It’s been another outstanding year for our franchisees at Driver Hire. Nearly half of them are celebrating an annual turnover in excess of £1m.

For the Driver Hire network this has resulted in another successful record year – our fourth in succession. Network turnover for the financial year ended March 2017 was £100.5m – the first time it has exceeded the £100m turnover mark.

Our franchised network also continues to expand with an ongoing high demand for our franchise opportunities across the UK. During the past financial year, we received over a thousand enquiries from would-be franchisees. Recent franchise developments in the network include a new office opening in Manchester – there are now three offices based in the city. In addition, three new joint ventures were announced recently – in Liverpool, Doncaster and Maidstone/Medway.

An established franchised business, we are now in our 33rd year of trading, as the UK’s largest specialist supplier of staff to the road transport & logistics industry. What’s more 2017 is the year we celebrate the 30^th anniversary of our first franchised office opening back in May 1987, in Newcastle.

Chris Chidley, Driver Hire’s Chief Executive, attributes the business’s outstanding performance to a number of factors: “First and foremost, Driver Hire franchisees continue to offer a business-critical, 24/7 service, that ensures our customers meet their delivery deadlines. The round-the-clock nature and reliability of the service we provide ensure that, not only do we retain customers; we’re doing more business with them. Our annual customer survey confirms this: 90% of respondents rated Driver Hire’s overall service as either good or excellent.

“And, of course, franchisees do much more than simply meet the temporary and permanent staffing needs of customers,” Chris continues. “Driver Hire also offers customers a range of innovative, added-value services, such as people management and training. This, combined with our quality first approach, is helping us to deliver year-on-year growth. The extra services are also an additional profit stream for franchisees. We’re looking forward to building on our success throughout the year ahead.”