With experience in both the haulage industry and driver training prior to running his own business, Simon Holder of Essex-based Simon’s Bus discusses his time in the industry
Q: Can you tell us about your background in the industry?
A: I was a long-time lorry driver and worked in general haulage, and then I came off the roads and went into supermarket work. I ended up working for Argos and running their distribution point for five years – this was around 17-18 years ago.
From there I began retraining London bus drivers in customer care. I trained bus drivers who were already driving and helped to tweak what they should and shouldn’t be doing, and helped them with customer care and dealing with passengers. I’ve always been in the driving industry, and I decided that I might as well set up my own business.
Q: How did you come to start Simon’s Bus?
A: When it comes to customer care I know what to achieve, so I set up Simon’s Bus in 2004. I got up to five buses, and we did and still do mostly party buses and hen parties. We used 16-seaters, as I decided to go for a bigger fleet of smaller capacity coaches.
I like doing the hen parties and the nightclubs, and 10-12 people are quite nice numbers. Obviously the bigger vehicles can make a lot more money, but a lot of people start off with a small bus like mine, and then grow – but there’s always a shortage of minibuses and the size of vehicle I use. I do a lot of schoolwork, sports fixtures and football teams – so 16-seaters are an ideal size for that. All of my drivers are always in uniform. When I take some people out to the nightclubs they’ll say ‘oh, you used to take us on our sports fixtures’ – it’s a trusted brand locally.
Q: What challenges have you faced during your time in the industry?
A: When we first started with 16-seaters, we didn’t need tachographs and there were a lot of other things we were exempt from. But now it’s nearly exactly the same as the big coaches, the legislation is the same and we now run tachographs.
The work has got harder, and we have downsized. The business is a different animal to what it used to be – there’s certainly not the work, especially with the nightclubs. In the early days we were back-to-back, and you’d have two or three nightclubs per bus on a Saturday night. Now, a lot of weekends go by and there isn’t any nightclubs, or the odd one. The hen parties are still busy – that’s been something I’ve focused on. I’m trying to simplify things, because I don’t think that people have got the freely available cash that they used to. People aren’t so affluent.
Q: What do you enjoy most about running Simon’s Bus?
A: I like the party stuff, but I love all of it. I love dealing with the public, and Ascot is quite fun. I’ve been on BBC Three’s Don’t Tell The Bride, that’s one of my claims to fame. A lot of people love that programme, and it’s been repeated so many times – this was about six years ago and they’re still playing it now, so that’s been a really good advertisement for me.
There are times where the industry does get a bit wearing, but generally speaking I love it and it’s good fun. The upside is knowing that when people come back to you, you’ve given a good service.
