Wow. It is five years since I last contributed to this chauffeur blog. In hindsight, it has taken five years to recover from the crisis that was Covid-19. We had plans to grow. Plans to diversify. Plans to chase something significant. They all went on hold while we dealt with an unprecedented situation in the travel industry. The new ‘ManchesterAirport Taxi Ltd’ never even received its first booking and DrivenByQ nosedived 90% in turnover.
I can still remember calling each member of our team and explaining the situation. We went with a strategy of last in, first out. It seemed only fair. This lasted three weeks until there was nobody left. It was then a fight for survival. Luckily, we had around £25k of outstanding payments owing to us and a looming VAT bill of another £10k. I personally took the option to defer the VAT payment. My reasoning: if we were going bust, what we owed out was irrelevant.
Ironically, by June 2020 we were cash rich. Outstanding payments were in, and we effectively recovered all our working capital. Deferring our VAT added to the capital amount and in addition, we received a £10k grant from the Government. The only caveat of the grant was that we had to (be a Limited Company and) close the business for three months. Luckily, one of our self-employed sub-contractors carried on working under his own licence. With the booking volume so low, he was able to satisfy the tiny demand our existing customers had.
The next lifeline was the furlough scheme. Thankfully, three of us received monthly financial support. The next step was enacting something I heard ten years earlier at a networking event. Someone I respected dearly highlighted the importance of contacting a finance company if there was ever an inability to pay them. I wrote to Mercedes Benz Finance and explained our situation. They were brilliant with us and they granted a three-month payment break on two vehicles.
Thankfully,
restrictions finally eased, and I was able to work again. Throughout Covid, airports surprisingly stayed open, and flights operated. The only trips allowed were essential ones. Like
engineers keeping factories open or senior directors making key decisions or
chemists keeping the world safe. With volumes low however, the flights were mostly
from London Heathrow Airport. Thankfully, two or three of those trips each week kept
DrivenByQ alive. It was eerie walking into Heathrow and being the only person
there. It was like an apocalypse!
