About Us

About TML Travel Group Limited

TML Travel Group is an AWARD WINNING tour operator established in April 2010 & 2024 marks 35 YEARS since TML Travel Groups Founder, David Arkell, first set foot in the travel industry.


Carrie Drage, a close friend & former Deputy Editor of Group Travel Organiser Magazine takes a retrospective look back at David’s long-standing career and TML Travel Group's development over the past 14 years.


TML Travel Group Limited was established In April 2010 and we offer a small niche market tour operation under the branding "Discerning Tours For Discerning People", offering high quality day excursions, weekend breaks & extended tours within the UK. The tours are designed to appeal to the more discerning traveller by offering a more personal touch, a better quality travelling experience and accommodation in quality 4/5* hotels (excludes certain locations in Scotland, Wales & the West Country). The itineraries are designed to be interesting and innovative, visiting some of the best destinations the UK has to offer. as well as some lesser known, but equally as interesting destinations offering a variety of experiences and excursions.


Since 2015, we have been operating a successful group travel tour operation for special interest groups looking for a more up market travelling experience combined with interesting and innovative itineraries. This area is now becoming an important part of our business


.We also offer a small consultancy arm and previous projects have included work on the London Olympics and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, amongst others. We have also undertaken work for TBR Global Chauffeuring and since 2015, we currently provide ongoing transport management services to a provider of school transport in Yorkshire. We can also arrange corporate travel and ground handling for events through our EVENT-LInk service using carefully selected partners. We can also supply operational support staff, to ensure your event goes without a hitch


You can learn more about our business as it is today clicking on the various links at the top of the page.


.Our founder has over 30 years experience in the travel industry covering coach tourism, tour management, operations, transport management, special events & conferences. Your can read more about our history and heritage below.


Our History & Heritage

How It All Began ...

Like many people in the industry, David started out on the bottom rung of the ladder as a group organiser, but has since amassed a large number of friends and colleagues in the industry. Indeed, his association with travel begun largely by accident when he was just a fourteen-year-old schoolboy!


Back in the spring of 1989, while at senior school, David was approached by his deputy head teacher to organise an excursion to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, in Cumbria, for the annual ‘Expeditions Day’ in July. He knew David was a member of the railway’s preservation society and asked him whether he was able to negotiate a group rate. The deputy head teacher was so pleased with David’s efforts regarding the tickets, he asked him to organise the coach as well, which he did. The trip turned out to be a huge hit with pupils and teachers alike.

Two years later, this was followed by a two-day educational break to London for the Sixth Form. This was David’s first foray into overnight tours by train and included a tour of the Palace of Westminster, a visit to the Bank of England Museum and an outing to the theatre to see ‘An Inspector Calls’.


Soon after, in 1992, David was asked to arrange a similar London break for his local church youth group. This was to mark the start of an eleven-year stint organising day trips and weekend breaks for his local church as Parish Outings Co-ordinator.


In the autumn of 1996, David moved away from using local coach operators, due to concerns about vehicle quality, and began what was to become a long association with Shearings Holidays. The new partnership allowed David to continue operating his own day excursions programme, with coach hire arranged through Shearings, and at the same time broadened the range of destinations for overnight tours (including city breaks abroad), which were packaged by Shearings. Weekend break destinations during this time included several breaks in Scotland, Yorkshire and also a weekend break to Paris. The partnership with Shearings continued until the winter of 1998, when the decision was made to move the tour planning back in-house in order to improve quality – mainly in relation to hotels. It also gave David greater freedom when planning specialist itineraries such as pilgrimages and religious heritage tours. Shearings would, however, continue to provide coach hire for both day excursions and weekend breaks that David organised, but he was once again wholly responsible for planning every last detail himself. The working relationship with Shearings taught David an awful lot about the travel industry, in particular the nuances of tour operation and management. It was also during this time that he began to forge contacts in the industry, many of whom have remained good friends of David all these years later.

