All reviews of Janet Clark
Review about: Shearings Coach Holidays
Scenic Staffordshire & Shropshire Travelled on 5 July 2021
Where do I begin? We were picked up by a dirty taxi at 8am then en route to our coach pick up, 4 more passengers got in. 6 people from 3 different households, in a 6 seater taxi we were facing each other and not 1 metre away from the passengers who were from different households, totally against government Covid regulations. Then on to Rugby services where we had an hour's wait to get our tour coach, the coach was very full, again not adhering to Covid regulations. We arrived at our hotel at 2pm. Our chosen hotel in Stafford was no longer available so we had been moved, by Shearings, to a Mercure business / airport style stopover hotel next to the M6 in Birmingham. We had asked for a quiet room but guess what our window faced the motorway. Our room was very basic, with no wardrobe or drawers so we had to keep our belongings in our suitcases.
Food
We were told dinner was at 6pm, if we were late we would miss the starter. The only way I could describe the evening meal was 'school dinners'. Very little choice, no details whether the food was vegetarian or vegan or details for allergies. The cheapest ingredients were used and the pudding was either fruit salad or cake!! To be able to have a choice at breakfast we had to be there at 8am, once the hot food ran out there was no more, the alternative was cereal and cheap white bread for toast, no fruit, yogurt or croissants were available.
Trips
We left at 10am, and were taken straight to the town and dropped off. The coach driver was an agency driver who told us he didn't know the area, so we were given no information about the places we were visiting. The second day we (Shearings words) 'took a scenic drive through the peaceful Shropshire countryside, calling at pretty and characterful villages along the way'. In reality we sped along the motorway at 70mph to Market Drayton and Oswestry, neither of which are villages, we travelled so fast that we could not see anything other than the central reservation or hard shoulder of the motorway. Every day we had to be back on the coach at 3pm for our journey back, hardly a day trip. We spent more time in our hotel room than seeing the countryside, the reason for our holiday.
Journey home
We did not leave our hotel until after midday, again another wasted morning, for the 45 minute journey to Rugby Services. Then a 90 minute wait for the ongoing coach, arriving back at our pickup point at 6.30pm.
Summary
Would we travel with Shearings or Leger again, DEFINITELY NOT. The complete disregard for Covid regulations, the lack of information about the area, the patronising coach driver who wore his mask round his chin, They provided the most basic service they could get away with. The company went into administration last year and with their total lack of any customer service it will happen again before long. We have travelled with many more customer focussed travel companies in the past and will look to them when we travel again.