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Julie's family were left waiting for hours

If you鈥檙e taking 19 members of your family on holiday with you, you need a coach鈥ut preferably one that turns up.

Unfortunately that鈥檚 exactly what happened to Julie Arnold from Pembroke Dock.

Julie told X-Ray鈥檚 Lucy Owen that getting away with her family once a year means the world, 鈥淲e have my brother, my mother, my听 children and cousins. We just go to Minehead, every year.
听
鈥淥ne year it was my daughter's wedding so it was her honeymoon and it was just brilliant, really special.鈥�

Every year 19 members of Julie鈥檚 family travel together, typically by train. But this year with suitcases, young children and family members with disabilities, Julie though their best bet would be a private coach.

She found Dorset-based Southern Coaches on the internet -听forking out 拢600 for a 24 seater executive coach, 鈥淭hey looked a lovely company, really nice, tidy, comfortable looking buses - disability access and everything. And that's the one we decided to go with.鈥�

Southern Coaches advertises itself as 鈥渘ot just a coach hire company鈥� and 鈥渁n all-encompassing travel service to suit the individual needs of each and every customer鈥�. So Julie thought everything would be fine when the whole family turned up for their 10am pick up from the local pub on 25 April.

But hours later, they were still waiting. Julie told us it was a painstaking wait, 鈥淲e had to sit out the front garden because there [were] 19 of us. We had to give the children a little picnic to keep them quiet for a while.

鈥淲e had them breaking their heart thinking that they weren't going on holiday, they were devastated.鈥�

And there was no explanation from Southern Coaches either or its director Richard Powell, 鈥淚t just didn't turn up. There was one of us up by the local shop; one of us went down to our local Asda. We all scattered round just in case the coach had got lost and was parked up somewhere.
听
鈥淸There were] four of us on phones trying to find out what was happening with Southern Coaches, we got through to them in the end he told me he was out and about and that he'd go back to the office and see what's happening and he never phoned back.鈥�

Julie decided enough was enough and hunted around for a replacement coach so that her family could get on with their holiday. She shelled out another 拢600 for a 16 seater coach and everyone else went by car.

It meant they started their break seriously out of pocket.

On their return Julie was determined to get her money back from Southern Coaches, but she didn鈥檛 get very far with that either.听

X-Ray decided to delve deep into the company鈥檚 record. Although it apparently has ten years of experience, its director Mr Powell is only 25 years old. And it seems he鈥檚 no stranger to the newspaper headlines and stories about missing coaches and disappointed passengers across the UK.

It turns out that in the past Richard Powell has claimed that Southern Coaches is just a broker 鈥� booking other coach companies to carry out the journeys. But this didn鈥檛 ring true with Julie, 鈥淭hey never gave no inkling they were a coach broker, at all. When we've looked on the internet it just said Southern Coaches, that's what was on the buses.

"We just assumed it was a genuine bus company. Nothing said about it being a brokers at all.鈥�

And if Southern Coaches takes a customer鈥檚 money 鈥� then they are responsible for delivering the service 鈥� even if they get another firm to provide the transport.

X-Ray has written to Southern Coaches about Julie鈥檚 story but we haven鈥檛 received a response. Mr Powell has telephoned our office to say he will investigate the case but we haven't heard back from him.

Southern Coaches, based in Dorset, should not be confused with Southern Coaches of Glasgow.

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