Take advantage of the low value Pound.

We can invoice you in Euros or Pounds!

Currently we are VERY competitive on pricing of continental tours priced in Euros as a result of the low value Pound.

Tour Bus Charter with Nightliners covering the UK and Europe from Bristol (England) by one of the larger sleeper coach companies in Britain

Click the picture to read more

Accomodation Trailers

On site crew Dormitory Trailers with toilet and shower provide accomodation at Festivals etc. Can also be converted to provide an en-suite Production Office with 4 beds, toilet and shower.

Click the picture for a larger image

of this typical interior

Jumbocruiser provide two Megaloader coaches with giant walk-in loading bays for T-Mobile to transport competition winners to the World Cup series in Germany

Photo reproduced with kind permission of T-Mobile(UK) Ltd.

We provide Unique Sleeper Coaches and Nightliners for use throughout the UK and Mainland Europe

» We have some of the nicest coaches on the circuit

» Except for our "Economy" coaches, our double deck coaches are modern.

» Memory foam mattresses on all bunks - the newer buses have wider and longer bunks than before.
All to give a great night's sleep. Some coaches have 7 foot long bunks

» Usually 3G/GPRS/WiFi internet access is available on Premium and Star double decker coaches - UK
access only (free of charge) until excessively high roaming charges go down in Europe. Subject to
network connecting and equipment uptime. Note that we are shortly due to change the system so that ALL buses have internet access throughout Europe but at a nominal cost, except no charge in the UK. During the interim period, some coaches will have UK only and some will have both systems.

» Various entertainment systems. Most buses have Playstations (some have them in most bunks), multimedia video players with a large selection of licensed movies and music, Guitar Hero.

» We try hard to avoid overworking our drivers and risking accidents. We operate within the law for
your safety.

» We believe you will find you are dealing with a human but professional company.

» Invoice rebates for all periods contract clients who achieve an agreed number of days "out of season" touring

» No cash per diems required to be paid to drivers thus reducing the amount of cash handled. Nearly all costs are on the invoice.

These Jumbocruiser coaches are the
world's largest coaches - this one for sale in superb mechanical and body condition for only £180,000

Click here for history

Click here for photos

Click hereto see a simulation by Todd Kumpf in the Grand Theft Auto computer game.

Costs overall in the coach industry have exceeded 20% from 1986 to end of 2008 and along with new driver's rest day rules meaning there is a shortage of quality truck and bus drivers, bands are encouraged to advise their booking agents to keep distances down to around 300 miles a day where practical. This is especially so where ferries are involved as there has been a definite negative impact of global warming with ferries being cancelled due to bad weather, generally on the longer crossings.

Other considerations are the moves to 45 foot double deck coaches. These vehicles, including 5 years finance, now cost over £450,000 (US$ 650,000) and unlike in the USA where the private motorhome market subsidies the tour bus industry, the European coaches need to last 15 years to be profitable.

Swine flu

if you have flu like symptoms seek medical advice immediately, do not ignore it. Read more..

Sleeper coach impounded in Spain pending 6,500 euro security deposit

Yet again the Spanish appear to be acting disproportionately and arguably outside of EU law. Read more...

Fraudster uses Jumbocruiser to escape justice, then fails to pay bill - bad move ! (Gets 4 years in jail). Read more...

The Roots incident - the truth

There has been a load of rubbish being posted on the internet about The Roots incident in Belgium. Please click here to read the facts.

Are you being taken for a ride ?

Probably not but it is best to make sure you are not. Compared to the USA, coach operators are highly regulated in Europe. The problem is that to a degree the law can not handle the bad guys. Read more...

Drivers and owner of transport firm jailed for tachograph offences

Mark Howdon, Director and Transport Manager of Throckley, Tyne & Wear-based hauliers MM Howdon Ltd, were jailed for 15 months. The judge said nobody should underrate the seriousness of such offences, which not only impinged on road safety, but also the perpetrators’ liberty.

Two drivers were also jailed for four and three months after pleading guilty to offences of falsification. Judge Evans said their mindset was such that they daily put at risk the lives of other road users and the public.

A total of 20 drivers pleaded guilty to various offences of falsification. Others were given community punishment orders and fined, and all now have criminal records. (extract from routeOne)

Please remember that anyone, including tour managers, inciting a driver to exceed his legal hours also risks punishment.

Ways to save money

Often when booking a coach for a long European tour, bands only look at the actual price quoted but do not consider other issues. One thing we have noticed is that American bands often negotiate their appearance fees in dollars and yet pay us in pounds or Euros which really makes no sense. The problem is that by the time you have done your deal and converted to US dollars, then converted back to either Euros or Pounds to pay us, you have probably lost around 8% of the value of the money concerned. Why not do the gig for Euros and have a Euro bank account to receive the money. Pay your suppliers in the Euros you have earned then any excess cash can be converted to dollars by your own bank as and when required.

