"Where's Tha Bin?"
Often I have been asked what the longest journeys I have done with clients are. Until last autumn, I would have said going from our previous base in Royal Wootton Bassett to collect a client in Milton Keynes, travel to Harrogate and then bring them back to RWB. Also on the list would have been to collect clients from St Mawes near Truro and then travel to Barnsley near Cirencester.
But last autumn I had a job that took me to a little village called West Witton in North Yorkshire after meeting my clients off their 05:55am plane at Heathrow.
Here’s a little insight into a day in the life of a chauffeur…
That day for me started at 02:45 when my alarm went off leaving an hour as normal, for me to get up and get ready to leave our base at 03:45. One of the first things I do after the alarm goes off, is to check the flight online to see how it is tracking. As our clients were on a long haul, I checked before going to bed early the night before and the indication was then that they were in flight and on schedule.
When checking after waking again, the flight is running on time. Good to know.
I left for Heathrow at 03:45 and as expected, the M4 was pretty clear except for the usual flow of heavy duty trucks and the occasional taxis.
Arriving at Heathrow around 05:15, the first thing I did was set up the Sat-Nav for West Witton, and then go into the terminal to ‘check the score board’, as I call it.
Their flight was due to land at 06.11, so not far off the scheduled landing. I prepared my welcome SMS and headed straight back to the car. No request for a newspaper for our clients this time, from their response 2 days previously when I sent them an SMS confirming I’ll ‘be there’ for them.
My next task was to fully wax our big cat including the wheels, for that all important first impression, making her all sparkling once again for our clients, after the journey to Heathrow that morning.
Around 06:00, I headed back to the terminal, used the conveniences, and then checked the score board, and once the plane was landed, I sent our SMS message welcoming them back to the UK, confirming that I was there for them, with offers of hot drinks for their journey.
No need to stand in my position until the plane had reached ‘arrived’ status as it is then that it is parked up. Once they were through Security, I received an SMS at 06:55 with the request for 2 hot chocolates.
Greeting our clients with their names on an iPad, just after 07:00 fully uniformed, with a smile and their drinks, they came through to Arrivals and I helped them with their luggage. Off we went to the car and while they made themselves comfortable inside, I loaded the luggage in the boot.
In addition to the hot drinks, I gave them cooled bottled water, snacks and cables for phones, and once on our way, adjusted the air conditioning to their liking, letting them know that I only travel to the speed limit, when safe to do so, and should at any time they wish me to slow down, they only need to ask.
Occasionally, I checked that the air conditioning was to their liking, and only responded in conversation when they initiated - respecting their time to relax after the long haul flight. The sound system remained off and as is my norm, only goes on at the clients request.
Ahead of us was 250 miles and with one pit stop around 09:30 requested by them, we arrived at their destination around 12:30.
The overall fuel economy for that day so far was 52mpg before I headed back down South again, which included some Heathrow and M1 traffic, so I was quite pleased about that.
Thankfully Hannah had already booked me into The White Lion Inn, Skipton for lunch. It’s a lovely little pub in the Yorkshire Dales located by a quiet stream at the foot of a valley. Beautiful spot for lunch and a rest period. I fully recommend them.
I was due that same day to have a meeting with a HNW agent in central Manchester, this was arranged as I was practically passing their offices, so I started to head back down south and managed to get to the meeting around 17:30, after fighting through city traffic. Hannah managed to find me a great parking place and guided me there while I was on the phone with her hands free. It turned out to be a very useful meeting and a great connection made, which will hopefully bring more business our way on a referral basis in the coming year.
My return from Manchester, was much more leisurely in that I had no time constraints, so could take more breaks as I needed them and have the radio on so I arrived back at our base around 22:00.
Overall fuel economy that was for 625 miles that day, was 49mpg, which again, I was very pleased with for a 3ltr diesel, especially driving through both the Yorkshire Dales and Moors and Central Manchester at rush hour, not forgetting Heathrow mayhem to start with.
Yes it was a long, but productive day and at all times safety was my first priority.