Employers liability insurance protects your business from claims of negligence made by employees who have suffered an injury or ill health due to their work. Unlike other types of insurance, employers liability is compulsory. If your business employs workers based in England, Scotland or Wales, your business must carry EL cover to avoid substantial fines.

1. MULTIPLE CLAIMANTS: Your EL limit applies to each claim individually.hile the minimum limit should be able to handle a claim, it is important to keep in mind that multiple claims can emerge from a single accident.
2. NATURE OF ACTIVITIES: In general, injuries- such as loss of hearing and continuous care- tend to have larger EL claims, than those involving death. Review what activities your staff regularly participate in to better gauge the potential cost of an EL claim.
3. INNER LIMITS: Your EL policy will most likely have common limitations. In general, these limitations include incidents arising from terrorism, war or nuclear risks. Learn what your policy limitations are to better insulate your business from risks.
4. CONCENTRATION OF STAFF: If your staff is concentrated in one main area, or several smaller ones, you may need a higher EL limit because an incident that affects one employee could easily affect them all.
5. HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS: Some locations- such as production lines, railways, and construction sites- are more susceptible to incidents. In addition, these incidents are likely to involve a greater number of people. Identify whether you have any high risk, hazadourous locations.
6. FUTURE CIRCUMSTANCES: An EL claim can be filed years or even decades after an employee has ended his/her working relationship with your business. During the time between buying an EL policy and a claim being settled, much could change to affect the final settlement values.

Bus and Coach Insurance, part of The County Group have over 300 members of staff who all participate towards our fantastic local broker ethos.

Get to know our Bus and Coach Specialist, Steve Halliday!

• What is your name, job title and where are you located?

My name is Steve Halliday, I am an account executive, located at the Halifax office.

• How long have you been working in insurance for?

I have been working in insurance for over 30 years.

• What does your job entail?

I primarily focus on the end to end service, from new business, processing mid-term adjustments and changes as well as offering renewal terms.

• How did you get in to insurance?

It started off as a summer job and the rest is history!

• Favourite part of the job?

My favourite part of my job is definitely the client contact and creating a great rapport with customers. I also particularly enjoy helping with modified vehicles.

• What is it like being part of The County Group?

It is absolutely fantastic being part of The County Group!

• Why should potential customers take out their insurance with you?

Prospect clients should take out their insurance with us due to the fact we have some brilliant products and prices, as well as great after service care.

• Particular insurance policies/ schemes that are competitive at your branch

Me personally, I specialise in the Bus & Coach division, this also includes; minibuses, associated liabilities and Tuk Tuk’s.

For a competitive quote on your insurance give Steve a call on 01422 385558 or email enquiries@busandcoachinsurance.net

Bus and Coach Insurance are part of The County Group! That means not only do we offer competitive rates on a range of bus and coach policies, we are also specialists in a variety of commercial and personal insurance.

The County Group was set up in 2003 and over the years has gone from strength to strength. As the business has grown, so has our relationships with some of the big name insurers.

With 26 branches and growing across the UK, we are able to provide some of the extremely competitive rates. To find out more visit www.countyins.com and see where your nearest branch is.

Your bus insurance is likely to be one of your biggest costs after the cost of your bus (and perhaps the bus drivers wages if you own the company!)

Whilst it is very important not to skimp on your level of cover, or provide false information that leads to your bus insurance becoming invalid in the event of a claim, there are a number of top tips that should help make sure you get cheap bus insurance quotes.

Top Tip number 1 – No claims bonus

If you have any bus insurance no claims bonus, make sure that you include this when providing your details for a bus insurance quote. This makes you a much better risk for the underwriter and can give you up to 60% discount from your bus insurance policy

Top tip number 2 – Drivers

If it is only yourself that will be driving the bus, it should be only you as a names driver on your bus insurance policy. This can reduce the cost by 10-20%. You can easily add any additional drivers or change it to an “Any Driver” bus insurance policy at a later date

Top tip number 3 – Voluntary Excess

Try and keep the voluntary excess as high as possible IF you want to keep the bus insurance premium lower. If you confident that you will drive carefully, this should be preferable to a low voluntary excess and higher premium. You can always reduce your excess as you accumulate no claims bonus

Top tip number 4 – Greencard use

Although its mostly coaches that need overseas private hire insurance, if you do need to have overseas bus insurance try and have this on an ad-hoc basis as and when you require it. Its only worth having an annual Greencard if you travel overseas on a regular basis.

For cheap bus insurance, call insureBUS who are expert bus insurance brokers on 0800 980 3425 or submit your details on our bus insurance online quote page.

