It was set to be the big one, the English Defence League's setpiece demo in Bradford. The "we're not racist" rhetoric was wearing thin after the EDL had sieg-heiled around the UK for the past year. No one could be under any illusion about their intention to fuel a race war; flyers for the Bradford demo had gone out with the slogan 'burn baby burn' and previous EDL demonstrations in Dudley and Luton had ended in damage to Asian neighbourhoods. The people of Bradford braced themselves for the arrival of the fascist travelling circus.

In the midst of all this a handful of coach companies decided to make a fast buck. The following companies were seen ferrying the EDL's beer swilling, pot bellied coterie into their police pen...

Nationalist Express:

Andrews of Tideswell - www.andrews-of-tideswell.co.uk
Anchor Garage, Tideswell, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 8RB
Andrews is a member of Coach Tourism Council And the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT)

Ausden Clark - www.ausdenclark.co.uk
Dysart Way / Wanlip St, Leicester LE1 2JY
Ausden Clark is a member of the CPT and the official coach company for Leicester City Football Club

Airshuttle - www.airshuttlecoaches.co.uk
The Old Foundry, Tat Bank Road, Oldbury, West Midlands B69 4NB
Airshuttle is a member of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)

Watersons - www.watersonholidays.co.uk
21 Market Street, Hemsworth, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF9 4JY,
and 1 Station Lane, Featherstone, West Yorkshire WF7 5BE
and 68 Highfield Road, Hemsworth, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF9 4EA

Johnsons coaches have been seen providing transport for the EDL at several other events:

Johnsons Coaches, Liveridge House, Liveridge Hill, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire, West Mids, B95 5QS

One of the coach drivers, not too pleased with his allotted job, told journos in Bradford "I didn't expect a job like this when I came to work this morning. We're a five-star firm. We don't usually take scumbags like these."

The EDL amused themselves by yelling racist taunts (such as "Allah is a paedo") out of their pen and throwing cans of lager, rocks and smoke bombs at counter-demonstrators and curious bystanders. About 150 enterprising souls managed to climb out of the cordon (one breaking his leg in the process) into a neighbouring industrial estate. Happily, they were confronted and chased back to their waiting coaches by 300 anti-fascists.

A full analysis of the EDL's big flop can be read at www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/09/457997.html