Horseman Coaches Ltd

Benchmark Member
Benchmark Member
2 Acre Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 0SU.
Tel:
01189 753 811
Email: privatehire@horsemancoaches.co.uk
Visit Website

Company Profile:

Membership to BUSK Benchmark was a very obvious choice for us. Any initiative  that helps deliver safe travel for children and young people while enabling teachers make informed decisions based upon safety criteria is certainly one to be supported. 

Management contact: James Horseman
Established since: 1977
Fleet: Fleet of 55 coaches with a seating capacity from 16 to 70.
Drivers: Horseman Coaches employ 40 full and 25 part time drivers. Training Drivers trained in on-going CPC modules to include: Driver Essentials, Driver & Vehicle Safety, Public Safety, Driver & Vehicle Procedures, Driver Awareness & Wheelchair Security.
Maintenance: In-house maintenance carried out in purpose built workshop with 8 qualified mechanics and body and paint specialists and managed by Derrick Holton, Engineering Manager . Vehicles safety inspected every 4 weeks.
Members of: BUSK Benchmark. Confederation of Passenger Transport

Profits are re-invested into business to maintain safety standards

Horseman Coaches Ltd was established in 1977 by Keith Horseman with a £100 deposit on a mini coach. Aspirations of growing to be the biggest coach operator in the area began.   With hard work and dedication we were able to purchase more vehicles and begin to employ staff.  The Company began to offer a wider range of services which included operating corporate works contracts delivering shift workers to their production lines in time as well as group outings. Within three years of incorporation, Horseman Coaches had acquired a fleet of ten vehicles and twelve staff. By 1984 Horseman Coaches had grown from a start-up company to owning a fleet of over thirty vehicles. Later in 1984, after the acquisition of Smith’s Coaches, we became the largest privately owned coach company in the south east.  We continued to operate private hire, local works contracts and introduced local authority contracts and coastal day trips to our range of services. In addition, we began to operate private tours to European destinations such as Paris, Bruges & Amsterdam. In the 90’s Horseman Coaches opened a separate division called Horseman Travel which offered coach holidays and excursions to the public. In addition, the Company also offered Theatre and concert packages to see some of the biggest names in the music industry such as Elton John and Michael Jackson, supplying hundreds of coaches for certain events.               

We acquired a taste for offering transport to the music industry after supplying ten coaches to the Rolling Stones on their three month ‘Urban Jungle’ Tour of Europe in 1990. Horseman operated all transfers required for three months in countries such as Italy, Austria, Denmark & Norway. We overcame enormous logistical problems gaining valuable continental experience.  In the late 90’s we closed Horseman Travel just prior to the emergence of the cheap ‘no frills’ airlines and the market’s ability to offer cheap European package holidays.  In 1994 we reached a fleet size of 125 vehicles and won Coach Operator of the year award. During the early 00’s we concentrated our focus on the schools market. We invested heavily in state of the art vehicles and highly trained driving staff, delivering a minimum standard of safety for ‘home to school’ transport that had never been seen before. Our goal was to deliver an all round service incorporating quality, reliability and safety to the children in our community. Spurred on by praise from the local authorities and recognition from our piers, we quickly grew our school contracts program and soon the Horseman Coaches name became a name synonymous with ‘our school bus’.                                                                                                                                         
Horseman Coaches now operate Euro 6 engines; some of the cleanest engines on the market today, delivering on average 8,000 children to and from school/college each day in state of the art, luxury coaches equipped with bespoke CCTV packages and live real-time vehicle tracking.  We still continue to operate works contracts, private hire, including private tours in both UK & Europe with our premium executive coaches. Our Company has always believed in ‘raising the bar’ and setting the standard for our industry. Now, a second generation company with over 37 years in the industry we are very proud to be a name associated with coaching excellence.

In early 2019 Horseman Coaches invested £10m to meet London's Ultra Low Emission Zone that takes effect from 8 April. Visit this link to read more:

http://www.route-one.net/magazines/emag/routeone777/page_10.html

Horseman Coaches was named the UK Top Large Fleet Operator 2019 and UK Coach Operator of the Year 2019, the highest achievement that any UK operator can obtain.

Benchmark License No: BE0091

View Busk Benchmark CertificateView Safety Charter


Expiry Date: 31 March 2025


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