12/07/2026
We feel that, as a family-run company, we need to say something about the recent events that have been shared across social media and clear up a few things.
Firstly, the vehicle used for the trip did have working air conditioning. The fact of the matter is that, in the extreme temperatures experienced that day, it simply couldn't cope well enough to cool such a large vehicle full of passengers as effectively as we would have wanted.
A full-size coach is around 13 metres long, 3 metres wide and 4 metres tall, with a huge amount of glass running almost the entire length of the vehicle. In extreme heat and direct sunlight, it's essentially a rolling greenhouse, carrying up to 70 people who are all generating additional body heat. Even with working air conditioning, cooling a vehicle of that size in those conditions can be extremely challenging.
We also want to clear up the suggestion that there was a spare bus sitting in our depot all day that we simply chose not to send. That is simply not true. The vehicle that eventually attended the breakdown was returning from another job and was diverted to collect the passengers as quickly as possible.
Like every transport operator, we can never guarantee that a mechanical component won't unexpectedly fail. What we can control is how we respond when something does go wrong, and our priority was getting everyone home safely.
This term alone, we have completed more than 100 different school trips without a problem. Unfortunately, as is often the case, you rarely hear about the hundreds of journeys that go exactly as planned — you only hear about the one that doesn't.
And this is where, as a family-run local business, we feel we need to say something.
It's a sorry state of affairs when people's first reaction whenever something goes wrong is to immediately take to social media to attack a local business, often before establishing the full facts or giving that business any opportunity to explain what actually happened. Unfortunately, social media posts can spread rapidly, and media outlets are often quick to amplify them for engagement and clicks before the complete picture is known.
People are quick enough to slate local businesses when something goes wrong, but often forget who is there supporting their communities the rest of the year.
Who sponsors their children's sports teams? Who sponsors community events? Who donates gifts, prizes and free services for raffles and fundraising collections? Who provides local jobs and gives their time and effort to help local causes?
More often than not, it isn't the big corporations or the media outlets. It's the local, family-run businesses that live and work in the same communities as the people they serve.
We fully accept that when things go wrong, people have every right to raise concerns and ask questions. We don't expect to be above criticism. All we ask is that the full facts are established before conclusions are drawn, misinformation is spread, or a local business and its staff are publicly attacked without being given a fair opportunity to respond.
The main thing is that everyone got home safely and was able to enjoy the rest of their weekend.
We will be in contact with the school on Monday morning to rectify the situation.
We are a family business. Our name is on our vehicles, our reputation means everything to us, and we genuinely care about the people and communities we serve. When something goes wrong, we will always do our best to put it right.
Keepings Coaches
