This Lunch with Leon special features Steve Whiteway, President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport and Ian Jones, industry legal advisor as they returned from Honk for Hope in central London, the third rally in the UK to draw attention to issues in the coach industry, a diverse sector with a ‘lost cause’.

With 42K people in the UK employed directly by coach operators, contributing £6 billion to the economy, the coach industry wants to bring the importance of their contribution to the attention of Parliament.

Many coach companies are family businesses who face an 18 month ‘winter’ due to the seasonal nature of their operation.

Honk for Hope is calling for the furlough scheme and financial agreements to be extended for this sector until March 2021 and for a statutory instrument to prevent finance companies enforcing commercial debt against personal assets.