The winter months spell much more than a change of business focus for coach operators, writes Simon Ingham, Edwards Coaches Commercial Manager
The number of extreme weather events are increasing, a trend confirmed by the Met Office’s State of the UK Climate 2024 report. For the most recent decade, UK winters have been 10% wetter than the 1991-2020 period and 25% wetter than the period of 1961-1990.
These stats alone indicate the need for us to maintain our preparedness for this change in climate for business continuity and for keeping our employees, clients and assets safe.
While seasonality may be shifting a little, without doubt, we as coach operators can expect to experience fog, gales, wind, slush, rain and hail or worse, this coming winter.
So how do we prepare? Here are some of the measures we at Edwards Coaches take to be ready for whatever the Welsh winter weather throws at us.
In terms of vehicles, we conduct enhanced coolant, antifreeze and screen wash fluid checks, ensuring we have a plentiful supply, too.
Control teams monitor weather forecasts and heed any weather warnings issued, triggering the adverse weather and disruption escalation process
We verify that all headlamps, indicators, and wipers are clean, non-hazed and functioning correctly as standard practice.
We ensure that vehicle heating systems are fully functioning and cleaned of any dust and dirt that may have entered the system during the summer.
Edwards Coaches is fortunate to be able to store up to 30 vehicles in under-cover areas to avoid de-icing vehicles on the early run-out, but we ensure we have a stock of de-icing materials ready for the harshest of weather (for example, ice clearance blades).
When it comes to our drivers, we ensure that they are familiar with the heating and demisting controls on each vehicle through type training.
We remind them to ensure that they have suitable clothing for their duties. We also remind drivers to ensure they have ample time to get from home to the depot in plenty of time to avoid rushing, heightening the importance of not driving personal or company vehicles with a partially demisted windscreen.
It’s also important that all our drivers know how to report hazards, incidents and emergencies, too, and reminders are shared periodically to reduce errors.
Having access to a mobile phone is less of a concern these days, but we advocate that they are charged with ample battery life in case of use.
In the yard, we have a plentiful supply of salt or grit and trained personnel to apply it for when conditions dictate its use.
We check drains and gutters for any build-up of debris and ensure that outdoor general and emergency lighting is functional.
We have heavy-duty door mats to prevent excess water from entering buildings and make use of “wet floor” signage for customer and staff safety as appropriate.
We ensure that a comfortable temperature is maintained in the workplace, with a stock of back-up heating apparatus in case of a system fault. Shovels are accessible to assist with snow clearance if required.
We are fortunate to have a trained team to assist with vehicle preparation in the interests of punctuality – for example, for clearing all snow and ice from windscreens, mirrors, and lights ahead of daily checks being conducted.
Warm water supply is available, in the event of our external vehicle wash freezing, to maintain the external cleanliness of our coaches.
In terms of additional operational preparedness, control teams monitor weather forecasts and heed any weather warnings issued, triggering the adverse weather and disruption escalation process. Contingency plans are periodically reviewed, with the emergency contacts list updated.
We ensure that teams are on hand to contact customers and clients in the event of travel disruption, including staff to update social media platforms to assist in keeping people updated and managing expectations.
All our vehicles are tracked to ensure they can be easily located in the event of disruption.
We compile a standby driver availability list to mitigate disruption if drivers from further afield struggle to make it to base.