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St. Michael's Travel Ministry -

A Spring Parish Outing to the Lake District

Following the appointment of a new vicar in early 1998, St Michael's Travel Ministry was formed. In addition, David received the new title of Parish Tours Director, together with a vastly expanded brief. David recalls “the guy was obsessed with setting up everything in the church as a ministry.” At this point, the tours business remained a hobby and something David ran in his spare time while also holding down a full-time job in the shipping industry! The purpose of the new Travel Ministry was to promote fellowship among other churches locally as well as bring the church into the wider community. Under the new St Michael’s Travel Ministry banner, David attracted the support of five other local churches of various denominations. At its peak, St Michael’s Travel Ministry carried around 600 passengers per year and it was not uncommon to have two or three coaches operating on some excursions! There was also a broadening of the range of itineraries being offered, which now extended to pilgrimage and religious heritage tours. The first of these took place in April 2000 and was a five-day visit to Mull and Iona on the west coast of Scotland. This was followed by a trip to Oberammergau that summer to see the Passion Play, which was organised through Shearings Holidays.


 At the start of the new millennium, David was the subject of an Organiser Focus feature in Group Leisure Magazine, which also led to him being nominated for the "Group Travel Organiser Of The Year" Award. At the same time, he also became involved with the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (the industry trade association representing coach, bus and light rail operators) and, in particular, it’s CoachMarque quality standard scheme. CPT where keen to find ways to promote CoachMarque to Group Organisers and as David  already had experience of CoachMarque from a customer viewpoint (Shearings were members of CoachMarque at the time), they enlisted his help. 

By the spring of 2002, David was making arrangements for a five-day ‘Pilgrimage & Religious Heritage Tour’ to the North East and Lindisfarne for the church’s centenary. That same year, David was asked to join a working party formed by Alan Scoles, the then Operations Planning Director at Shearings Holidays and the North West branch of the  Confederation of Passenger Transport formed of industry stakeholders. The purpose of this working party was to represent a cross-section of the industry during a consultation process with the EU, regarding proposed changes to EU drivers’ hours and tachograph regulations. David was also encouraged to sit his Transport Managers CPC in National Passenger Transport Operations, which he passed in the autumn.

 

The Spring of 2003 saw David the subject of the Group Experience feature in Group Travel Organiser Magazine, catching up with him five years after the formation of St Michael's Travel Ministry.

The Travel Ministry Limited -

In the Summer of 2003, due to increasing legislation and regulation, the church decided, on the advice of the Diocese, to disband St Michael’s Travel Ministry. But all was not lost. Rather, David was encouraged to set up his own business and The Travel Ministry Limited (TML) was born! As part of the new business, Shearings Holidays continued to supply coaches through to the autumn of 2007. This enabled David to operate trips for his local church, while also tendering for tours on behalf of other groups and organisations around the country. He also offered a small number of brochured tours.

In late 2007, The Travel Ministry Limited was disbanded and merged into its sister company, TML Consultancy Limited, due to an increasing amount of consultancy work. To reflect this move, TML Consultancy Limited was renamed TML Travel & Consultancy Limited in May 2009. At the time, there were no tours being operated, although it did leave the door open for any future plans.



Consultancy Work & Writing


In late 2003, David was invited to become a consultant to the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, and in particular its CoachMarque quality standard scheme. His responsibilities at CPT included representing CoachMarque at various trade events and functions, organising and managing delegate transport sponsored by CoachMarque at various conferences, events & familiarisation weekends. He also frequently hosted CoachMarque industry seminars and sat on a number of expert panels. 


Over the Winter of 2005, David was asked by the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK to join a small working party as part of a Europe wide study to look into and investigate the issue of vehicle weights. The study was funded by the EU and the International Road Union (IRU) to look into the weight of current passenger vehicles during their everyday work. It had been felt for sometime that the existing regulations concerning vehicle weights were not satisfactory given the demands of other legislative requirements, modern technological advances and customer expectations. As a consequence, many vehicles operating on Europe's roads were felt to be operating very close to their legal Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) under existing regulations. The study involved travelling to pre-agreed locations across the UK including the international departures section at Victoria Coach Station, to weigh vehicles, passengers and their luggage. The upshot of this study is that it has led to vehicle lengths being increased to 15 metres and Gross Vehicles Weights (GVW) being increased through the provision of an additional rear axle as a result.

