Westminster Hall
13 October 2026
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Westminster Hall Actual start House of Commons
Follow its sittings15:19 - 15:26
Speaker 1
Order, order.
I call Alex Mayer to move the motion.
15:26 - 15:50
Speaker 2
Thank you, Mr. Turner. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and I beg to move that this House has considered the future of the UK coach industry. A couple of years ago, I got invited to speak at the Coach Operators Conference. And being a reasonably diligent MP, ahead of that, I thought I'd check how many mentions of coach there had been in that parliamentary session. And I have to say, it came back rather more than I was expecting.
15:50 - 17:21
Speaker 3
But then I delved a little deeper, and I found that there were an awful lot of references to cricket coaches, football coaches, basketball coaches, and various things that members wishes to drive a horse and coaches through.
Parliament has been talking about coaches for almost as long as they have existed. Back in the 1790s, Parliament was debating people who leapt onto stagecoaches and then just before they got to the tollgate, they all jumped off, only to get on again on the other side of the tollgate, which seems to be the kind of the short ticketing of the past. In 1839, there was a mention of Dunstable when it comes to coaches, because a coach proprietor called Mr. Johnstone from Dunstable was really, really worried about taxation on stagecoaches and also about this competition from these newfangled railways. And I have to report that unfortunately the Chancellor was not very sympathetic to the plight of stagecoaches and I very much hope that the Minister today will be much more sympathetic to the modern coach industry. Coaches have been described to me by many in the industry as a social glue.
They're certainly not niche. We see them absolutely all around us.
They're flexible, affordable and sustainable transport for millions and millions of people. They take 600,000 children to school every day. 1 million people take coach trips and tours in the UK each year.
17:21 - 17:41
Speaker 4
I'm grateful and she's making a very good speech. I just wonder whether she would agree with me that given the importance of the coach industry, the parking arrangements for coaches have never been given proper consideration. Cities like Cambridge, a tourist hotspot, it is a long-running problem.
17:41 - 18:20
Speaker 3
I think the honourable gentleman makes a fantastic point. Cambridge along the backs is often full up of coaches.
I do think it's important when talking to residents to get across that actually one big coach stops a lot of small cars. So while we do need more coach parking spaces, I do think it's important to think about the environmental benefits that a coach brings. As well as that, they take people to concerts and football matches. It's one of the reasons that Wembley is home to Europe's largest coach park. They do rail replacement.
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