Founder Sonny Dover continued to be part of the operations long after retirement. His sons and grandson would still go ’round for a coffee’ whenever there was a big decision to make
Just a few miles away from historic Durham is a coach operator that is as solid as the stones of the city’s medieval cathedral.
Founded in 1960 by Albert (Sonny) Dover and his wife Muriel, Dovers Coaches is still run by the family. But instead of weekend trips to Blackpool, today’s coaches are more likely to be out for two to three weeks transporting foreign tourists on trips around the UK and Ireland.
Back in the fifties Sonny was a miner and doing some part-time work driving for a coach company. He was expecting to get a full-time job with the firm but when that didn’t materialise, he took the plunge and bought his own coach.
He took groups out for the weekend to Blackpool and miners to local attractions for a day out. It ‘snowballed’ and in 1960 he left the pits and officially started Dovers Coaches.
Luckily the family home was situated on a private road so Sonny was able to park his coach outside his house. As the business grew, he managed to tuck in three more coaches on the road and one in his shed.
Touring begins
In those early days Dovers’ fleet was composed mostly of Bedfords and Fords, and the trips were getting longer and further afield. In 1984 Sonny bought his first executive coach – a DAF.
By now his two sons Les and Terry had joined the family business and were both driving the coaches.
“It was in the blood,” says Terry, who started straight from school. “In those early days mum and dad went off to France and Switzerland and me and Les would go as passengers.
“Every month we would go away somewhere.”
He adds: “We then started to work with various different travel companies for the European tours, which at the time was all pastures new, and we started to explore further into Europe for these travel companies, occasionally running tours for the local people as well.”
The firm had some school contracts and some ‘bingos’ but Terry says: “It’s been 20 years since we last did a school contract.”
Expansion
In 1997 Dovers invested in its first brand new vehicles – two Volvo Plaxton Excalibur executive coaches.
And in 2007 Sonny’s grandson, the third generation of the family, joined after doing an apprenticeship with Scania as a mechanic. 21-year-old Karl brought ‘enthusiasm’ to the business.
His uncle, Terry says: “Karl is very enthusiastic, where Les and me were a little set in our ways.
“Karl brought a new dimension to it, a new spirit to it. Then Dad would come down and pull us to bits for doing things because it wasn’t the old way!”
At the end of the nineties Dovers moved to a new depot at Pearsons Industrial Estate, Hetton-Le-Hole. Les says: “When we first bought the new place the office was still run from mum and dad’s house.
Twelve years ago Sonny had a stroke at the age of 72 and had to retire. Les says: “Dad was still involved on a daily basis even after he retired. He used to be over the moon to come down with us and collect new coaches.
“The fact that he had his licence taken off him really used to wind him up. But he would still come down, sit in the garage, watch us working and tell us how to do stuff.”
Karl adds: “He would give us advice. When we were thinking about buying a new coach we would go and have a coffee with Grandad and he would say ‘why don’t you do this…?’ He would always put a different spin on things.”
Repeat business
Dovers’ main business now is touring, with just 5% of its time spent on rail replacement. Mainly booked by travel agents, the coaches go all over Europe as well as the UK work.
Regular customers are Voyager School Travel, Simply Groups, IBT Travel and Isle of Wight Tours.
Terry says: “Once you’ve made a good impression on these companies and you’ve done a good job, they book you again.
“95% of our tour work is repeat business.”
“We pick up tourists and do a 10 or 12 day run around the UK and Ireland and then return them to London,” says Les. “60% of the market are Chinese people and there’s a lot of Australians too.
“We could do twice as much work but concentrate on keeping our feet on the ground and doing a good job and getting repeats.”
The firm has a small team of drivers who all “muck in, wash the coaches and do anything that is needed.”
Les says: “A lot of drivers came to us through recommendation. They all enjoy working for us and as they are away from home a lot it’s important that they enjoy what they’re doing.”
He adds: “We pay them a salary and it gives them a bit more stability, but means we have to keep them busy.
“We try and focus on the family side. We wouldn’t expect any of our drivers or staff to do anything we wouldn’t want to do ourselves.”
The fourth generation
Terry’s wife Nina also drives. The couple met when Terry was taking a coach to the Isle of Wight. A qualified London city guide, Nina was working at Isle of Wight Tours as a Tours Manager.
Nowadays they do a lot of the ski work together, sharing the driving.
Les’s partner Joanne also does the drinks and helps on the coach sometimes when they go away together.
But the biggest coach enthusiast of the family is Karl’s son, 4-year-old Thomas Dover, who insists on visiting the yard every morning to look at the coaches before he goes to school. Karl says: “He was so excited when we got his name printed on the platinum edition Tourismo.”
Sadly, founder Sonny passed away this year but his name lives on with the words ‘One of Sonny’s’ adorning each coach.
A modern fleet
This year the operator has taken delivery of two new Mercedes-Benz Tourismo executive coaches, a 51-seater and a 57-seater.
They have joined the three Neoplan Tourliners, completing a full line-up of Euro VI luxury touring coaches.
The platinum Tourismo is sometimes knocked down to 40 seats so there’s extra leg room for the tourists. Driver Les says: “It makes a big difference to their comfort.”
In preparation for Brexit and any problems it may bring Dovers has joined the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT).
Terry says: “We expect the CPT to guide us in case there are issues we don’t understand with our European coach tours.”
It’s this type of modern attitude – mixed with traditional family values – that stands the operator firmly in the hearts of its customers as it marches into its 60th year of trading.
