Storm Ali – Bringing out the big guns

11/10/2018 | Event Connect

Two weeks ago today, we were battening down the hatches and making a quick getaway to get home early as Storm Ali hit the shores of Scotland. Well, most of us were, but not the team here at Event Connect.

In the events industry we are all used to last minute changes of plans, curve balls from left field, being agile enough to develop on the spot contingency plans and responding to situations in real time. However, when it comes to an “Act of God” it strikes fear in even the most experienced of us in the Events industry.

The weather is often cited as one of the biggest bug bears of Event Management, so last week when Storm Ali caused one of our clients Cruise Ships to detach from its moorings changing the transport plans for a 400 plus tour group, it was no surprise when they turned to us for help. Dusting off our secondary and tertiary contingency plans we swung into full crisis management mode to help minimise disruption for the effected tour groups. Faced with now having hundreds of people to transport, we had to act fast. To say it was a challenge was an understatement. With the rail network across Scotland significantly impacted due to the severe weather, there was huge demand for Rail Replacement transport, meaning available resources were limited and costs were high!

Fortunately, as one of the UK’s leading transport providers we were able to secure access to vehicles, suppliers and network information quickly, cost effectively and efficiently. What’s more with our regional control rooms we were able to be responsive and reactive throughout the day, changing plans on several occasions to accommodate the circumstances as they arose.

Hours of hard work and dedication from our highly experienced planning team allowed us to provide our client with an alternative transport solution which minimised disruption for their tour groups. Working with Event Connect has lots of advantages and having access to our transport management team and 24-hour control room is only one them. So, although most were left slightly broken and battered by Storm Ali – it was all in a day’s work for the Event Connect team!

If you’re looking for a supplier or management group to help with your transport, get in touch with our team today to see how we can help you.

Tags: Transport Supplier , Cruise travel, Tourism Transport Supplier, Crisis Management

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