What do coach drivers get as an incentive to visit shopping outlets,eg Boundary Mills

Fortyfoot

Today "on our way home" we were driven an hour to a Boundary Mill outlet, left there for 1.5 hours which no one wanted.

I have just checked the distances and the distance to the first drop off from the outlet was 5 miles more than it would have been had we gone straight home from the hotel.

To add to that he was told that the A38 was closed, yet proceeded to drive up the A38 to the blocked road! The last drop off was beyond his "hours".

Would he benefit by using up all of his allowed driving hours?

Any comments appreciated.

Fortyfoot

thelawnet

On your way home from where?

I imagine they might get paid quite a bit for this.

vikingaero

The Coach Driver would have got a free meal/money off voucher of around £10-£25 or even cold hard cash as an incentive.

Fortyfoot

thelawnet wrote: »

On your way home from where?

I imagine they might get paid quite a bit for this.

Sorry, I should have made it clearer. We had been away for three nights with days out in the Midlands. Not an expensive trip, good value for money, but most were disappointed with the return journey.

Tilt

Speaking as an ex coach driver, vikingaero has probably answered your question. Coach drivers aren't the highest paid skilled workers in the world (no where near what bus drivers get for example) so they rely on these 'perks' while away on tour. Having said that, like most industries, there are those few that will extract everything they can at the expense of customer satisfaction. But if your were on a 4 day tour and you say it was 'good value for money', it sounds like the driver didn't do much wrong.

Fortyfoot

I appreciate that. He got a good tip from me, he looked after us well, except for the return journey. I did not say earlier, he was not and employee, he was providing his coach and himself to the tour operator.

I am sure that the tips he would have lost because of the return journey would have been quite a bit.

Fortyfoot

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Was it in anyway part of the trip itself that you had overlooked/Not seen when booking?

Fortyfoot

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Was it in anyway part of the trip itself that you had overlooked/Not seen when booking?

No, not part of the holiday.

fivetide

Did you not just ask him "What are we here for?"

Sometimes a simple conversation works quite well!

5t.

PasturesNew

From their own website

As an incentive, we offer the driver £10 cash and the Group Organiser a £10 Boundary Mill Stores Gift Voucher. All we ask to qualify is that the coach must be carrying at least 20 passengers and stay for a minimum of 2 hours. Please contact the Coach Co-ordinator (at whichever store you are planning on visiting) to book prior to your visit. Then on arrival at the store, we will pass on the Group Organiser's voucher and the drivers cash.

http://www.boundarymill.co.uk/bou_grouptravel.html

So he wouldn't have even stayed long enough to get his bung.

nickcc

Tilt wrote: »

Speaking as an ex coach driver, vikingaero has probably answered your question. Coach drivers aren't the highest paid skilled workers in the world (no where near what bus drivers get for example) so they rely on these 'perks' while away on tour. Having said that, like most industries, there are those few that will extract everything they can at the expense of customer satisfaction. But if your were on a 4 day tour and you say it was 'good value for money', it sounds like the driver didn't do much wrong.

Not sure where you get tha idea that Bus drivers are well paid, here in Cornwall both are poorly paid with the average hourly rate being just over £7. Also hours on duty and hours paid are usually two different things, 3 hrs per shift unpaid breaks are often the norm.