Who can Hire the Minibuses?
Our minibuses are available for hire by organisations that are associate members of Bedale Community Minibus. If you are not a member of BCM please register with us by contacting the office.
Who can drive the Minibuses?
If your organisation has it’s own drivers they can drive the buses. They must hold a current and valid driving licence with either D1 or if the licence was obtained after Jan 1997 a B Licence, be aged 25 -75, and have either a current MIDAS qualification or hold a professional minibus licence or equivalent. In some cases, one of our own volunteer drivers from the Community Minibus will drive if your organisation does not have its own driver. Please remember our drivers are volunteers, so the more notice you give us of your journey the more chance we have of finding someone to drive for you.
A driver for your hire
If your organisation needs to use one of our volunteer drivers to drive for you, we ideally need 21 days notice from when you make a provisional booking. We can not guarantee that one of our volunteer drivers will be available to drive for your group, but, suffice to say we have not failed yet!
Booking the Minibuses
Initial enquiry and a Provisional Booking
Please contact the office either by phone during office hours or by email if you would like to hire one of our minibuses, this gives the opportunity for the Office Team to clarify any queries you might have, The initial enquiry will confirm that we have a minibus available and a provisional booking will be entered in pencil into the office diary.
A booking form will need to be completed to confirm your request; this can be posted to you, emailed as an attachment, or you can download it here.
Completed Booking Forms
Once you have fully completed the booking form and signed a hire agreement, the deposit (£25) and a copy of your group's driver’s licence details must be brought to the office. Until we receive these, the provisional booking will not be confirmed.
We would expect to receive your confirmation of the provisional hire of the minibus at least 7 days before the date of the hire.
We do not have the facility to process digital forms, therefore copies must be brought in to the office.
Minibus Hire Charges
We normally consider hiring’s to be day bookings. We will in special circumstances consider hirings over a weekend (Fri to Mon) but not for longer periods.
We normally review out hire charges on an annual basis, and any changes are effective from the 1st March.
Charges for the minibus are in two parts, the base cost and the mileage completed.
Base cost
|
Between 06.00 hrs and 18.00 hrs |
Evening hire (commencing after 18.00 hrs) |
||
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Hire of up to 5 hours = ½ day rate |
£25 |
Hire of up to 5 hours |
£25 |
|
Hire over 5 hours = full day rate |
£50 |
£5 per hour for every additional hour or part thereof up to a MAXIMUM of 2 hours |
£5 |
Mileage cost
Mileage is charged at 60p per mile. The period of hire and the mileage commences and finishes at the minibus storage at Exelby Service Station, Coneygarth, Leeming Bar, DL7 9EG.
Start and Finish of the Journey
This needs to taken into account when completing the Pick Up Time and Expected Return Time on the Booking Form.
Estimation of Charges in Advance of the Hire.
In discussions with the Office Team about likely costs of the hire any figure reached must be considered an estimate. The final cost that is invoiced to the Hirer is based on the time and distance recorded on the vehicle log sheet.
Parking Charges / Blue Badge
In some cases, the driver will need to park the minibus in an area which incurs a parking charge. This charge will need to be added to the final invoice in order to repay the driver. Alternatively the Hirer pays the fee at the time.
A Blue Badge is available in each minibus. Specific rules apply to their use, hirers are expected to abide by those regulations.
Out of Hours Expenses for Volunteer Drivers.
If the minibus hire is for a whole day, or an evening, BCM provides a volunteer driver who remains with you for the hire period. We would hope that you will fund their out of hours expenses, £10.00 is an appropriate sum. Alternatively, you may wish to include the driver in the event as a passenger and cover the outlay in that manner.
Further Information
For further details, or to discuss a booking in detail, please telephone the office on 01677 425 329 on any weekday morning and speak to one of the Office Team, or contact us via email office@bedaleminibus.org.uk