We also have other techniques to save you money including withholding taxes. Please feel free to call to discuss these issues. If you do not expect to make a profit in the current tax year or simply have cash flow issues, even allowing for bilateral tax agreements what we propose may save you all your back holding tax liabilities. Feel free to discuss with us once you have booked a bus what we can do for you.

New legislation affecting double drivers

From September 2008 all European Union coach drivers will require not just their vocational license to prove they can drive a coach but also a new Certificate of Professional Competence. Read More.

Drivers hours rules - (simplified) - click here to read in more detail

Max spread over a day 13 hrs or 15 if a clear 3 hour rest during day with a bunk available (split spread over)If two drivers wholly from beginning of shift to end of shift then 21 hr spread over is allowed.
Max driving 9 hours (10 hours twice a week)
Min daily rest is 11 hours. Reduced to 9 hrs 3 times a week or 9 hours if a split spread over on any day(see above).
Driver can not exceed 6 x 24 hour shifts (144 hours) without taking a 45 hour break. This can be reduced to 24 hours every other week as long as the missing hours are added to an existing 9 or 11 hour break by the end of week 3.

March 09 - Band bus company fined in Germany and Spain over €5,000 in each country in the same week for failing to comply with driver rest day requirements

Looking for a driving job ?

Unless we already know you then the only way to get on our books is to do double drives. In effect that means you will need to be a casual driver for a while until a position becomes available. Unfortunately positions are rare and timing is crucial. In the first instance please click here to let us know your details. Priority is given to drivers with trailer licenses who live near Bristol. We are also interested in drivers who live abroad for double drives if they have right hand drive experience. Meanwhile please click here to make sure you really want the job !

Unique Megaloader™ coaches on the road.

The Megaloader®* is a 14 or 16 bed double deck coach with a huge patent pending walk in loading bay thus avoiding the need for a trailer. This will save money on ferries, tolls, and driver allowances. Please see the silver coach at the top of this page as well as clicking here.

Ireland and London

It is not possible to do a Dublin then a London show back to back unless you fly or can have a 7pm or 8pm load in. The ferries do not run early enough

Anthony Meade of MUTEC, who help us keep our coaches in shape in Ireland, learning what must be native American sign language from Chuck Billy of Testament outside a venue in Dublin

Safety means consideration

A driver may be asked to pick up at 1am prior to a long journey and the bus only manages to leave at 4am due to some straggler having to be found. The end result is a stressed and tired driver who has had his sleep patterns screwed up.

Our drivers are told that if they are tired they must stop regardless. Most accidents on our roads are caused by tiredness and we do not want you to be one of the statistics. So if you leave 3 hours after the agreed time, do not be surprised if you do not make it to your destination before the driver runs out of spreadover time and stops at the side of the road for 9 hours!

We are not trying to put you off, we are trying to show you the culture of safety that extends from maintenance through to health of the drivers in our company and that we want you to be a part of, so please be considerate. Allow the drivers to sleep by keeping noise down inside the coach, and be punctual for hotel calls.

Loyalty works both ways

So many times we have supplied coaches for a few days over the peak weekends and then found that we had not even been invited to quote for tours during the quiet months that we have now implemented a priority system.

- all bands or TMs who gave us work during this January to March period get top priority and may be allocated a coach even before the tour requests come in.

- all bands or TMs who looked after us in the quiet seasons last year get next priority

- all others may be placed on a waiting list and invited once a slot becomes apparent

Drugs and Norway

Recently we have had two incidents regarding drugs entering Norway. Pretty well every coach entering Norway is inspected by sniffer dogs and anyone getting caught will be fined and placed on a list of "non-desirables". This happened to two bands of whom some people received up to 4 years on the European-wide list that prevents the people concerned getting work permits.

Is it really worth it ?

Contract rebates

If you are a management company and are interested in contract rebates please speak to Steve on +44 1297 24717. Such rebates are based on an agreed number of days of hire in the off peak seasons but give daily credits even during the busiest periods.

Trailer sizes

Trailer sizes are width 1.73m (5ft 8 in) and length 3.03m (10 ft) and height 2.14m (7 ft) with a maximum payload of 1.5 tonnes. = 11 cubic metres = 385 cubic feet. Megaloaders are around 9 cubic metres.

Venues with no parking

The following venues have no parking so cross-loading may need to be organised

Exeter - Phoenix

Leeds - The Cockpit

London - Shepherds Bush Empire, Islington Academy, Jazz, Koko, Underworld

Visit Four Seasons, our USA associate's website >>

*European Registered Design
000326939 for Megaloader passed December
2005

Jumbocruiser Ltd.
Registered office: 58 The
Terrace, Torquay, TQ1 1DE .
Registered in England #5256810