This pre-season addition to the touring fleet is a Volvo B12B with a tried and tested Plaxton Panther body. This vehicle joins 5 Volvo B12M's in our fleet, but is our first Volvo vehicle with the incredibly powerful 460 bhp rear engine. However this increased power is not at the expense of the environment, as it has lower emissions and an increased mpg compared to the slightly less powerful B12M's, which have a maximum output of 420 bhp.

The vehicle is equipped to our executive specification i.e. 49 reclining seats with toilet/washroom, hot drinks facilities, air conditioning and DVD player with LCD screen. In addition this vehicle features upgraded seats with leather head rests, individual armrests and 3-point seat belts.

More New Coaches: The Midi Coach Fleet

We have taken delivery of 2 further brand new coaches this year, bringing this years total four new deliveries. This is due to the combined continued demand for our services and our constant striving to maintain our fleet, which is probably the most modern for a fifty mile radius of our our main operations centre in Ellesmere.

These two latest vehicles to arrive are for our midi coach fleet. They are in addition to the two full size touring coaches which arrived earlier in the year.

The first is a familiar model to us, this a 26 seat Caetano Optimo, of which we already we have an identical model bearing a 54 plate, this new vehicle has a 57 registration. The second vehicle is a Mercedes Sitcar Beluga which has 29 seats and is air conditioned. These vehicles are proving very useful additions to our coach fleet. These vehicles ensure we can offer our customers best service and value for money by having 9 different sizes of vehicles available in our 20 coach fleet.

As is usual we have taken delivery of two more brand new front line vehicles ready for the 2007 busy touring season. This brings the number of new vehicles delivered in the last 18 months to 6.

Both vehicles are fully air conditioned, resulting in half our fleet now having this facility, depsite it being a very expensive optional extra (somewhere in the region of a small brand new family car, each!). The vehicles are equipped to our own high specification; the first vehicle being a 49 seater executive with toilet, refigerator etc. The second being a new 57 seater 12.9 metre long vehicle, which is the longest coach in the fleet. Which despite having this high capacity now affords the passenger the same leg room as one of our 49 or 53 seater touring coaches.

Another first is that both coaches have their gearchange controlled by the revolutionary i-Shift gearbox, this gives the driver the option to leave the gear change to a fully automatic gearbox or they can drive the vehicle in the fashion of a traditional manual gearbox, using the joystick provided. This coupled to the powerful 420bhp Volvo B12M engine, which we have been trialling since 2003, provides improved fuel efficiency and hence with it the enviornmental benefits that brings.

On the 13th February 2006, Lakeside Coaches Ltd. entered a new era. This date saw the first day of operation from our new state of the art heaquarters located on the Ellesmere Business Park.

Telephone numbers and email addresses remain the same however our new address is:

The Coach Centre, Ellesmere Business Park, Oswestry Road, Ellesmere, Shropshire. SY12 0EW

You can trace the develpoment of the site on our dedicated webpage.

Editors should contact the General Manager for press releases regarding the development.

In the latest edition addition of the Coach Tourism Professional magazine, there is a feature on the use of websites and the internet in the coach industry. Comment on the issue is provided by our very own technical support, Gareth Davies.

In preparation for the busy 2006 season we have received our new year delivery of vehicles.

As part of our continual process of fleet renewal, we have taken delivery of two new touring coaches from the Portugese coach builder Salvador Caetano. They are both powered by the tried and tested Volvo B12M engine.

Both vehicles show a common specification to our needs, this includes: ABS Braking Systems, Full Air Conditioning, Flip Down LCD Screens with DVD Players, Fully Reclining Seats with Seat Belts and Headrest Covers. Also there are many other standard safety and comfort features that you would expect from our vehicles. In addition one of the vehicles is equipped to our full executive standard which includes WC/Washroom, Drinks Facilities and Refrigerator.

We are pleased to announce our latest recruit to the operations team and that is Mike Hall as Quality and Compliance Co-Ordinator.

Mike joins us after many years in administration and other roles which have seen him at the forefront of quality standard implementation at other companies.

So we welcome Mike to his new role and we hope to report back soon, on future developments and projects he is working on as we actively crave further accreditation and recognition of the quality of our operation.

Sunday 10th April marked one of the largest single operations Lakeside Coaches has had the pleasure to be involved in. This involved the transportation of Wrexham AFC supporters from all over North East Wales to the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff for the 2005 LDV Vans Trophy Final.

After weeks of planning the operation, 47 coaches organised by Lakeside Coaches departed from the region for the Welsh Capital. It is not unusual on a busy day for us to have a large number of coaches operating, but the logistics of an operation where large numbers pick up from single points and all travel to a single destination was a bit of a different concept. This certainly provided a challenge for our operations team, but once again they rose to meet the challenge in front of them and the operation passed off successfully.

Numbers: This operation was not only about service and quality but the sheer numbers involved. In fact the largest pick up point saw 26 coaches depart from it ( with just 30 minutes to load the passengers), however our ground operations manager saw that no one was left behind and that the coaches departed on time. The return journey saw the same challenges but with all 47 returning from one point, but once again the same was achieved as it was for the departure.

What's more, Wrexham went on to win the trophy so the nearly 2,500 supporters we carried returned home in jubilant mood.