Introduction
Back in 1984, Paul Thompson started his journey at London when Charles London, Lucas’s grandfather, was the boss of
Coach Hire London. As Operations Director, Paul took care of everything from making sure the vehicles were clean and ready to go, to planning fun holiday trips for customers. He’s seen it all at London’s, working with three generations of the London family—from Charles to his son and now with his grandson, Lucas. Paul’s job has kept him busy and has taken him through many changes as the company grew. His story at London shows how much he cares about the work and the people there, making sure everything runs smoothly every day.
In this blog, we’ll share more historical and mind blowing facts about Paul’s time at London’s. You’ll get to see how he and the team work every day to keep things moving, and how much history is packed into this place. It’s a look behind the scenes through the eyes of someone who has been here through it all.
Transition in Leadership
Sadly, Charles died, and Michael took the reins, so Michael was in charge for several years. I (the narrator) left the company then, and Harris and Dean acquired the company I worked for. I worked for Lucas for a little bit, then left, and then came back as his operations director. I have worked for all three generations. I believe there may only be one or two other people at London’s who have worked for all three generations. I started with Charles, went to Michael, and then went through Harris and Dean.
Growth and Expansion
From 2010 to today, I have driven Coach Hire London forward from 1 million turnover to 6 million. When I first arrived back here in 2010, we had 25 vehicles; we’re now running 75. Our holidays are for the niche market. We specialize in two-day breaks, London theaters, three-day breaks for themed hot-themed holidays, and five-day breaks, and continental. London’s is a brand that everybody knows and trusts. We’ve gone from the old style writing from London’s to the new style writing, but it’s still a brand that everybody knows for 100 years that they can trust.
Staff Retention and Contribution
We’ve got staff that’s been here like myself for 39 years, we’ve got staff that’s been here 25, 30 years, and we’ve got some staff that’s only been here three or four years. When people come to work for London city minibus hire, we don’t very often lose them. We do have a slight turnover of drivers, but any company has that. But normally, when people come to work for London, they like to stay with coach hire London, and they don’t move on.
Everybody that works for private minibus hire has a big part to play. The cleaner has to make sure the vehicles are clean before the vehicle goes out on the road. The engineer has to make sure it’s safe. My planners have to make sure they plan the duties correctly and the people who take the bookings right up to myself and Lucas, everybody plays a big part, no matter what role it is.
Vehicle Development Over the Years
Coaches have developed from 1984 when we used to have standard vehicles, bench seats, and wooden seats. Then when Michael took over, we used to get a bit of maquette and cushion on the seats. We used to have ashtrays in them, days so smoking was allowed. So in 39 years, we’ve gone from absolutely just sitting there to absolute comfort. One of the systems we put in is a tracking system.
Tracking and Maintenance
Coach Hire London can track our vehicles from the minute they leave the depot to wherever it finish. That could be in Brighton, Norwich, Leeds, it can also be south of Italy, it can be in Berlin, Greece, you name it we can look where it is. We can also look at how he got there, how long it took him to get there when he’s been harsh breaking when he’s been turning left too sharp, turning right too sharp. We can also monitor the carbon footprint off there CO2. We have a full maintenance system in place so all our vehicles are inspected every four weeks regardless. Every single defect is actioned, every single defect is monitored, and every single defect is cleared. No defect goes missing so that’s another system we’ve got in place.
Future Developments
We are now looking at CCTV in the vehicles that’s going to be the future. This will consist of all cameras around the outside, all cameras on the inside so accident damage on the outside, passenger damage, and the driver’s performance on the inside. We go anywhere in the country, we’ll go to Stanton Park, we’ll go to Everton Manor, Harwich, Brighton, and traditional places or we’ll do a London theatre break just for a day trip.
We’ll go out and see all our major clients individually. We will mix with our customers on interchange day down in our departure lounge. Within five years, I would see this business running 120 vehicles. We will definitely be the leading Coach hire in London on our holidays. We tend to always want to go that extra mile for all our customers. Now enjoy the comfort of extra leg room, we’ve got coffee facilities on board, we have hostesses on board, and that’s exactly what our customers, you know, expect from London’s.
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