Driver Hire Grimsby double win: Community Award and Business Woman of the Year

Driver Hire Grimsby picked up two awards at The Northern Lincolnshire Business Awards, winning a Community Award whilst Franchisee, Jayne Anne O’Flynn was also crowned ‘Business Woman of the Year’.

Franchisees Michael and Jayne Anne O’Flynn – owners of Driver Hire Grimsby and Scunthorpe have won the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce ‘Excellence in the Community’ Business Award.

This is the third year that Driver Hire Grimsby and Scunthorpe have been nominated for the Community Award, and Michael and Jayne Anne attracted the judges’ attention again because of their ongoing commitment to the community in which they operate. Since taking over the Driver Hire business in 2016, Michael and Jayne Anne have organised a number of prestigious fund-raisers and sponsored community events.

In the first two years from 2016 to 2018, the couple raised just under £20,000 for ‘When you wish upon a Star’, as well as monies for Community Linkage, Cash for Kids, Havelock Academy Sunflower Children, and local Grimsby lady, Jayne Elizabeth Cadey, an MS sufferer who after a fall in 2018 found herself isolated in bed unable to move. Thanks to their fundraising of £22,000, Jayne Elizabeth received private physiotherapy, and has recovered mobility. In 2019, they introduced a new initiative to support the two local Hospices, St Andrew’s Hospice in Grimsby and Lindsey Lodge in Scunthorpe. For every shift their drivers work, Driver Hire Grimsby donates 25p to the hospices to be distributed evenly between the two organisations.

Commenting on their Community Award win, Michael said: “It is such an honour to be nominated let alone win an award like this. We are really pleased to have supported our community through our business efforts.”

This was the first of two awards that Driver Hire Grimsby won on the night as it was also revealed Jayne O’Flynn had won the ‘Tilletts Business Woman of the Year’ Award.

Attracting the judges attention again, they found that “Jayne was keen to demonstrate through her Award that ‘women of a certain age’ can buy their own business. Her mantra is ‘never stop believing in yourself – whatever age you are!’”

Jayne moved from London to North East Lincolnshire in 2015 to buy a business and Driver Hire seemed the right choice being a local business with a national reputation. Jayne has led the strategic position of the business to achieve increased turnover and clients, with the judging panel adding that Jayne is a “determined business woman with a great outlook to life!”

Reflecting on the Awards, the judging panel said that Michael and Jayne are, “a truly remarkable couple who put the community at the heart of their activities.”

The Northern Lincolnshire Business Awards event was postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The winners were finally unveiled in an online event on Thursday evening, 22 April 2021.