What's New?

January 2012 - The Launch of our Free Email Magazine - The Kettle

This month we're launching our free email magazine, The Kettle. This is will be a monthly update of our world here at City & Village Tours, featuring information about the places we visit, details about important upcoming events and any other titbits we think you might find interesting! To sign up click on the "Subscirbe to The Kettle" button on the right of this page, or call us in the office on 0845 812 5000.

The 2012 Brochure

We sent the new brochure out last November, detailing many of the trips we'll be running in 2012 (but by no means all the trips - if we had all the trips on this website listed in there it'd be the size of the phonebook!) You can take a look at an electronic copy of the brochure online by clicking here, or get in touch with us to get a paper copy sent out.

Tours of the London 2012 Venues
We offer nine different itineraries rlated to the London 2012 Olympics. Click on the green 'The Olympics' tab above for more details. The Olympic itineraries are available up until 24th July and then again from the 10th September 2012.

 
School Field Trips for the London 2012 Venues
Do you have family members working within the educational field? We provide exciting and entertaining London 2012 school field trips with our first class Blue Badge Guides for all ages from infants through juniors, secondary and college and university students. For more information take a look at our dedicated schools website at www.schools.cityandvillagetours.com.

Jewish London
In response to popular demand we have put together a brand new itinerary that explores the history of the Jewish presence in London from Roman times to the present day. The day includes a visit to the UK’s oldest synagogue – the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue at Bevis Marks which is contemporary with the surrounding Wren churches. We also visit Whitechapel and Spitalfields which formed the heart of the Jewish East End and the newly refurbished Jewish Museum in Camden. Click for more information on Jewish London.

"The whole day was excellent. Gillian, of course, was a splendid guide and everybody warmed to her at once. The content of the day could not have been better. We spent some time in the Synagogue while Gillian explained in detail about the building itself and also talked about religious ritual and quite a lot about Jewish social life generally. To be sitting down while they listened suited the group perfectly. A very interesting walk afterwards and a great area for the lunch stop. Lots of interesting information on the coach from Gillian as we drove to Camden. The museum was great."
Mary Tunney Elmbridge U3A

Local Girls
There is nothing more rewarding as a tour guide than to show people your home patch and for the people you are guiding it really adds to the experience.

Barbara and Victoria are sisters and members of the City & Village Tours guiding team. They would love you to spend a day with them enjoying The Other Royal River Explorer. This day visits the Olympic rowing lake at Dorney, explores Eton High Street and enjoys an afternoon cruise on the Thames past the houses of the stars.

Barbara and Victoria’s father was headmaster of the “other school” in Eton and they grew up in an historic house on Eton High Street playing with the children of Eton College masters in and around the College, swimming in the river and in Victoria’s case working summer holiday jobs with the boat company that we sail with on the Other Royal River Explorer day trip. Read more about the day by clicking here: The Other Royal River Explorer.
 
Liz is a new member of the City & Village Tours team of Blue Badge Guides. She was born and bred in beautiful Rye and can trace her family back in Rye for several centuries. You can join Liz on our Rye & the Romney Marsh day when we explore the mysterious marsh stopping off at one of the mediaeval churches, enjoy a slap up fish & chip lunch at the famous Pilot Inn and an afternoon in lovely Rye. Click here to read the itinerary for the Rye & The Romney Marsh

Coming Soon - See Margate & Die!
Well it’s not really going to be called that! With the opening of the controversial but exciting Turner Contemporary Art Gallery in Margate the long promised renaissance of the jaded seaside resort is under way. We are currently working on a new trip that will show you what’s going on. There’s already a rather attractive historic conservation area development in the heart of the resort and we’ll show you some real South coast gems on a thoroughly entertaining day out.

Winter Erudition
If your group like to get their teeth into a subject look out for our Olympics offering for the colder months which will include a fascinating tour of artefacts relating to the ancient games in the British Museum.

Avoiding Parking Tickets in London
The last thing anyone wants is the extra and unexpected cost of a parking ticket when in London. As we put our Blue Badge Guide on the coach you have hired for the day it is very much in our interest to make sure our tour guide and your driver know how to safely set down and pick up your members in London without getting a ticket.
 
Transport for London, in addition to their annual Coach Parking map, published a leaflet this year called Operating Coaches in London - a copy of which you can download below. This is a good step forward in informing drivers and tour guides of the right way to proceed but as it is a bit contradictory and confusing in parts it is worth clarifying the important points here. I have written clarification of these points from the TFL Coach Manager.
 
Follow these simple rules and you shouldn’t ever get a ticket again. Well, let’s be honest, the system isn’t perfect so you might still get a ticket but if you have followed these simple rules getting it overturned will be very quick and very straight forward.
 
Setting Down and Picking Up on Yellow Lines in all 32 London Boroughs
& The City of London
A coach driver may set down or pick up passengers on any single or double yellow line so long as:
• he is not causing an obstruction,
• he is not on a bus stop
• and he is not in a specified coach ban area.
 
This also applies to single or double yellow lines where loading restrictions are in force because passengers are not goods, they are people and therefore the Highway Code rules for car drivers dropping or collecting passengers on yellow lines apply equally well to coaches setting down or picking up passengers.
 
The driver must remain seated during the process of setting down or picking up. If the driver leaves his seat (whether it is to help passengers or to smoke a cigarette) he may be judged to be parked. This is especially important with camera enforcement, so it is best for the driver to remain seated during the time it takes for passengers to set down or board. If he is concerned about not being able to help people we suggest that he points out that in order to avoid a ticket he must stay seated. I am sure that your members will appreciate this especially as it means they are being set down or collected as close as possible to where they need to be.
 
This process of boarding or disembarking may take as long as it takes but provided there is no interruption to the process of passenger movement it is all lawful and no offence is committed therefore no ticket should be issued. Coaches should not arrive early and wait for people, neither should they linger once passengers are on board. However as it is not always so straightforward to time things perfectly when you are moving a coach around in London traffic a number of London Boroughs in the main tourist areas offer a ten minute window during which no ticket will be issued even if there is no loading or unloading activity. The engine must be switched off and the ten minute window concession does not apply in coach ban areas, these are always clearly marked with signs.
 
The set down and pick up rules apply to all 32 London Boroughs and the City of London but the ten minute window for waiting for customers only applies in participating London Boroughs which are: Barnet, Camden, City of London, Greenwich, Richmond, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster.
 
Setting Down and Picking Up on Red Lines in all 32 London Boroughs & The City of London
The yellow routes are looked after by the London Boroughs, the red routes are looked after by Transport for London (TFL) and the rules are different. You must never set down or pick up on a double red line. We suggest it is probably best to avoid single red lines. You may however set down or pick up at any time at a bus stop on a single or double red line regardless of any sign saying local buses only. Did you know that? Useful to know isn’t it! The same principle applies to the driver remaining seated throughout the set down or pick up process and as there is no clarification of the ten minute window operating on red routes it is best if your members wait at the bus stop for your driver rather than the other way round.
 
TFL operate a Coach Drivers Helpline on 0845 604 0770. This is most often answered by Darek Podwiazka, the Coach Manager for TFL. Darek suggested to me that drivers and tour guides carry a copy of the TFL Operating Coaches in London leaflet with them to show to traffic wardens who might be about to wrongly issue a ticket! I suggest that all group travel organisers keep a copy of this leaflet to hand when bringing their members into London.

To download the TFL coach leaflet, click here

Gyll King
City & Village Tours
June 2011