Raw 03 - November 2008 - (Page 51)

FLIGHTS CHAUFFEUR RAW call? What if that company could provide that service for any number of people? What if that company could provide different levels of service from a Ford Mondeo to Mercedes S Class, from MPV to Double Deck coach? What if that company had regularly assessed drivers who are able to take advantage of in house training schemes leading to an Institute of Advanced Motorist qualification? What if that company could provide all the transport, logistics and planning for a major conference, exhibition or event? But then again, if such a company did exist, they would be expensive – wouldn’t they? Well I can give you some good news. Such a company does exist, and offers a range of services that ticks all the boxes above and is also cost effective. That company is Flights Chauffeur Drive, which is part of a group headed by Hallmark Executive Travel Services. The group consists of 3 companies, the third being Chauffeurline Services. With the Group Head office based in Luton, the Hallmark Group owns a fleet of well over 200 cars, made up predominantly of Mercedes Benz cars and MPV’s, that are based at or near the UK’s 13 major Airports, including Edinburgh and Glasgow. All of the companies drivers have regular driving assessments, undergo in house training programmes and are employed Flights Chauffeur Drive – the Baby of the group being the latest acquisition of the Hallmark Group, specialises not only in the provision of Aviation services, but also corporate chauffeurs and event logistics. The term used by Flights for this 21st Century business, is ‘Business Car Services’ as they tend not to use the word ‘Chauffeur’ as this conjures up £££’s sign in the mind of the prospective clients, however other than the fact that the drivers don’t wear hats, the service provided is what you would expect from such a business, and they provide regular services to some well known corporate entities for their Chairman, Chief Executives, Managing Directors, Management personnel and visitors. Operating Volvo, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen fleet, all of their fleet are equipped with tracking to give optimum vehicle management, and client peace of mind. In terms of event logistics planning, Flights have within their management team specialists in this field, who have a wealth of experience in organising transport for events of all sizes from a small 30 delegate corporate sales visit to major events such as the Ryder Cup. Within Group and service partner companies, Flights have access to large numbers of Coaches and Buses situations, and the cost could be less than you think. For example recently a company has started using Flights to provide services for staff and engineers returning to the UK from the United States. Historically the company concerned would arrange hire cars for these employees to drive themselves home which in many cases was over 100 miles from the arrival Airport. One particular morning, one of the returning employees while driving his hire car home after a bad flight became quite ill through exhaustion, and was unable to continue the journey home from the service area where thankfully he had the sense to stop before becoming involved in what could have been a fatal motorway accident. The stark realisation of the MD of the company, that he could potentially have been in court facing a charge of Corporate Manslaughter led the business concerned to enquire with Flights about the cost of providing this transport. As a result we now provide this for all their staff returning to the UK on long haul flights, and the cost is not much more than the 1 way hire charge that they used to pay the rental company, however the peace of mind more than justifies the additional cost. So in summary, ‘What if ’ a company existed that could supply all the ground transport needs of your business with 1 call? Would by the group as opposed to being self employed which is prevalent in this industry. With the parent Company established for over 35 years, all 3 companies in the Group now provide time critical transport to many well known clients, including 12 of the UK’s largest Airlines, who use their services to transfer operating crews throughout the UK. While quite rightly they are not able to divulge who their clients are, suffice to say that the majority of the Airlines you can think of are contracted to one of the Hallmark Group companies for the provision of crew transfer services on a National basis. throughout the UK, and regularly arrange the transportation of large numbers of visitors for sales and other incentive corporate events. This all sounds too good to be true, so what about costs? You would be surprised, as quite often the cost for an Airport transfer is comparable to your local taxi company, and in some cases less! Given the assured service standards that go with Flights vast experience, for any corporate entity who are VAT registered, then the cost of services provided by Flights are generally very cost effective. Add to this your responsibility as an employer to provide transport in certain it make sense for you use them? Not sure, then it must be worth sending an email to sales@flightscdl.co.uk or making a call to Flights Chauffeur Drive on 0845 00 66 747, where they will do their best to service your passenger transfer needs in a competent and cost effective manner. How do I know, easy – I am Roger Frazer – the Managing Director of Flights Chauffeur Drive. millionimpossible.com 51 http://www.millionimpossible.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Raw 03 - November 2008

Raw 03 - November 2008 Contents Bradley Chapman Rachael Elnaugh Linda Klassen-Brown Heidi Weir Mark Asquith Emma Thompson Chris Wright

Raw 03 - November 2008

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