Over the years, he has also written for some well-established group travel publications on a variety of issues relevant to the industry. In particular, and building on his experience as a group organiser initially, he was jointly responsible for the launch of “Check Points”. “Check Points” is a monthly feature in Group Travel Organiser Magazine advising readers on best practice, insurance and regulatory compliance when organising trips for their groups. The feature was launched in the autumn of 2004 and is sponsored by the CoachMarque scheme and it’s members. Seventeen years on, this feature is still going strong.

Behind The Big Wheel

In May 2008, following some friendly encouragement (and arm-twisting!) by industry colleagues, David passed his full PCV licence. It is an achievement he is very proud of. He still uses it frequently to this day.

TML Travel Group & Present Day -

In April 2010, following research into the future of the coach industry by means of the Mintel report, it was decided to recommence tour operations. The report acknowledged that a continuing slant towards higher socio-economic groups in coming years would generate a more affluent customer who is willing to pay for luxury, comfort and exclusivity. The report also acknowledged that economic uncertainty and higher exchange rates should see a boom in domestic tourism over the coming years. As a consequence of these findings, David believed that the luxury sector of the market held much promise.


It is widely acknowledged in the coach industry that cruise customers are potential coach customers, so long as the product offering is right. This provided a springboard for David’s strategic partnership with Eavesway Travel, as it was recognised that by combining David’s experience with Eavesway’s reputation and experience, there was the basis to offer something very special to each of their respective client bases.


It was under the new TML Travel Group banner (this trading style was adopted to bring the consultancy & tour operations under one brand name), that the "Discerning Tours For Discerning People" brand was born and the partnership with Eavesway Travel began.

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In the latter part of 2010, David was invited to become a consultant to Transport Partners Ltd (a small transport consultancy business based in Olney near Milton Keynes) and ROSCO (The Road Operators Safety Council), which promotes safe driving among professional drivers and operators. He remains a freelance consultant to both of these organisations to this day.

London 2012 Olympics

More recently, in 2012, David was approached to provide operational management support to Iluka (a worldwide event management company providing corporate hospitality programmes for major Blue Chip companies across the globe) and Transport Partners Ltd at the London Olympics, managing a fleet of over 50 coaches and 130 drivers from a depot in Barking. In this role, he worked on corporate hospitality programmes for companies such as BP, Lloyds Banking Group, EDF Energy, Cadbury's, GSK and NBC.

Smart Breaks -

In the spring of 2013, David received news that a coach operator in the north east of England was retiring, which prompted the move to launch Smart Breaks Limited, a subsidiary company to TML Travel Group.

 

Exclusive to the north east of England, Smart Breaks is promoted as a new budget brand offering an ideal way to travel and see the best of Britain at an affordable price. Smart Breaks are designed as a more budget style product using budget brand or 3* start hotels and lower specification vehicles with less legroom & larger seating capacities. Some tours are also operated using 16 seater minibuses and unlike the more upmarket tours, there is no porterage, tour manager or onboard refreshments service provided. A driver purely accompanies the tours. The excursions to are also a lot more basic with greater emphasis on clients making their own enjoyment or purchasing optional excursions to enhance their holiday experience. Operated in conjunction with two family-run operators - Hodgson’s of Barnard Castle and Hartshorn’s of Langley Park in Durham (both of which also act as main booking agents), Smart Breaks are a very different kind of product to the more upmarket style of product, offered through the partnership with Eavesway Travel.

 

The Smart Breaks brand was discontinued in the autumn of 2016 as the company realised its core focus should be on what it does best - its discerning tours for discerning people brand.



Back To School ...

In the summer of 2013, David was awarded his Transport Managers CPC for International Passenger Transport Operations.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games & Beyond ...


During 2014, David has received a number of approaches from various organisations to take up a variety of operational roles, most notably Deputy Bus System Manager working for MV Transit on the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. In addition to this he was also offered the position of Transport Manager with Battersby Silver Grey Coaches of Morecambe.

 

David took up his post with Battersby Silver Grey Coaches of Morecambe on Tuesday 1st April 2014 and he quickly realised the grass is not always greener elsewhere! Following two months with Battersbys, David returned to TML Travel Group full time in June 2014 to head up some high profile consultancy projects. These include work on the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games amongst others.