Everyone we know has a dream, or has something that they want to achieve. Here at Bus and Coach Insurance, we have found that it is possible to make your vehicle renovation dreams come true. Converting your bus has never been easier and we want to make sure that you are aware of everything to take into consideration before converting your vehicle!

The first thing which you will need to consider is the amount of time you want to spend on this project. If you have plenty of time to re-vamp your bus then this may influence your decision of which bus to purchase. For example, if you have less time to focus on the bus, you may consider purchasing a vehicle which has already been converted and doesn’t require as much time.

Next is your budget. This will play a huge role in the whole project, as this will mainly help you to decide on a vehicle. Also, depending on your inspiration for the interior of the conversion will affect your budget as if you have a specific vision for your bus, you may need to spend more money on this compared to a bus which is already converted.

Thirdly, your living plans will play a large role in this huge project which you will be taking on. For example, if you decide to live in your bus conversion full time, this means that you will more than likely need a larger vehicle for storage and to meet your additional needs. However, if you are only planning to live in the vehicle part-time, or stay in it every once in a while, then your expectations and needs will more than likely be a lot less.

Lastly, the easiest and best part of the whole project – the interior design. This will be the one aspect where you can really put your own stamp on your vehicle. You can use your own imagination or you can take ideas from online – either way, it will be very fun! After considering all of the above, you may want to consider exactly what you will need in your bus conversion. Beds? A dining area? Showering facilities? Storage? The list is endless, just like your dreams!

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, to get a quote from our friendly and expert team, just call us on 0800 980 3425.

We have recently received some great testimonials from our customers who were advised by Steve Haliday. Here are a few examples of our recent cases from Steve.

All-Wayz Travel

I was approached by All-Wayz Travel of Mansfield to see if I could provide a competitive premium for the renewal of their three minibuses.

The client advised that they wanted cover to include Employers’ & Public Liability cover, breakdown cover and Comprehensive vehicle insurance for their private hire vehicles.

Their renewal price from their broker was £5520.18

I marketed the risk to our panel of insurance companies and found a much lower premium with ERS (motor and breakdown cover) and Chaucer (Employers’ and Public Liability).

I called the client with the good news and they were amazed at the price and the subsequent saving I had found for them.

Samuel Fox

Sam asked me to quote for his bus, used for Social Domestic & Pleasure purposes only.

I asked Sam to send me some photographs of the vehicle to be insured and used these as part of my presentation to the insurance market.

Not only was I able to save the client some money against his renewal invite from his them broker, but I was also able to offer additional cover in respect of the value of the permanent fixtures & fittings within his vehicle.

Sam provided me with the following testimonial:

“Absolutely brilliant. Steve Halliday went out of his way to find us cover on our unusual bus. Highly recommended, listened to our requirements, found an acceptable quote, all documents sent quickly and accurate.”

The Mobile Play Barn Company

This client had been insured with the same company for a number of years, paying an additional annual membership fee on top of his actual insurance premium for two children’s play buses.

Not only was I able to save the client money on his insurance premium, but there were no annual membership fees payable and, further, the policy I found also included cover for £30000 of permanent fixtures & fittings for each of the two vehicles.

The client provided the following testimonial:

“I would like to thanks Steve Halliday of JSW Insurance. Steve was very helpful and understood the business and insurance requirements. He also understood that as a playbus company all we seem to experience is increases in costs to operate. Low profits and high costs to run make the business very hard to work. Steve did not stop until he brokered a price that meant for the first time in 5 years a saving in my insurance premium. I would recommend Steve to any Playbus operator going forward and now do not dread next years’ quote. Thanks again Steve.”

Mike Chare t/a Angels Travel & Tours

Mike was an experienced bus/coach driver who was setting up on his own after working for various operators in North Wales.

Even though Angels Travel & Tours was a new start-up, which can cause some brokers issues, I was able to obtain a very competitive price, with excellent cover, for the vehicle.

Mike provided the following testimonial:

“As a new Travel and Tours company in North Wales it was very important in our first year of trading to keep our costs down. Insurance premiums for a start up company were, as you can imagine, extremely high. We rang around numerous companies and brokers. Eventually we settled with Steve Haliday. Reasons, customer service was absolutely 2^nd to none. Steve is always just a friendly phone call away. The price was far and away the cheapest with NO reduction in cover. We got our whole bundle through Steve; vehicle, liability and breakdown. Best part, even now we’ve parted with the money the after care from Steve actually goes the extra mile. Thanks again for a friendly, competitive service. We’ll be insuring our second bus soon.”

If you wish to get a no-obligation quote or for more information, call us on 01782 607709. Visit our website to find out more or to have a look at the full suite of cover that we have available. We look forward to hearing from you and finding you a great deal.

Transports for London have been awarded two new routes for the fully electric single-decker buses.

