Stagecoach launches Anglo-Scots sleeper coaches

TRANSPORT group Stagecoach yesterday unveiled an extensive network of overnight sleeper coach routes between Scotland and London, using a fleet of ten specially-designed vehicles costing £500,000 each.

Services will begin this summer under the new Megabusgold.com brand and will link London Victoria coach station with 11 Scottish destinations.

The first of the new coaches – which were designed and made by Belgian company Van Hool – will replace vehicles on an overnight route Stagecoach runs between Glasgow and London.

Prices will begin at £15, with the average price around £40-£45. Perth-based Stagecoach claims journey times will be similar to sleeper trains between Scotland and London.

The vehicles have 53 seats that convert into 42 beds, and customers will get free refreshments during their journey, a sleeper kit including an eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Sir Brian Souter, Stagecoach’s chief executive, who unveiled the first of the coaches at the O2 arena in London, said: “It used to be just pop stars that had beds on board their tour buses – now everyone can benefit. You can go to sleep in one city and wake up in another ready to start the day without having to pay extra for an expensive hotel room.”

The coaches will depart from or call at Aberdeen, Aviemore, Cumbernauld, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Ferrytoll park and ride in Fife, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth.

News of the new services came as the Office of Fair Trading launched an investigation into the sale of Aberdeen-based rival FirstGroup’s operations in Redditch and Kidderminster to The Diamond Bus Company