23/08/2026
Now that the first Lyndhurst Bus Rally has come to an end, we wanted to take some time to reflect
honestly on the event the good, the bad, and the things we know we need to improve.
As many of you are aware, we experienced multiple issues in the weeks leading up to the event which unfortunately had a knock-on effect on the day itself.
We had received a decent number of entries, with 20+ heritage vehicles originally expected, alongside multiple food and drink vendors. However, heritage vehicles are exactly that heritage vehicles and unfortunately they can be temperamental. Several vehicles experienced mechanical problems either before travelling to the event or on the journey down, resulting in some very last-minute withdrawals.
The A31 closure / Collision on the A31 and collision in Lyndhurst also caused significant disruption. There was very little anyone could do other than wait for the roads to clear, and the resulting delays had a major impact on our timetable.
Unfortunately, several vehicles withdrew at very short notice, with some not contacting us at all. This left us having to make extremely quick decisions about which services could still operate, resulting in several cancellations and, at times, waits of around 30 minutes or more for buses.
We want to be clear: this was our first bus rally, and one of the first events of this type to be organised by us in the New Forest. There was always going to be a learning curve. No first event can be completely perfect, particularly when you're trying to coordinate heritage vehicles, drivers, volunteers, food vendors, traffic, routes and hundreds of visitors.
❤️ But there were some real positives.
Despite everything that happened, we're genuinely proud of what we managed to achieve.
🚧 Marshalling
We've had people tell us that our marshalling was absolutely spot on. Traffic was kept moving, there were no significant hold-ups on the main road and vehicles were brought onto the site quickly and safely.
🍔 A stallholder's dream
One of our stallholders told us that they made more money at Lyndhurst Bus Rally than at any other bus rally they'd attended reportedly around £700.
That's an incredible piece of feedback and exactly what we wanted for the traders who supported our first event.
📍 Live bus tracking
Our website and live bus tracking system proved extremely useful, particularly when services were disrupted. We're pleased that passengers could see what buses were operating and where vehicles were throughout the day.
😊 Our volunteers
We've received positive comments about how friendly and helpful our volunteers were.
Every volunteer gave up their own time to support the event, and many worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to keep things moving.
We were actually slightly overstaffed in some areas, particularly after vehicle withdrawals, but we'd rather have too many people available to help than not enough.
We do, however, want to address something that was disappointing.
A small number of volunteers were subjected to swearing, shouting and aggressive behavior from members of the public over problems that were completely outside of their control.
Our volunteers were there for free, giving up their own time to help make the event happen. They should never have to deal with abuse because a bus was delayed, cancelled or stuck in traffic.
Please be kind to the people who are trying to help.
🌲 Bringing buses back into the New Forest
One of our biggest ambitions was to bring a bus rally back into the heart of the New Forest and provide services to areas that don't regularly see heritage buses.
Our S4 service was particularly important to us. Although we only managed to operate one bus with around 21 passengers, we are still incredibly pleased that we achieved our ambition of running the route and giving people the opportunity to experience it.
This was about more than just putting buses on display. We wanted to give people a reason to get out, explore the Forest and experience areas from a different perspective.
🔎 Reviewing the Negative Feedback
Of course, we also need to listen to the criticism.
“There weren't enough buses.”
We completely agree.
The number of vehicles on the day was significantly lower than originally planned. A number of heritage owners unfortunately had to withdraw at very short notice.
Rather than cancel the entire event, we made the decision to continue and provide the best day we could with the vehicles available.
We would like to say a massive thank you to every heritage owner who did attend. Without you, there would have been no rally.
“There weren't enough food stalls.”
Again, we agree.
Unfortunately, only Nick's Ices managed to attend on the day, alongside a cake vendor who unfortunately broke down in Salisbury.
We were expecting several other vendors, but we received little or no communication from some of them regarding their attendance.
We're already looking at how we can prevent this happening again.
And a huge thank you to Nick's Ices for turning up and supporting us when things were difficult.
“There wasn't enough happening with the heritage cars.”
This is something we accept.
Our focus was heavily placed on the buses, and unfortunately the heritage car side of the event didn't receive the attention it deserved.
That's something we want to improve.
Internally, we're looking at changing the way the event is organized, including having separate people responsible for different areas rather than relying on just two people to oversee almost everything.
“People were waiting in Brockenhurst for over an hour.”
We sincerely apologise to anyone affected by this.
We had planned to maintain regular services throughout the day, but the combination of vehicle withdrawals, road traffic and delays made this extremely difficult.
The collision on the A31 area caused significant congestion around Lyndhurst, meaning buses were returning late. Drivers also needed their legally and practically necessary breaks, and with fewer vehicles available there simply weren't enough buses to cover every scheduled journey.
This ultimately resulted in some S1 services having to be cancelled.
We know how frustrating that would have been for anyone standing at a stop waiting for a bus, and we don't want to dismiss that experience.
So, What's Next?
Despite the problems, we're proud that we still held the event.
Our original ambition was simple: give people a reason to get out into the New Forest, see some heritage buses, explore the area and enjoy themselves.
Did we achieve everything we wanted?
No.
Did we have problems?
Absolutely.
But did we learn a huge amount?
Yes.
And that's what matters if we're going to do this again.
This was our first event, and hopefully it will be the first of many.
We don't want to pretend everything was perfect, because it wasn't. But we also don't want the problems to completely overshadow the positives and the huge amount of work that went into making the event happen.
We want your feedback
We'll be attaching a suggestion and feedback form below.
Please be honest. Tell us what you liked, what you didn't like, what went wrong and most importantly what you think we could do better.
We'll carefully review the responses and use them to help shape any future events.
Nobody gets everything right the first time.
We're learning, we're listening, and if we do this again, we want to make it better.
Thank you to everyone who attended volunteered, brought a vehicle, ran a stall, travelled on our buses, supported us online or simply gave us a chance.
Lyndhurst Bus Rally 2026 may not have been perfect — but we're proud that we made it happen.
Link to feedback form:
