Update

Having returned from the Leger coach holiday, ‘Highlights of Eastern Europe’ and whilst the holiday itself, the places visited and the excursions provided were fine, there were problems with the coach itself.

The coach itself was a Silver Service vehicle operated by Hardings of Worcestershire. They are in fact a large coach operator in the Midlands who actually own the coach. Leger themselves do not own coaches; they just subcontract out to the coach owner. The owner/operator’s name is clearly displayed on the front or back of the coach. One of the attractions advertised for Silver Service is ‘extra legroom’, greater than any standard coach. Because I am 6 ft tall I book Silver Service as I need the additional comfort on long journeys and as my wife has had hip and knee replacements, she needs extra space as well. Now on the tour coach ( coach 20; registration BN17HZT)we were allocated seats 31/32, which was on the driver side of the vehicle behind the toilet access. To our disgust, we found that the seat leg room was in fact TWO INCHES LESS than seats on the left hand side of the coach and those on the driver side in front of the toilet access. In effect we had the same amount of legroom as on Easy Jet. I measured this difference properly as I always carry a small tool kit with a tape measure in it.

This reduced legroom also applied to seats 27/28, 35/36 and 39/40 on that side of the coach. In effect this a violation of the terms and conditions and tour description; hence not fit for purpose under the Consumer Protection Act. I immediately complained to the coach crew; they said ‘no-one has ever complained before’ (bearing in mind the coach was new this year) and that the ‘seat pitch legally conforms to that required for a passenger vehicle’. Leger themselves also stated that the ‘seat pitch conforms to the minimum pitch legally required for a passenger vehicle’. Now the expressions ‘extra legroom’ and ‘conforms to the minimum pitch legally required for a passenger vehicle’ are not the same thing at all, in fact this is gross deception and unfair practice.

As you may know the Leger practice is to have tour coaches transfer passengers to feeder/drop-off coaches at Calais on the way home at the end of the tour. Now we were transferred onto another Silver Service coach operated by Edinburgh Coach Lines, a Scottish coach company. Now on this coach, I checked and all the seat pitches were the same, there was no ‘crush zone’ as on the Hardings coach.  So something is seriously wrong with the Hardings coach and Leger have no right to advertise and charge for ‘extra legroom’ when there is none!

And that is not all. The air conditioning system on the coach seemed to consist of a very uncomfortable blast of air at head height from the front to the back of the coach when the coach got warm. As we were sitting at the back of the coach this gale brought with it all the germs from people sneezing and coughing at the front of the coach and after a week of this I developed a stinking cold……..thank you Hardings. The coach crew didn’t seem to have any other means of controlling the temperature in the coach, it was either full air blast or none at all.

And finally, at the Calais interchange, the cases are also transferred as well. It was pouring with rain at the time, there was no cover at all hence all the cases got wet. Even though we use polythene bags top and bottom of our cases, we still got some wet clothes. Not a major disaster on the way back after the tour but at the start of the tour it could well prove a problem.