From One to 71 Coachel
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n 15 Years
By JOHN MATTHEWS
CC E are really coach people and enjoy every minute of the work ", is how the Blundell partnership-42-year-old Wilf Blundell and his wife Hilda—describes part of the secrets of its success in building up, almost from scratch, a business which is now worth some 050,000. Added to this success formula is the fact that the Blundells have always been personally involved in the business and, not being used to having money, they plough all the profits back into the companies they own. They are the sole directors of an empire that extends to nine separately named businesses, with a fleet that will total 71 by the time the holiday season is fully under way.
Smiths Tours (Wigan) Ltd.; Blundell's Coaches (Southport) Ltd.; Pooles Coaches, of Banks; Tootals Tours of Skelmersdale, and Lawrensons Travel Ltd., of Bootle, are the cornerstones of their business.
Make Good or ...
Mr. Blundell was a butcher's assistant when he joined the forces; his wife stopped schooling in her early teens, gave a false age to jOin the forces and at 17 was driving three-tonners. When, in 1947, Mr. Blundell was demobbed, he was given a £150 disablement grant on the surprising condition that if he did not make good it would be taken back. He tried butchering again, found he could neither do the work nor keep a family on the wage, and so bought a nine-year-old car to run as a taxi. Out of experiences like the roof blowing off on the first hired• trip, the 1344 Blundells reached 1950 with a fleet of seven radio-controlled cars. Regular work taking children to school for Lancashire Education Committee prompted him to sell the business in 1950 and buy a 29-seater coach.
With no knowledge of coach operating or costing, he lost the schools contract immediately, but tendered correctly the following year and won it back. The loss of what was to have been the staple diet in that first year caused many anxious moments for what was known as Blundell's Garage. It was in 1951 that the one-coach concern Bundell's Coaches (Southport) Ltd., (no relation) was acquired. Both Mr. and Mrs. Blundell had passed their p.s.v. tests in 1950 and the business grew to three coaches in 1952, and to six in 1954; A year later Enterprise Tours of Southport Ltd., with three vehicles and three excursion and tours licences, was taken over. The Blundells give much credit for getting established in those early years to the fact that in three years of operations their first coach, a 29-seater Bedford-Duple Vista,..-cost only £3 12s. 6d. in maintenance—for a pump and new leads. In 1958, they made, their third buy, Poole Coaches of 'Banks. . This concern held two licences, so giving Wilf and Hilda Blundell (both of whom were driving vehicles) seven licences in Southport. By managing to get an office at the entrance to Southport pier, the plum spot for holiday traffic, business boomed.
December 1960, and Tootals Tours of Skelmersdale with three vehicles, two licences, and a valuable pit contract,
'ttrchased especially to carry the Liverpool football team to away ratches, this Leyland Leopard, fitted with a Plaxton Panorama body, seen outside the Blundell headquarters in Wigan. With tables and ocktail bar, and specially designed suspension, the coach is nrinently suitable for long high-speed motorway journeys.
joined the group. Since that time, Skelmersdale has been declared a new town site—an example of the business acumen that has spelt success for Mr. and Mrs. Blundell. Exactly one year later Lawrensons Coaches Ltd. of Bootk, Wrights Coaches of Bootle and Prefect Coaches of Liverpool, were acquired and the 20-vehicle fleet therein was renamed as the Liverpool-based group of Lawrensons Travel Ltd.
Latest Acquisition The Blundells' latest purchase was in May last year, when they bought the valuable 25-vehicle business of British and Continental Tours operated by Smiths Tours (Wigan) and Webster Bros. of Wigan. They were committed for the season by then and despite little knowledge of extended tour work overseas, the programme went ahead; now an enlarged range of tours, 34 at home and abroad, has resulted in bookings after three weeks being 1,000 up on the previous year's showing at the same date.
Mr. and Mrs. Blundell now lead businesses whose activities include a 14-day tour to Rome, a stage carriage service from St. Helens to the MuHard works at Southport, a daily express carriage service in the summer from Bolton to Llandudno, works contracts for several major concerns On Merseyside, which involves not only carrying workers to factories but carrying VIP visitors around the often extensive factory grounds, and the more usual round of private, social and sporting trips, The fleet of AEC, Bedford, Leyland, Col-rimer and Ford vehicles (of 29to 51-seat capacities) is based at three depots, Southport, Wigan and Bootle, where all engineering and coaehbuilding work, except upholstery, is carried out by eight workshop staff including a panel beater and painter. Only upholstery work is contracted out.
Total staff approaches 120. Smiths Tours office overlooking the busy market square at Wigan has become the head office of the organization, with Mr. Blundell based there, although much of his time is spent at their other offices. Mrs. Blundell is currently engaged in supervising all arrangements for the holiday tours.
Because some of the vehicle types used are dictated by customer demands, there are no plans to standardize the fleet. One of the latest additions is a Leyland Leopard which. under Lawrensons banner, is fitted especially to carry the Liverpool FC team. As befits league champions it is luxuriously appointed with television, bar, tables and reclining seats. Three new Bedford VALs have been delivered, out of a total order of nine which will join Smiths' fleet for touring in; Britain.
In the space of 15 years in the coach business, during which time two petrol stations have been acquired with other businesses and disposed of, this energetic partnership has reached commendable heights.
Success on Service ,
Their success has been built on service to the customer, with Mr. and Mrs. Blundell being personally involved with every trip. If one were forced to allocate spheres of "influence" it could be said that while Mr. Blundell is concerned with the operating efficiency of the vehicles, and still drives on occasions, Mrs. Blundell is intensely concerned with providing a high standard of friendly, service to customers and agents and with the cleanliness and appearance of vehicles and, indeed, of the staff in general. She is particularly modest about her own contribution to the business but her husband will hear none of it, stressing with pride that until four years ago, his wife ran the booking and allocation side of 20 coaches, single-handed.
What of the future? Mr. Blundell offers this comment on their chosen business: "You have either got to go up or down, you cannot stand stilt." Thus their immediate plans for the future include a year to consolidate their interests and then a breakthrough into new spheres next year.