Pelton, England, United Kingdom
Online sales of rail tickets and promotion of the rail network (and buses, where appropriate). This business sells via the Internet now that the Chester-le-Track operations at Chester-le-Street and Eaglescliffe have closed. Chester-le-Street succumbed to the lure on online booking, whilst Eaglescliffe is now run successfully by Grand Central using two of my former team.
Philanthropy through both the Company, established 1528, and the Clothworkers' Foundation, established 1977.
Livery Company in the City of London, supporting the textile industry and a philanthropic organisation making charitable grants across the UK. It was my pleasure to serve as Master of the Company for 2020/1, and am now First Warden supporting the new Master, Philip Portal.
I managed a small business which operated two railway stations in north east England, at Chester-le-Street (open 1999) and Eaglescliffe (open 2012). I use those stations as a platform - no pun intended - to go off and do other interesting work on retailing rail tickets and management of the railway in general. My background is in bus operations, and I have acted as a judge for UK Bus Awards, and am an active shareholder in major public transport plcs. Chester-le-Track launched the website www.nationalrail.com and employed eight staff, excluding myself. For years we sold tickets my telephone and posted them out, but new technologies made that business approach less attractive for all but our many older customers. After revenue went back to the level four years previously, I know this was not reversible and closed the business in March 2018, concentrating on online sales.
Tour operator established to provide packages including travel and accommodation, theatre tickets and attraction admissions throughout the UK and into France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. bought in hotels and coaches, and ran many mass transport operations using buses and coaches. MGT expanded into charter trains on the East Coast Main Line with Anglia Railways and GNER. Once Chester-le-Track was established in 1999 it became clear that the two businesses could not be easily managed together and it was sold to Durham City Coaches in October 1999.