The two new routes awarded are the 507 and 521 which will be fully operated by the electric buses starting in August next year. A 5 year contract to operate the routes has been given to Go Ahead following a competitive tender process. This will mean that 51 electric buses will operate across the two routes that will become the second and third completely electric bus routes in London. By 2020 all 300 single-decker buses operating in central London will be zero emissions and all 3,000 double-decker buses will be hybrid.

When the electric buses have been fully converted, on routes 507 and 521 there will be a reduction of 408 tonnes of CO2 and 10 tonnes of NOx per year, when compared to single-decker diesel buses. They are emission-free at tailpipe and will provide passengers with an improved experience with lower noise and vibrations.

A further six electric single-decker buses, manufactured in the UK by Optare, are already in the Transport for London fleet. Four of them operate on route H98 in west London and two serve route 312 in south London which later this year will become the Capital’s first all-electric bus route.

busandcoachinsurance.net offer very competitive bus and coach insurance prices. For a quick quote call our specialist team today on 0800 980 3425.

We are thrilled to announce the Mobile Playbarn Company have taken an insurance policy with Bus and Coach Insurance. They have kindly  given us a fantastic review see below.

“I would like to thank Steve Halliday of JSW insurance. Steve was very helpful and understood the business and insurance requirements. He also understood that as playbus company all we seem to experience is increases in costs to operate. Low profits and high costs to run make the business very hard to work. Steve did not stop until he brokered a price that meant for the first time in 5 years a saving in my insurance premium. I would recommend Steve to any playbus operator going forward and I now do not dread next years quote. Thanks Again Steve”

For more information on this fantastic idea visit http://www.themobileplaybarncompany.co.uk/

We are thrilled to announce that we have recently insured the luxurious and new ‘BEDROAM® coach.’

For those of you that don’t know ‘BEDROAM’ has featured on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces on Channel 4. This is a coach that has been converted specifically for Ollie Kemp, a competitive motorbike racing enthusiast. He wanted somewhere for him and his friends to sleep comfortably and close to the racing circuit. With many other additional benefits such as onsite luxury toilets, showers and an adaptable enclosed space to work or relax.

Ollie Kemp thought of the idea following a serious racing accident. Whilst in hospital, he started looking through various magazines and an article featured in a caravan magazine caught his eye and sparked the BEDROAM® concept.

From past experience, Ollie was aware of the difficulties in locating suitable accommodation whilst participating in races across the country.  The need to be close to the event, his expensive racing equipment, and getting a comfortable night’s sleep proved a problem for him. After many nights sharing the back of his van with his bike, he decided to make BEDROAM® a reality.

Ollie kindly sent us this following testimonial….

‘’Being a new company and starting a new idea is difficult enough so when trying to find insurance, things weren’t straight forwards. I had a limited time scale and a tight budget, other insurers refused to provide cover due to the complexity and concept of what I needed to cover. Steve at www.busandcoachinsurance.net was the first person to show interest and provide me with some options.

I think he even found it a challenge but in the end he managed to find a suitable affordable package. Hopefully by next year I can get all my insurance into one package and be confident that I’m getting the best deal around. I would recommend www.busandcoachinsurance.net to anyone with extra insurance needs, Steve always kept me up to speed on progress and replied to emails or calls straight away.’’

Bus and Coach Insurance are thrilled to be able to help provide Ollie with a competitive quote and great service. For more information call us on 0800 980 3425 to speak to one of our team of experts.

What is it about?

The Buzz Project, which is based in Scotland, is all about enabling young people between the ages of 14-25, to identify and fulfill their potential.

The bus travels out to various venues across the Highlands of Scotland and provides a mobile music studio and teaching area which will benefit the young people in education and the workplace. Music is a universal language which enables the expression of difficult themes and this is supported by an education programme covering personal development, organisational development and music industry-related topics.

The Buzz Project will help learn them different types of skills ranging from playing from an instrument to sales and marketing techniques.

www.busandcoachinsurance.net are a specialist bus and coach insurance broker and can guarantee that we can find you policy whether you’re an everyday coach driver to a specialist party bus driver as we do offer a wide range of different types of insurance.

We were able to provide the Buzz Project with complete cover whilst other insurers were reluctant to do so and the manager Anita Nicholls, was very happy with our efficiency and the way we acted; ‘‘We contacted other insurers but they were unsure on how to classify the vehicle and were therefore reluctant to give us a quote. You were different. You responded positively and we felt confident that you had understood the nature of the work and the de-classification of the vehicle from a bus to an HGV. This service is worth paying for and not seen in many organisations these days.’’

For more information call us on 0800 980 3425 to speak to one of our team of experts. We are open from 9am to 5:30pm.