There’s work in progress at Wolverhampton-based Coach Tours and Travel as the business moves to develop and grow its coach operator and transport training arms.
Wolverhampton, as every student knows, was where, in 1712, Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine, the world’s first commercial steam engine, kick-started the Industrial Revolution. In 1818, Jeremiah Chubb invented the eponymous lock, while in 1927, the world’s first automated traffic light system was installed in Princes Square in the city centre. Today, Wolverhampton’s location towards the centre of England is proving useful as Coach Tours and Travel (CTT) continues to reinforce its position as a supplier of coaches to local and national coach holiday companies.
I’m talking with Dan Sexton, Operations Manager, and Alan Clews, Transport Manager. Alan, who has been part of the CTT team for six years, comes from a family of industry professionals. Clews Travel, his parent’s company, was a well-regarded Wolverhampton-based coach operator until it closed in 1997. Dan only joined CTT in 2025, moving from a job as Estate Officer at Havering Council in Essex.
“I was brought in by Ian Gouldstone, CTT’s Managing Director, to push the coach operator and transport training arms of the business,” he explains. “Ian knew me through a member of the team at coach tour operator Plimbley Travel, a company he and his partner Emma had bought in 2019.”
The business Dan found was a combination of successful coach operator and modestly successful industry training supplier facing fierce competition.
“Ian recognised the excellent team that was already in place,” says Dan, “but wanted someone with fresh ideas to focus on reviewing structures, health and safety and the training side of the business. Working with the existing team I feel we’ve had many successes, but it’s work in progress. I like to keep pushing.”
Never cancelling
Ian Gouldstone had a slightly unusual route into the industry. In the 1990s he was working in HGV tuition. In 1996 he decided he wanted to work for himself, buying a truck and setting up Central Transport Training. By 1997 he had four training vehicles. The trainer he employed came from a coach background and suggested Ian started operating a coach. This led to the acquisition of a Berkhof Axial 53-seater and the creation of Coach Tours and Travel, the name carefully chosen so that both parts of the business shared the initials CTT.
Ian’s foray into coach operation focused on day excursions. It was a slow start, but word soon spread and CTT’s reputation grew, helped by the fact that Ian never cancelled a trip, even if passenger numbers were low. In the ensuing years, the business grew with home-to-school, private hire and rail replacement work. But in 2022, Wolverhampton City Council set up its own transport unit, bringing all its home to school work in-house, a shock to Ian and the team, not least because WCC took many of CTT’s drivers. It did, however, provide an opportunity to take stock. Out went the football and late-night private hires, where coaches would often return to the yard with damage, and in came a new commitment to providing quality coaches to coach holiday operators.
Today, CTT provides coaches for a number of leading coach holiday companies including Just Go Holidays, Tailored Travel, Opal Travel Group, Halsbury Travel and Inspire Sports. “We’re constantly reaching out for new partners,” says Dan. “We’re well placed geographically and will quote for any work, wherever it is across the UK. We recently collected a group at Holyhead and took them to Cork in southern Ireland.”
The Plimbley effect
The 2019 acquisition of Plimbley Travel added a significant new dimension to CTT’s operations.
“When Ian and Emma bought the Walsall-based day trip and coach holiday company, Emma became Managing Director,” explains Dan. “CTT then became Plimbley’s preferred coach operator. There’s obviously a connection between the two businesses, but both are run independently of each other. That relationship has continued to grow, with Plimbley hires now accounting for around half of our business. The other half comes from our coach holiday partners.”
The relationship with Plimbley also prompted a change in back-office systems. CTT had worked with Distinctive Systems for website development, coach hire and maintenance management, but Plimbley used Roeville Reservations Software.
“With Plimbley being a major customer for us we needed to have parity,” says Dan. “In the end we realised it was easier for us to migrate to Roeville than it would be for the Plimbley team to migrate to Distinctive.”
Alan notes that the majority of CTT’s work is domestic.
“We do have continental European work, but there’s no doubt that domestic work is easier to manage,” he says. “Having said that, our experience of using the newly installed EES facility at Dover’s Western Docks has been trouble free. Perhaps we’ve been lucky!”
Doing the washing
Both men share a commitment to quality.
“Vehicle presentation is extremely important,” says Dan. “Our drivers will usually give their coaches a wash when they get back in from a job. But if that’s not possible, then Alan and I will take 30 minutes out from the office and do the job ourselves. A walk-round coach wash remains firmly on the wish list.”
Until September 2025, CTT’s offices were based at Fox’s Lane, an industrial site some three miles away from the current yard at Well Lane, where the vehicles were parked.
“The offices were basically just Portakabin-style units,” says Dan. “Last year the offices alongside the Well Lane site became available, so we grabbed the opportunity. Everything is now together.”
Interruption in supply
CTT operates eight full-size coaches and one 16-seat Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. The backbone of the fleet comprises six Mercedes-Benz Tourismos, the oldest being a tidy 10-plate kept for schools work and driver training. The two newest vehicles represent a departure from the Tourismo: a 74-plate 53-seat Scania Irizar i6s Efficient in Plimbley Travel livery, and a 24-plate 51-seat Scania Touring.
“We like the Tourismo, but buying the Irizar and the Scania Touring proved to be a necessity because of delays in the supply line,” says Dan. “We tested the Scania and it certainly is good value for money. But looking ahead we have a decision to make about where we go. We used to replace coaches each year, but the COVID pandemic delayed all that. The result is that we have some older coaches now, but we’ve looked after them; we know their history.”
CTT has no plans to go electric, with Dan citing the lack of adequate infrastructure to support the varied and long-distance work they undertake. He points to the company’s bird logo, a Swallow, based on the livery of a 58-plate Setra S415HD acquired by Ian some years ago.
“The Swallow always finds its way home,” quips Dan.
Take your partners
Operationally, CTT uses GPS Live for vehicle tracking, allowing tour company clients to provide their customers with a link to monitor coach locations. Roeville handles the walk-round check, with TruTac carrying out tachograph analysis.
Raising the company’s profile on social media is a key activity, with Facebook and TikTok the two primary channels.
“We encourage our drivers to engage with social media and we regularly post images of CTT-liveried vehicles,” says Dan. “But we also invite customers who call us to come in and see the vehicles. We feel the personal touch is so sadly missing from many parts of business these days. We want to stand out.”
Driver retention is a constant consideration in a competitive local market.
“We find we can’t offer higher rates,” continues Dan. “Our drivers on tour get paid for their days off. We also operate an open door policy. Communication is important. And our drivers can take their partners on tour, paying only where there’s a specific additional cost. That’s particularly beneficial at Christmas, where ensuring a sensible work-life balance is important.”
Training for the future
Although this article focuses on the coach operation, the training side of the business, Central Transport Training, remains an important part of the overall CTT picture.
“We provide category C and D training,” says Dan. “We’ve provided driver training for West Midlands Ambulance Service for nearly 20 years. At its peak, CTT was training 14 students a day, though increasing competition has brought challenges. We find we’re being undercut. However, I can see the potential for developing that side of the business. Our trainers can drive for us when they’re not busy. CTT meets CTT!”
Dan and Alan are clearly enthusiastic about what lies ahead.
“This industry is something I’ve done since school,” says Alan. “For me it’s the best job in the world. Every day is unique.”
Dan is equally upbeat. “We have a superb team and a quality product. I have a wish list though: a new vehicle for training, a double-deck coach for tours and schools, and that all-important walk-round coach wash. One thing’s for certain, the road ahead is certainly exciting!”
