Distinctive Systems

19/03/2026

All set up and ready to go at British Tourism & Travel Show.

Lewis and Christian will be on Stand E22, so pop over and see us.

27/11/2025

Sales Director Retires After 35 Years of Dedicated Service

After an incredible 35 years of commitment, hard work and passion our Sales Director, Andrew Fraser, is retiring at the end of the year. Throughout his distinguished career he has played a pivotal role in shaping our business and guided our team through decades of change and sustained growth.

His influence and dedication has left a lasting impact on the company and he will be greatly missed by the Distinctive Systems team and customers alike. As we celebrate his remarkable achievements, we extend our heartfelt thanks for his service and wish him all the very best in his well-earned retirement.

We are also pleased to announce that his successor will be a familiar face. Lewis Jacklin, an experienced member of our team for over 10 years, he will be stepping into the role as our new Sales Manager. His deep knowledge of the business and strong commitment to our values makes him the ideal person to continue moving the business forward.

Please join us in congratulating both of them, one on a well deserved retirement and the other on an exciting new chapter in his career.

https://www.distinctive-systems.com/news/sales-director-retires-after-35-years-of-dedicated-service

15/05/2025

Job Vacancy: Training & Support Specialist

We are seeking a full-time training and support specialist to join our team at our UK head office in York.

Learn more and apply here: https://www.distinctive-systems.com/news/job-vacancy-training-and-support-specialist-york

28/04/2025

We’ve a full range of training courses in May across all our systems:

🚍 Coach Manager
📦 Tour Booking System
🚌 Vehicle Maintenance System

Whether you're new to our software or want to sharpen your expertise, our courses are designed to help you get the most out of Distinctive Systems products.

Check out all available dates for May and book your place now at www.distinctive-systems.com/training

To help ensure clients get the maximum possible benefit from our systems, we hold regular training courses in our York offices. These are free of charge for all clients with a current subscription or software maintenance agreement. As an alternative to physically attending classroom courses, eligibl...

25/03/2025

We’ve just released the latest dates for our training courses, running through to the end of the year. Whether you prefer in-person sessions at our York training centre or an online course, we offer options to help you make the most of Distinctive Systems software.

For all available dates and booking details, visit https://www.distinctive-systems.com/training

17/03/2025

This week we will be exhibiting at British Tourism & Travel Show. If you are attending, come and visit us on stand C14 where we will be showing our Tour Booking System.

24/02/2025

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mike Whitehead, founder and Managing Director of Distinctive Systems Ltd, aged 74.

Here are a few words describing Mike's career in the industry...

Mike graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1974, which included a strong computing element. When the very earliest personal computers started to emerge in the late 1970s Mike took an immediate interest in them. His job at the time allowed him to spend a great deal of time exploring this exciting new technology and how it could be used to build genuinely useful real-world applications.

In 1980 Mike joined his family’s long established coach business. He hadn’t been there long when he decided there were major efficiencies to be had from computerising the management of both private hire and regular contract bookings. So he went out and bought a computer. For over a year he spent his evenings and weekends sitting at the dining room table writing software. Initially Mike had no thoughts of turning this into a separate business, but chatting to other operators at local association meetings, many were interested in what he was doing.

As the development of the software started to get close to completion, Mike began to believe it was a strong enough product to become the basis for a new venture. So he formed a company and named it Distinctive Systems. Mike travelled the country demonstrating the first ever Coach Manager to operators. He installed both hardware and software for them, trained them in how to use it and looked after them on the phone. Mike’s father ran the accounts and handled incoming enquiries. In the first year the company sold 23 systems.

In 1995, Distinctive Systems moved to its new purpose-built offices and continued to grow. Today its core products include Coach Manager along with the Tour Booking System and Vehicle Maintenance System. The company expanded into other territories, including the USA and Australia and the company Mike created now serves over 2,600 coach operators.

In 2022 Distinctive Systems celebrated its 40th birthday with a staff party where it was a great opportunity for everyone to reflect on what had been achieved. Mike built a successful team, recruiting people with coach industry expertise, some having worked for the company for over 35 years, along with strong development and IT staff. The entire team have made the company the success it is today.

We will all miss him very much.

21/03/2024

We had a great day exhibiting at British Tourism & Travel Show yesterday.

If you are attending today you can visit us on stand B4, just by the entrance.

17/05/2023

Our all new Driver App has now been released.

Functionality includes the ability for drivers to perform their daily walk-around checks and report any defects. For users of Coach Manager it also allows drivers to view a list of the bookings they have been allocated to, view the full details of each and be guided through each in driving mode.

For more information please visit https://www.distinctive-systems.com/driverapp

26/01/2023

We have a vacancy for an installation, training and support specialist.

For more information and to apply please visit https://www.distinctive-systems.com/news/job-vacancy-installation-training-and-support-specialist-york

03/11/2022

A successful 3 days at Euro Bus Expo, thanks to everyone who visited our stand.