National Express Coach from Victoria

[lilpixieuk]

Has anyone been with National Express to Glasto from Victoria?? What is the luggage allowance like? Is there huge queues for your coach?

We are leaving on the 11.30am coach on the Wednesday but not sure if we should arrive quite early depending on the queues

[nicktrow]

If you have booked your seat then your on the coach, the only other people waiting are the people also booked for the coach, so don't worry on that score. You should still get there in plenty of time though, you don't want to miss it!

Like airlines, National Express have limit of 2x20kg items under the coach plus one small hand luggage with excesses being charged. HOWEVER, event services appear to be exempt from these charges. I took this from their website: Excluded from the excess luggage charge are Hotel Hoppa, RailAir, Non-National Express services sold by National Express, and Events services. If a customer is connecting to/from an Event, the luggage charge can be waived on the connecting scheduled service if the customer provides evidence of travel on an Event service. We shall have no obligation to carry luggage in excess of the permitted amount but we will endeavour to do so where space permits.

I hope this helps.

[Mildew]

I've got the National Express coach for the past few years and the queues aren't that bad. It's pretty well organised and although the coaches rarely depart on time they're not normally that late. However I would recommend that you get there a good half an hour before you're due to go just so you're near the doors to the coach. (also make sure you've got some food and water with you as the coaches don't always stop at Fleet services)

In terms of space I'd say there's enough for everyone to store a big rucksack, a tent and a couple of other bits. Some people brought along a couple of slabs of beer last year and everything *just* fitted, but it can be a squeeze.

[HurrahBrother]

Right, the low down based on departures at 9 or 10 in the morning the last 3 years.

It is one big queue, if your ticket says leaving 11:30 and you want to leave at that time, aim to join it about 10:30 (it can be that long). They will likely call out about 12:30 for any one with a 11:30 depature ticket and try and get you all on the next coach out. If you are at the head of the queue before your ticket time, they might make you wait (but generally if it is only some 15/20 minutes before the depature time, they will let you through to the coach like they did with me in 2009).

The coach: rolling arrivals, anything between 2 and 4 coaches at a time pull in, load up and head off (and then the next coaches pull in). each batch can take between 10 and 20 minutes to load up and head off.

Luggage: Don't take the piss seems to be the general rule. I have seen drivers refuse to take loaded trollies/sack barrows, but only because there was physically no room to get it safely into the luggage compartment (they need to load heavy stuff like that first next to the bulkhead to avoid crushing stuff if tehy have to break sharply). The stewards controlling the loading will make sure you get on the next coach out.

They will ask you to take any bed rolls, sleeping bags and other items off your rucksack and take them on the coach with you and stuff them under the seat or on the overhead racks (hint, the sleeping bag makes a nice pillow).

Some coaches have toilets on them, those will be next stop Pilton. Some do not, there will be a stop a little over midway (my experiance, usually Membury)