Derek Limbert and his wife Julia holding a cut-out of their coach trip (Picture: SWNS)

A couple who went on a coach trip around Scotland complained that they spent so long on a coach.

Derek and Julia Limbert paid £699 for the five-day coach trip, but were unhappy that 62 hours of the coach holiday was on a coach.

The tour firm behind the coach trip, Diamond Holidays, had promised a coach drive around Oban, Mull, Iona and Skye in the Scottish Highlands.

‘It was a disaster from start to finish,’ Derek Limbert, 74, said. ‘We had paid for a tour of Scotland but what we got was a tour of the inside of a coach, our only visits were to go to the loo in service stations.




‘I would have seen more of the Scottish Highlands if I’d stayed at home and looked the places up on the internet.’

The trip booked through Diamond Holidays (Picture: SWNS)

The coach picked up Derek and his wife Julia, 73, at 6.20am on July 15 from their home in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands.

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However, they were annoyed that they then stopped at other non-Scottish places to pick up their fellow passengers.

Derek added: ‘When we made the booking we didn’t realise it would involve a tour of the Midlands, Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear as well.

‘We were picked up at 6.20am on the first day. We then had to visit Lichfield, Burton upon Trent, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Durham and Newcastle picking up other passengers en route to our overnight stop.’

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Derek and Julie were disappointed they spent so much time on the coach (Picture: SWNS)

Derek and Julia also complained about an ill-fated trip to the isle of Iona on the third day. They driver, they claim, told them that ferries to the island depart every 10 minutes – but this turned out not to be the case.

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‘We nipped to the toilet but when we got back on the coach we missed it and were then told the ferries were in fact every hour, which meant it was too late for us to visit the island,’ Derek said.

‘This was the main reason for choosing to go on this holiday in the first place.’

And on the fourth day, he added, it took ‘five hours winding through narrow roads and negotiating road works so by the time we got there we had about an hour before we had to set off back again’.

The couple were sent £20 gift vouchers (Picture: SWNS)

After lodging a complaint with the tour company, Diamond Holidays gave the couple two £20 gift vouchers – which Derek says is ‘insulting’.

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Diamond Holidays said their position remains the same as in previous letters to the couple.

In one letter dated August 3, Diamond Holidays customer service advisor Sophie Hickey wrote: ‘I would like to reassure you that all of our trips are carefully planned to ensure that all arrangements, from transport to hotels, run as efficiently as possible.

‘We hold regular operational review meetings and I will ensure that your comments are used to improve our service where possible.’