It’s not every day that you turn up to interview a coach operator to find the fleet parked on the drive of a house. Mannion Travel, a company started by Kevin Mannion in 1982, operates two beautifully presented coaches, delivering quality coach holidays and day excursions as well as working with group organisers and covering tours for other holiday companies.
Based in Gildersome, some seven miles south west of Leeds, the Mannion family – Kevin and his wife Janine, together with their son, Ryan – now appear to have what could be described as the perfect coach operating business. “It’s always been important to me that I need to enjoy what I do,” says Kevin. “It’s all about making the job what you want it to be.”
It’s an outlook shared wholeheartedly by Janine, the company’s administration and Transport Manager. “Kevin has always had a positive outlook,” she says. “For us, it’s all about quality, giving people a great experience. Janine points to the coaches. “Our strapline sums it all up: ‘Mannions – for days to remember’.”
First dates are prominent for Mannion Travel
Kevin can trace the Mannion’s story back to the early 1980s. “My dad, Jim, was a truck driver,” he explains. “But to boost his income he did some part-time work for Leeds-based Godsons Coaches. This enabled me to obtain my PCV licence. With David Godson’s permission I would often drive the empty coaches back to the yard when my dad had finished his shift.
“Mannion Coaches, as it was then, was created out of a small van haulage business that I was running from the family home in Cross Gates in east Leeds. In 1982 I decided to buy a minibus to run alongside the vans. That minibus was NTW 679P, a Ford Transit acquired from a local dealer.
“I didn’t have any work for it initially, but bit by bit I took on some contracts and private hire. I found that coaching was proving more profitable than the vans so I faded out the vans and in 1984 bought a second-hand Ford R1114 with Plaxton Elite 53-seat bodywork.
“I couldn’t keep that at home so I moved to a brownfield site in Springwell Road, Holbeck, not far from Leeds City station. My plan at that time was to expand by one coach a year.”
By 1988, Kevin had the four coaches he had planned for and was focused on private hire and school contracts. But he found himself caught in a tightening spiral of activity.
“I found I was having no time off,” he says. “I was really struggling with the conflicting interests of being ambitious and the reality of day-to-day operations. I took a decision then that has underpinned my working life ever since. I dropped back to only having three coaches. I bought and sold various different vehicles over this period, as well as buying the house that we still operate from today.”
In 1999 Kevin married Janine. He recalls their first date. “She was very excited. What I hadn’t told her was that I’d be driving the coach and that it was on a National Express Rapide service 561. She was a good sport, although having to serve the teas and coffees on the journey could have been the end of what has been 26 years of wedded bliss.”
Lunch – a catalyst for growth at the operator
In 2002 the couple took a year out. Being caravanners they took the opportunity to run a touring caravan site in Cornwall, an experience they thoroughly enjoyed. Kevin maintained the coaching business in Cornwall, albeit with just a single vehicle, a VIP Renault Master mini coach covering feeders for Wallace Arnold.
But West Yorkshire was calling Kevin and Janine and they returned in 2003 with, by then, two-year-old Ryan.
“The whole experience had made me realise I wanted larger coaches again,” explains Kevin. “So I bought a 34-seat Mercedes-Benz Tourino that became a popular vehicle. The 34 seat capacity limited what work the tour operators could give me. However, I found a niche when National Holidays had low-number tours to allocate.”
Janine explains what happened next. “As a result of local interest, we started pulling together a small programme of quality, four-day holidays. Numbers started off low but we never cancelled. Bit by bit, word got round. But the catalyst for real growth was our introduction of ‘Mystery Lunches’ in 2014. They proved extremely popular, and that helped us to cross-sell our holidays.
“Today we run around 25 holidays a year, the main coach being our 36-seat, 12.2m Irizar i6S. Our programme keeps the focus on quality, generally using four-star hotels, and sourced in various ways, including using tour wholesalers where appropriate. We cater for single travellers and create seating plans for meals so nobody feels excluded. We’re small enough to look after everyone.”
Keeping costs under control is key for Mannion Travel
The company also offers between 50 and 60 day trips each year, including two of the aforementioned ‘Mystery Lunches’ each month. The catchment area covers an area to the south of Leeds including Morley, Garforth, Cross Gates and Pudsey, together with the immediate Gildersome and Drighlington locality.
Pick-ups are limited to enable quick departures with no feeder services. Perhaps surprisingly the company doesn’t offer a door-to-door pick-up service. “Our premises serve as home, office, depot and customer parking,” explains Janine.
“Our customers like that and they like the limited pick-ups, so for now, we’re avoiding the need to use taxis or have additional drivers and people carriers. That all helps to keep our costings under control.” With the company’s focus on quality and attention to detail it comes as no surprise to learn that tours go out mostly full.
“We have a Facebook page and our website,” says Janine. “We don’t do much in the way of other marketing activity. We suggest to our customers they keep an eye on the website. When a hotel gets in touch with some new allocation we decide if we can run a tour and then put it straight online. It’s first-come, first-served for everyone.”
Taking a gamble on a post-pandemic purchase
Kevin recalls how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the business. “We were in a good place. We didn’t owe anything on the coach we had at the time, a 09-plate Mercedes-Benz Tourismo. But during the pandemic we spotted a 53-seat executive-specified Irizar i6 integral. We realised we needed to replace the Tourismo so we bought it.
“But it was a gamble as we didn’t know how the pandemic was going to work out. Today, that vehicle, M100 DTR is one of our two coaches. The other is M200 DTR, a 36-seat, 12.2m Irizar i6S with rear kitchen, four sets of seats with tables and a floor-mounted rear toilet. She’s a beautiful coach and we work hard to maintain that excellence.”
Maintenance is carried out by a local dealer, TruTac is used to ensure operational compliance, and Distinctive Systems’ Tour Booking System is used to support administration. The company belongs to the Confederation of Passenger Transport, with its holiday programme bonded through BCH and ABTOT.
Having the confidence to go for coaching
Ryan Mannion, at 24, is one of the youngest coach tour drivers in the country, completing a four-year mechanical apprenticeship before joining the family business.
“In addition to our own tours I also drive our coaches covering other tour operators’ work,” he says. “One thing I do notice is that you don’t see many young coach drivers. It’s a recognised industry issue of course. By the age of 21, most people have already started along different career paths. For me, yes it can be daunting. You need the confidence, you need vehicle experience, and you need the personality to be able to engage, appropriately, with your passengers.
“My parents have been great teachers! They have built up a business where they have a good work/life balance. I see a good future and can see myself doing this for many years to come.”
Looking ahead, the family is considering the options for introducing an enhanced holiday product at a separate price point. But as Janine notes, there’s no rush. “People come to us because they trust us,” she says. “We need to get it right.”
When it comes to succession planning, having another generation of the family ready and willing to pick up the reins might be seen as good fortune for any coach operator, especially one with a 43-year history. But with retirement not on any agenda, the Mannion family are continuing to forge a successful path together.
But there’s something else. Leaving the house I look more closely at the two coaches parked on the steel reinforced driveways. The cherished ‘DTR’ plates stand out. DTR? Then I realise. ‘Days to Remember’. Trust Mannion Travel to be different!
