Fancy working in Europe?
Jon meets up with an old friend who now works in Europe
The other day I got to speak to an old colleague I hadn’t seen in years (how often does that happen in our industry!) and was not surprised to learn that he was still coach driving, but was very surprised to learn that he was now based and living in Belgium!
Ian Durham started as many of us did driving buses, and for him it was the old West Riding group in Wakefield. After about fourteen months he was asked to drive a coach to the Rugby Challenge Cup in Wembley, and this was the start of Ian’s coaching career.
He moved around a bit following the demise of NBC, driving for Ridings Travel, the late Stanley Gath’s, and Clarksons of South Emsall, and found himself driving all over Europe on contract to Leger Holidays.
“I could never do a 9 ‘till 5 job in an office, and being a young lad I loved the travel and sights of seeing Europe” said Ian.
A move to Yorkshire Traction in Barnsley brought even more knowledge, as he covered all types of tour, express and private hire work, but he missed the adventure of foreign travel so moved once more, to Wallace Arnold Tours in Leeds.
“Smart uniform, modern, new coaches, and a great bunch of mates to work with. I loved it, and drove to Italy and Austria on alternate weeks, before I became one of the regular drivers on The Grand Russian Experience, where I stayed for four years working with a great guy called Jason Fairhead.”
This tour was the brain child of Paul McTiernan, the Continental Tours Director, and was a real challenge from the planning through to the operation. No other UK operator offered this long haul operation, yet it was an immediate success with duplicates running on some dates. It wasn’t cheap either, at £999 for 16 days, but stayed in good hotels throughout and was a real eye opener for the clients. Staying in Tourcouring, Hanover, Berlin, Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow, Veliky Novogrod, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Osnabruck and Calais it was not for the faint hearted.
All of this well and good, but now married with a young daughter, family life was becoming difficult, and being away so much wasn’t going down very well with ‘she who must be obeyed’. Ian offered to pack it in, but was told by his wife Jane that he had better find somewhere for them all to live in Belgium, as she had just put the house up for sale - successfully! Clearly not a lady to be tangled with!
The next week Jane and daughter Chelsea joined Ian on his tour, and on his free day they went apartment hunting.
Within a couple of weeks the whole family was trying to settle in to a new way of life, and with new languages to learn too. With it being Belgium, most of the locals spoke a little English in any case, and whilst it wasn’t easy they overcame any obstacles.
Six years later, Chelsea speaks three languages fluently, and they couldn’t think of living anywhere else.
Ian now drives for The Flanders Coach co, a subsidiary of the French Keolis company.
“ They couldn’t have been more welcoming” says Ian, “I earn more than double I would in the UK, have better working conditions, more holidays (30 as opposed to the UK’s 28 annual leave and Public Holidays – Finland has the most in the EC - 45!), a better medical system, and although the traffic around Antwerp can be just as bad as anywhere else, in general the roads are better and much quieter”
Now the regular driver for the Club Brugge Football Team, Ian also drives tours in the summer and skiing trips in the winter months. “I am picking up the language as we go along, but in all honesty it hasn’t been a problem. When I joined the company I was told I drive a coach, not talk to it, so they didn’t see being English as a drawback”
“ I am driving a Setra double-decker at the moment, but am looking forward to March when I will be getting a new Van Hool Astomega – happy days ahead!”
At the risk of making him blush, Ian is not perhaps your average coach driver. He may be big and burley with a strong Barnsley type accent, but he has the heart of gold that only good drivers are fitted with at birth. He is the kind of man you warm to and trust as soon as you are introduced, and it is easy to see why he has settled in so well with his new work colleagues and regular passengers.
With his family around him and the support of each other, the Durham’s have found a niche that suits them all.
Every Brit working in Europe will have different stories of the how and why, but knowing Ian this works for him because of his attitude and driving abilities. Good for him.
