Jumbocruiser : Unique Sleeper Coaches & Nightliners


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

<- NEW!!! On site crew Dormitory Trailers with toilet and shower provide accomodation at Festivals etc. Click the picture on the left to read more

We hire out sleeper coaches (nightliners) on contract hire, usually for musicians. We do not offer self-drive.

Or check for availability

Click here to see availability

Jumbocruiser provide two Megaloader coaches for T-Mobile to transport competition winners to the World Cup series in Germany

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

All our own entertainment coaches have either TV, VCR, PlayStation 2, or else a computer based entertainment system with 100 preloaded DVDs. The coaches have an independent hot water based night heater for cold nights. All have air conditioning for hot days. Premium and Unique Star Coaches feature “Tempur” style mattresses for extra comfort! All coaches have a coffee machine. Some even have a PlayStation 2 in every bunk! Please remember not all coaches are of identical specification. Some have our unique, and patent pending, walk in backline bays (click here to see an example ). Please feel free to discuss specifications with us.

Why use Jumbocruiser?

We have some of the nicest coaches on the circuit
Except for our "Economy" coaches, our coaches are modern. Average double deck fleet age is under 4 years (December 06)
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.
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 rarely contract out work to other companies so you can reasonably assume you will get a Jumbocruiser coach.
We believe you will find you are dealing with a human but professional company.

These Jumbocruiser coaches are the world's largest coaches

Click here for history

Click here for photos

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

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Fuel prices up 25% over

previous 12 months.

Costs overall in the coach industry have exceeded 10% during 2007 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 £400,000 (US$ 750,000) and unlike in the USA where the priovate motorhome market subsidies the tour bus industry, the European coaches need to last 15 years to be profitable.

News !!!!

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 cashflow issues, even allowing for bilateral tax agreements what we propose may save you all your backholding tax liabilities. Feel free to discuss with us once you have booked a bus what we can do for you.

Long delays at Calais ferry terminal predicted

Feb 2008. Due to stricter immigration controls, all coach passengers are now required to leave the vehicle and walk through an airport style immigration hall in Calais, France, prior to departure for England. (This is also the case on the Eurotunnel service). Unfortunately no fresh resources have been allocated to the Immigration Service so delays are expected to be high at peak periods around Easter and during the Summer causing missed ferries and disruption to driver's hours.

All bands are advised to ensure that they do not stretch their travel itineraries to the limit such that missing a boat will cause a missed gig. Also they should be aware that unlike in the past, they will be required to leave the vehicle immediately on arrival at Calais, even in the middle of the night. It is unlikely that further immigration checks will be required at the Dover end.

This is the usual governmental knee-jerk reaction to a situation where the resources are not yet fully in place. There was due to be a new "e-Borders" initiative in place in April 2008 whereby advanced warning was given of passenger names to enable a faster flow of people but it is now delayed until at least October 2008 with no sensible alternative thus hititng the tourist season badly. You can read more about e-borders here.

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.

Footnote: It is looking like the EU Council of Ministers will revert back to the 12 day rule after the meeting to be held on 12th and 13th June. Keep fingers crossed !

Yet more new legislation. Read this VERY IMPORTANT information here

Drivers hours rules - (simplified) - click link here to try to understand them

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. Priorty 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 !

*European Registered Design 000326939 passed December 2005

Jumbocruiser Ltd. Registered office: 58 The Terrace, Torquay, TQ1 1DE .

Registered in England #5256810

Unique Megaloader™ coach now 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.

Do you want to crash and die ?

Sometimes we wonder if that is really what some of our customers have in mind when they use our vehicles. A driver may be asked to pick up at 1am prior to a long journey and they only manage to leave at 4am due to some straggler having to be found. The end result is a stressed and incredibly 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 11 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.

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.

Breakdowns

Click here for vehicle breakdown statistics

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.

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