Name: Westminster Hall
Uploaded: 2026-10-13T08:29:39+00:00
Duration: 7453 s

00:32 - 00:39

Speaker 1

Order, order. I call Alex Mayer to move the motion.

00:39 - 01:03

Speaker 5

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.

01:03 - 02:11

Speaker 4

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 wish 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.

02:11 - 02:36

Speaker 3

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.

One million people take coach trips and tours in the UK each year.

02:36 - 02:54

Speaker 6

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. In a city like Cambridge, a tourist hotspot, it is a long-running problem.

02:54 - 03:48

Speaker 4

I think the honorable 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. Also what's important about them is they literally get you to the door of the place that you want to go to. So a railway station might leave you a little bit away, but if you're trying to get to Alton Towers or a National Trust property, you absolutely get to the door.

03:48 - 04:11

Speaker 2

It does much more than what the honorable lady says. It takes my Orange Lodge in Northern Ireland to the 12th of July parade. It takes my Royal Black Preceptory to the parade as well, and the Apprentice Boys. So the coaches do a whole lot more of what the honorable lady says. For us in Northern Ireland, they're the glue that keeps the community going.

It's the glue that keeps our Orange Lodges in order. Thank you.