The call had come in and it was legit… The amount of bogus claims and empty promises in the events industry is borderline comical. This was the real deal though. A large brewery also known as Carlsberg decided it was time to have a bit of Routemaster bus action to go with their trade shows for 2016.

As with many of these corporate events it’s not about the cost, it’s about the planning of it. They want their event to be a raging success and will spend to make sure it is.

My bus was hired to provide a meeting space for all the new customers attending the Carlsberg trade shows. I’ll have to be honest I only found that out later. I also found out that I’d be traveling to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester on separate occasions! Not only that, I had already booked other events in between so it was going to be a busy month.

There are only so many precautions one can take and at some stage you have to say “Lets do it!!” So after everything had been serviced, the MOT was sorted and my brakedown cover dialed up to 11 it was time to head off. First stop, Leeds! The big deal about this tour was that I had to be on site early in the morning for every event. So this meant I was going to have to spend the night on board! You might ask yourselves “Why not book a hotel?” The answer is somple, what hotel do you know that can provide parking for a Doubledecker Mobile bus bar at 30 foot long and 15 foot high……. That’s right, none! Maybe some, somewhere in the UK but not where I had to be. I was going to have to slum it with the lorry drivers at service stations.

The bus fired up, I stuck her in gear and off I went. It felt like any old event but I knew I was going far this time. The fear was there. I ignore it but I know it’s there! 30 minutes in I turn onto the M23 to make my way up to the M25 to head onto the M1 from there. As I turn onto the 23 a lorry comes past and causes enough wind to literally rip one of the banners off the bus. I had spent many hours making my first set and within seconds all my hard work had been 50% ruined.

Having heard nearly 7 meters of board fly off the bus I pull onto the hard shoulder instantly. I check the other side of the bus and realize the boards are intact. I turned around to see if I could recover the stray boards that I had carefully constructed the week before but by now they where spread all over the motorway with traffic running over them. As I stood there a load of foamex got flung in my face as another lorry drove over a piece that lay in the slow lane. That was it! Action was needed! I rushed around the other side, pulled out the ladder removed the boards on the side that remained, slung them in the bus. Locked the rear gate and drove off! The hard shoulder is a bad place to be no matter what time of day so I was pleased to move on. Then came the phone call to the client to explain that for their first event they’d only have one set of boards. Luckily they were very understanding so all was well in the end.

A rather steep learning curve here but the rule is now in place.

• Never ever ever run with banners ever again!

After a 9 hour (yes that’s right, 9 hours plus several breaks) drive. I arrived at the nearest service station to Leeds city central. The bus only does 42.5 mph so its slow progress but to be fair she behaved perfectly. After dinner I proceeded to spend the first night on board Our Routemaster Mobile Bus Bar. The rear deck of the bus obviously doesn’t shut so I made sure to park it facing the wind. Last thing I wanted was a load of cold air flying in all night. Apart from a MEGA fright in the middle of the night after a lorry next to me started its engine I slept like a log. I tell you one thing though, surrounded by all those windows, once that sun is up you are up!

The rest of the tour was a total success accept for a flat battery at event number 2. It was simply a case of lack of use the year before so it was replaced on the final leg and from there on it was plain sailing.

The most important information that I gathered from my month on the road was as follows:

1.  Wear ear plugs when driving a Routemaster. That engine sound will drive you mad!
2. As stated above: Do not drive with banners attached.
3. Park up facing the wind.
4. Sleep with sun set and sun rise

Overall I was super pleased with the result and more importantly so where the client! The tour also provided some very much needed funds to pay for life!! If the bus is in the barn or out on the road those bills have to be paid! One last thing made me giggle. When I drove on to the M23 for the last time and saw a load of Carlsberg signs lying in the hedge along side the motorway. They were getting free advertising. Shall I send them a bill…….. ;)