Anyone involved in maintaining a classic car or vintage vehicle will understand the challenges of sourcing parts. But when your vehicles are used commercially, these pressures are even more keenly felt and can send shivers down your spine.

After speaking with Hydraulics Online, I knew these guys know what they are talking about. (David – Head of Transport, Ghost Bus Tours)

Ghost Bus Tours’ buses are classic Routemasters – offering a unique and original tour experience around three of Britain’s most historic cities: London, Edinburgh and York. These three cities are rich ground for the tales of dark historical deeds and ghost stories to which travellers on the Ghost Buses are treated. And the classic Routemasters – now painted black, with lamps in the windows and endowed with sound and visual effects – offer an added quirkiness to these most peculiar of tours.

Keeping a fleet of this age on the road, however, can be challenging. The Routemasters are great buses – a British icon and fabulous piece of engineering history. But they are now at least fifty years old, making it very hard to source replacement parts when something goes wrong.

When the power steering ram of one of the vehicles failed, David was told by several of his regular suppliers it “couldn’t be repaired”.  In desperation, he searched online for someone who could help. He found Hydraulics Online.

“After speaking with Hydraulics Online, they were immensely helpful. I knew ‘these guys know what they are talking about’. They told me to send them the part and they would take a look. Of course, I wanted to put it in the hands of someone who is keen to try, so I immediately dispatched the part. Hydraulics Online came back to say the part isn’t made any more and they couldn’t find an identical alternative, but they would be able to repair it. We were very happy because, of all the options, this was actually our first choice.”

The service was quick. The pricing was good.  The quality was good. It was spot on.

Hydraulics Online’s technical expertise means the company undertakes a whole range of support activities for hydraulic systems and parts, including repair.  With the part in situ, the team was able to make a comprehensive and effective repair immediately for Ghost Bus Tours.

David says: “The service was quick. The pricing was good. The quality was good. It was spot on. I am already in the process of sending them a second one to repair and I’ll probably send another two or three later this year. Hydraulics Online are now our go-to guys for power steering rams and we will probably use them for other hydraulics requirements too.”

With the aging fleet of Routemasters key to the commercial operations of the business, David says that finding reliable supply chain partners who can support the operation is hugely important.  In Hydraulics Online David is satisfied he has found one such partner; so the next time Ghost Bus Tours has a requirement for a hydraulic repairs or parts, who they gonna call? Hydraulics Online, of course.