Turner helps Topdeck celebrate turning 40

Turner helps Topdeck celebrate turning 40
By admin


Youth travel specialist Topdeck has celebrated turning 40, with a gala ball in London attended by 275 guests including founders Graham “Skroo” Turner, Mike Carroll and Bill James who was among the company’s first passengers.

Topdeck was born in 1973 when Skroo, then a young Aussie vet living in the UK, came across an unwanted old double-decker bus and decided to drive it to Morocco with some friends.

They advertised it in an Earls Court pub with the company originally named Argus Persicus Travel after an Australian cattle tick.

Demand grew and soon the business that became known as Topdeck was operating a fleet of 25 buses and coaches on European tours, running itineraries as far-fetched as overland tours from London to Kathmandu by double-decker bus.

Now under different ownership, it has more than 100 vehicles and has carried over a million passengers.

Other guests at the gala ball included passengers on that very first Moroccan journey in 1973, along with current and former staff from all over the world, board members and suppliers from the UK and Europe.

They were transported to the event at London’s The Tower Hotel by one of Topdeck’s very first buses, a 1958 Bristol Lodekka called “Tadpoles”, which was taken out of its retirement at the Bus and Coach Museum in the Isle of Whyte especially for the event.

“The night captured the true spirit of Topdeck. After 40 years our family culture is as strong as ever with the first Topdeck passengers flying from far and wide including Australia and Mexico to help celebrate,” managing director James Nathan said.

“The night was about celebrating all things Topdeck and to have four generations of Topdeckers join in the celebrations was also a highlight. Although our passengers and operating environment have changed, the DNA of Topdeck hasn’t – we’re still a family company delivering life-changing holiday experiences to young people.”

""

""

""

""

Latest News

  • Partner Content

My journey: Before becoming a travel agent I was… a palliative care nurse 

Australind Travel & Cruise, Travellers Choice member Saibra Twigg reveals her life as paediatric nurse then to palliative care before a career leap to travel agent. How did you become a palliative care nurse?  ST I went straight from school in nursing and initially specialised in paediatrics, working at Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. […]

Partner Content

by Travel Weekly

Travel Weekly
  • Aviation

Emirates unveils future plans with new hub at Al Maktoum International Airport

Emirates has unveiled a glimpse of its future with the news of a new base at  Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai overnight. Also referred to as the Dubai World Central, the airport is undergoing an AUD $53.3b refurbishment. Once complete, it will become the city’s main international hub with five parallel runways and 400 […]

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]