A word from the President - "Your industry needs your support"
Over the past few weeks we have witnessed an unprecedented situation for which none of us could have been prepared. The coach industry in particular saw an almost overnight fall in its workload, made worse by the time of year, as the season approaches and traditionally profits are made to carry through the year. During this time the CPT team has been working flat out to secure support for the industry. Alongside government funding for staff laid off, deferment of government payments and a government backed loan scheme to cover cash flow through this difficult period, there have also been a number of coach industry specific measures which have been well documented in the daily updates.
While the media tend to focus their attention on bus - reflecting the scale of bus travel in the UK and its level of public funding - a lot of CPT’s time has been spent on coach related issues, both nationally and regionally. I can assure you that everything that can be done, has been.
However, we need to go further and for that reason earlier today I wrote to every coach operator member asking for your help to complete a simple spreadsheet detailing the standing cost of your vehicles not currently in use. This information will be used to spearhead a major campaign with the aim of securing additional support for the coach industry. More details will follow next week.
I passionately believe in our coach industry as I know you do, so please help CPT to help you by completing the costs spreadsheet (available from the link below) and returning it to membership@cpt-uk.org by no later that 1700hrs on Thursday 16 April. Scottish members have already been sent a version of this form, so please return as directed.
We need every coach operator to complete this if we want to save the coach industry; so please feel free to pass on to non-members, as the more information we have, the better our case.
Thank you in anticipation and I hope you have a good Easter despite everything.
Steve Whiteway, CPT President (president@cpt-uk.org)