 

The summer of 2014 saw David seconded to Glasgow to manage the transport on a Corporate Sponsor Programme on behalf of Transport Partners at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. This was a big achievement for the business and saw TML's Consultancy Service build on it's previous successes. As a result of a "job well done" in Glasgow, David received further approaches for TML Consultancy's services from other companies.

 

In the autumn of 2014, TML Consultancy were approached by TBR Global who worked with David in Glasgow, to assist in the management of transport operations for delegates attending a major conference in London. The project involved managing the transport for 600 delegates arriving into Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted & London City airports from across the globe. To achieve this TML coordinated the transport movements between the various airports and Central London hotels. The second phase of this contract involved positioning additional TML personnel in London to coordinate the transfers between the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster and a dinner at the Connaught Rooms before returning delegates to their respective hotels.

 

July 2015 saw TML Consultancy take on a long term contract providing external transport management to a high profile provider of school transport services in Yorkshire.

 

In December 2015, TML Travel & Consulatncy Limited T/As. Travel Group changed it's name to TML Travel Group Limited to better reflect the various areas of operation.


September 2016 saw the completion of a company wide rebranding complete with new staff uniforms - the first for six years!


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Religious Heritage Tours


2016 saw a return to offering Religious Heritage Tours to organised groups, which have proved very successful. It is anticipated this growth will continue into 2017 with further expansion planned. New itineraries and destinations are planned for 2019 & 2021.


Since the first departures of our Religious Heritage Tours back in 2016, these have grown in popularity with groups and we now offer Iona, Lindisfarne, Canterbury & St David's in West Wales. During 2024 we plan to introduce two new religious heritage tours to Scotland for departure in the Spring of 2025.


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Marking 30 Years In The Industry


July 2019 marked 30 years since David operated his very first coach tour and we ran a special anniversary 'Grand Day Out' to the Lake District titled 'A Lakeland Odyssey' for long standing clients to mark the occasion. This very special day out consisted of a traditional touring style itinerary designed to recapture the essence of the 'golden age of travel'. The desination for this tour was the Lake District and included a journey on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, a full length cruise on Lake Windermere aboard one of the famous 1930's steamers to Waterhead followed by some time at leisure in Ambleside. The afternoon consisted of a scenic drive through the central & northern lakes before joining the motorway at Penrith for an anniversary dinner at the 4* Preston Marriott hotel, after which it was time to head for home.

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Award Winning Tour Operator

In February 2020, TML Travel Group Limited was crowned 'Most Unique Niche Tour Operators -UK' in the 2020 LUXlife Travel & Tourism Awards.


These awards are judged purely on merit and are designed to recognise the businesses and enterprises responsible for making your dream holidays and vacations come to life by revealing their dedication and hard work.


Naturally, everyone involved with TML Travel Group Limited is delighted by these awards because we've all known for some time, we offer something very special, so it’s great that this has been officially recognised through this award.


In April 2021, despite the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, we retained our title as 'Most Unique Niche Tour Operators - UK' for a second year. We were able to demonstrate to the judges our innovation and finding new ways to engage with customers throughout the various lockdowns and the new projects we had been working on for the post Covid era. We retained this award for a third consecutive year in the 2022 awards.


The autumn of 2021 saw the resumption of tour operators, as the industry and indeed the country slowly began to emerge from the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. We diversified the business to offer a limited number of high end luxury tours public tours and a small brochure was produced. This continued into 2022 with a new destination added ORKNEY. July of that year, also saw the resumption of our more special group travel focused Religious Heritage Tours & Pilgrimages.  It saw the operation of our long awaited St Davids Pilgrimage & Religious Heritage In West Wales tour, which was a huge success and took place during the hottest week in July!

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At the 2023 LUXlife Travel & Tourism Awards, we were crowned 'Best Family Owned Tour Operators - UK'.


2023 also saw the consolidation & launch of our new Scenic Scotland SELECT product staying at luxury 4/5* Crerar Hotels and utilising two specially commissioned 34 SEAT VanHool EX 'Exclusive' coaches by our transport partner Eavesway. Our Scenic Scotland SELECT tours allow you to relax and discover the best the country has to offer, all in luxurious comfort and offering handcrafted itineraries. 

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