TV stars taken for a ride by coach firm!

The stars of BBC One’s Big School, David Walliams, Phillip Glenister and Catherine Tate have all been taken for a ride by Long Marston Airfield based minibus business Masons. The firm has seen vehicle numbers reach top gear since taking on the job of transporting the stars of the prime time show.

Masons have also been used by the BBC for moving about crews working on the sets of EastEnders and Casualty as well as Comic Relief participants.

Joint partner Gillian Mason joked: “Our drivers are sworn to secrecy about future plot lines!”

She added: “We had done work for the BBC previously and they approached us to use our coaches for Big School.

“All the stars of the show are very nice people. Our driver said that they always have a laugh with him, and that they are such good fun”.

Gillian and her ex-husband Andrew Mason were handed the reigns by Andrew’s father George and his wife Pam who founded the company in the 1950s. She said: “They started running taxis around 65 years ago and moved onto doing school runs which was when George bought his first minibus.

“Andrew and I got involved building it up from there and we are joint partners – it just got bigger and bigger until we now have a fleet of six vehicles including the 25 seater Mercedes we use for transporting David Walliams and the others from Big School”.

She added it was ironic that during the Second World War Masons founder George once drove an American airman and his girlfriend to Ivinghoe Beacon, having picked the couple up from the aerodrome at Long Marston – which is the same spot where the company now operates from.

For more information see masonsminicoachhire.co.uk or email [email protected]

You can catch the final episode of Big School on BBC One tonight at 9pm.