Welcome to Edwards

Dear Friends

Firstly, I hope you and your families are safe and well? This awful virus has affected us all in one way or another, but I am hopeful that we can start looking forward to getting back to some form of normality, and with this in mind, I think today is a great opportunity to tell you all about what’s happening in the world of Edwards.

Since March lockdown
• Out of 310 coaches usually working 24/7, only 3 buses are on the road taking NHS staff ‘free of charge’ to and from work.
• Over 500 staff are on the Government supported furlough job retention scheme.
• Sales have fallen off the edge of a cliff, and to date we have lost approximately 97% of usual revenue.

As you can see, times have been really tough here at Edwards, and as a result, despite doing all we can to support our very loyal staff, unfortunately we have been forced to restructure our business and it grieves me to say that this will result in a reduction of shops and staff.

As I mentioned earlier, the signs of a positive ending are hopefully in sight and with this in mind I am more passionate and driven than ever before in supporting staff and our incredible loyal passengers we call friends. I list below some key figures you may enjoy reading:-

During lockdown we had to cancel over 200 UK and European holidays. Eventually after many risk assessments and deep cleaning procedures and signage we managed to get a small number of our incredible sales staff on site at Llantrisant and Llansamlet to start processing customer cancellations, queries and concerns.

Key stats

1. The team spoke to 4,218 customers
2. Our team handled and processed £1.4 million of cancelled holidays
3. 44% of our customers have been fully refunded (the bank even ran out of cheque books and our credit card provider couldn’t keep up with our pace of work!!! )
4. 47% of our customer have also decided to transfer to another holiday
5. We now have 9% of customers left to contact, and this is decreasing every day

Our staff have been completely overwhelmed by the positive support and kind words of encouragement, received from our loyal customers, it’s certainly been a roller-coaster of events we’ll never forget!.

We have also taken the opportunity of working tirelessly behind the scenes to improve our coach holiday programme. We have reduced the costs, improved our feeder service, with UK tours returning to South Wales between 15.00 and 16.00, updated our itineraries and introduced new destinations and hotels. A large number of 2021 holidays are on sale today (Call our office or book online).

We are confident in being able to offer you the chance to get away very soon with our enhanced cleaning procedures and customer safety measures. We will be in a far stronger position, with renewed levels of energy and completely focused in delivering our customers a first class value for money holiday break

We look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Very best of wishes

Jason Edwards FCILT
The High Sheriff of Mid Glamorgan 2020/2021


Please note, as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure the safety of our staff and customers all of our Travel Shops are closed.

We are the award winning Edwards Coaches, a well established family business and one
of Wales’ leading premier tour operators boasting a history of innovation that began in 1925.

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