Post by Nortube on Apr 6, 2013 12:19:24 GMT
Anybody remember the service that one of the TOCs (Southern?) used to run between London main line stations and Calais in the late nineties?
It was a turn up and go inclusive service. Travel by train from London to Ashford. Get on a coach at Ashford station which ran from Ashford via Eurotunnel to Calais town centre or to the hypermarket at Coquelles. If you wanted to visit one place first, then go the the other, no problem – you just picked up the coach when you felt like it.
The coach from Ashford started early morning and ran hourly right the way through the day, the last coach departing Coquelles at, I think, about 20:00 / 20:30 ish French time. It’s possible that there may have been additional coaches to the one hour frequnecy, but I’m not sure. It was an ideal trip for somebody who wanted a day out in France without the effort of driving there. The coach often got priority at the Eurotunnel terminal if there was space, rather than waiting for its booked time. This meant that you sometimes got to Calais or home earlier than expected. The coach side was under contract and I think the drivers usually got in two round trips in a day.
I think the fare was about £24 return for an adult, possibly less. One of the advantages was that you could also get a priv on it – I seem to think that it cost about £6 priv, not bad for a day out in France!
I did the trip many times, either on my own, with a friend, or sometimes as a group of three. We usually got the same coach from Ashford, which I think was around 11:30, and departed on the coach from Coquelles at around 19::30. It was usually the same driver on both trips – the 11:30 being the start of his first rounder, the 19:30 being the end of his second rounder. Often we were the only ones on the coach from Ashford, at other times, there may have been up to about 10 people on the coach. Coming back it was usually a lot busier, but you could still get a seat OK.
I’m not sure how long the service ran for. I think it finished in September of the year (I forget what year), the driver saying that the existing contract, that had been booked to November / December was being terminated due to lack of business.
This was great shame. The problem, as I saw it, was very few people actually knew anything about the service. It was almost as if the TOC was running it but wanted to keep it a secret. The only reason I knew about it was because somebody at work told me. I could never find any information about it at the stations, with one exception when I found a small leaflet somewhere. Even the booking clerks at Victoria and Charing Cross often hadn’t heard of it and had to ask other clerks how to issue the ticket! I’m sure that it could have been a paying service if it had been properly advertised, especially when compared to all the hassle it was for a foot passenger to travel from London to Calais via train to Dover / Folkestone, then across the sea to Calais, then bus to the Hypermarket at Auchan. I would still use a siliar service today if somebody had the same cheap turn up and go rail / coach service.
It was a turn up and go inclusive service. Travel by train from London to Ashford. Get on a coach at Ashford station which ran from Ashford via Eurotunnel to Calais town centre or to the hypermarket at Coquelles. If you wanted to visit one place first, then go the the other, no problem – you just picked up the coach when you felt like it.
The coach from Ashford started early morning and ran hourly right the way through the day, the last coach departing Coquelles at, I think, about 20:00 / 20:30 ish French time. It’s possible that there may have been additional coaches to the one hour frequnecy, but I’m not sure. It was an ideal trip for somebody who wanted a day out in France without the effort of driving there. The coach often got priority at the Eurotunnel terminal if there was space, rather than waiting for its booked time. This meant that you sometimes got to Calais or home earlier than expected. The coach side was under contract and I think the drivers usually got in two round trips in a day.
I think the fare was about £24 return for an adult, possibly less. One of the advantages was that you could also get a priv on it – I seem to think that it cost about £6 priv, not bad for a day out in France!
I did the trip many times, either on my own, with a friend, or sometimes as a group of three. We usually got the same coach from Ashford, which I think was around 11:30, and departed on the coach from Coquelles at around 19::30. It was usually the same driver on both trips – the 11:30 being the start of his first rounder, the 19:30 being the end of his second rounder. Often we were the only ones on the coach from Ashford, at other times, there may have been up to about 10 people on the coach. Coming back it was usually a lot busier, but you could still get a seat OK.
I’m not sure how long the service ran for. I think it finished in September of the year (I forget what year), the driver saying that the existing contract, that had been booked to November / December was being terminated due to lack of business.
This was great shame. The problem, as I saw it, was very few people actually knew anything about the service. It was almost as if the TOC was running it but wanted to keep it a secret. The only reason I knew about it was because somebody at work told me. I could never find any information about it at the stations, with one exception when I found a small leaflet somewhere. Even the booking clerks at Victoria and Charing Cross often hadn’t heard of it and had to ask other clerks how to issue the ticket! I’m sure that it could have been a paying service if it had been properly advertised, especially when compared to all the hassle it was for a foot passenger to travel from London to Calais via train to Dover / Folkestone, then across the sea to Calais, then bus to the Hypermarket at Auchan. I would still use a siliar service today if somebody had the same cheap turn up and go rail / coach service.