones. He will deliver an update on regulatory matters that impact the coach industry.
Masons Minibus and Coach Hire Director and Women in Bus and Coach Director Candice Mason will highlight issues that would make women feel more welcome in the coach sector, and an update on the UKCOA Driver Academy will be heard, including a speaker from the Department for Transport and an interview with an early recruit who is now a lead driver.
The trade body – which now has over 140 members – advises that “there will be so much more too, with plenty of opportunity for networking with fellow coach operators and industry partners.”
Separately, UKCOA has frozen its subscription fees for 2025 in response to what it says are the challenges currently being faced by many coach operators.
Adds President Stephen Telling: “UKCOA is entirely focused on the coach industry, and we have listened carefully to what our members have said.
“The subscription rates for coach operators, which range from £200 to £600 per year, are very good value for money. With the conference coming up in March, it has never been a better time to join UKCOA and benefit from all that it has to offer.
“Existing members have told us how much being part of UKCOA has helped them in recent years, and we would love others to join.”
