The two Tourismos, at the time of writing, remain in the Bakers garage still in plain white. These modern coaches have all the latest gadgets and gizmos (aircon, satnav, toilet, galley, automatic everything) and are very comfortable to ride in. Taking great care not to scratch Bakers’ new coaches, we headed back to the M5 motorway and headed south, destination Weston-super-Mare. We both decided that there was enough fuel in each coach to get us back to Weston without the need to refuel but, if there wasn’t we had come prepared with some petty cash. Fortunately, apart from a non-standard n/s mirror being fitted to my coach, everything checked out. Matey wandered back to his office with his jump pack in tow while my colleague and I completed our walkaround checks.

After a heart-stopping moment the 11 litre diesel at the back came to life. After saying a little prayer I turned the key. Once again I connected the leads, turned on the jump pack and sat in the driver’s seat. We opened the battery locker on the coach that my colleague was going to drive, hooked up the leads and started it up without any trouble. “I don’t know if there’s enough charge in it to start two coaches but we’ll have a go!” My heart sank for a second time. Fortunately for us, he had a jump pack in his office and duly wheeled it out. I found the yard supervisor and gave him the bad news. Sure enough, neither would start although there was just enough juice in the batteries to light up the dashboard. Apparently they had been sitting in the yard for a few weeks before the sale to Bakers. The two coaches pictured above have recently been purchased by Bakers Dolphin for day trip and tour work, an indication perhaps that things are looking a bit more rosy for the company despite the loss of income suffered during the current Covid-19 pandemic.Ī colleague and myself were driven up to an industrial estate in Gloucester by another driver to collect the pair and, after dealing with the paperwork, we were given the keys and asked to see if they would start. One of these saw me collecting a 2018-plate Mercedes-Benz Tourismo coach from Gloucester. Occasionally I’m asked to do some interesting jobs for Bakers Dolphin, in between school runs.

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