60 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
MARCH 2009 THERE’S EXPANSION, AND THERE’S EXPANSION... CRESTA CARS IN MANCHESTER KNOWS A BIT ABOUT THAT!
Over the years we’ve profiled a good many taxi and private hire firms with a long histo- ry... believe it or not, there are more of those about than your fly-by- night merchants, and we tend to only feature and talk to the good guys - as we said recently. However, we would have thought that there are not that many firms in our trade which have expanded nearly sixty- fold during their existence. Enter Cresta Cars of Manchester, who opened their doors some 36 years ago with half a dozen vehicles on the fleet. Today, through a com- bination of shrewd acquisitions and merg- ers, a solid boost from improved technology, and some extremely hard graft, Cresta’s
ally and regularly. Their booking records show- ing on average some 30,000 bookings per week testify to this fact. Around ten per cent of that volume of trade is account work, covering school and Social Serv- ices contracts, and a lot of NHS hospital work. So with this diverse amount of journeys going on in total and for different types of cus- tomer, the fleet consists of all manner of vehi- cles: saloons, estates, MPVs and minibuses, the lot. The majority of the fleet, some 70 per cent, is owner/driver, and a small number is owned by the company. However, interestingly the balance of the fleet consists of smaller fleets, some 15 to 35 cars in size, which have been included into the business.
which can help Cresta achieve their goals. “The booking is light- ning fast, which it needs to be to handle our high volume of jobs. A job is booked and dispatched with a few seconds. “We have installed some advanced fea- tures including IVR, e-booking and SMS text booking. This is to improve our service to our customers and also enables us to take more bookings so the drivers are happy with that. “We have installed the Sigma data terminal because we know it is very reliable and robust. Our drivers are very impressed with the Sigma as it is very easy to use and has a colour touch screen. Overall they love it. “We are absolutely
some 28 ‘agents’ who cover telephonist and dispatch duties in rota. And of course full cred- it is given to all the drivers, who have adapted very well to the introduction of the Autocab system and get on well with the Sigma data terminal units.
As for the thorny ques- tion of how Cresta Cars gets on with their licensing authority, Brett Palin has one or two things to say on the subject... in his opinion Manchester City Coun- cil has an attitude problem. How do you mean? “My only bug- bear is their attitude towards the taxi trade,” Brett says, “in that they tend to think that pri- vate hire has always been a licence to print money. They do not realise the hard work involved in this type of business. “For example, they seem to inflict very severe penalties for the most minor infringe- ments of licence holders. They tend to put a driver out of work if there is the slightest gap in their applica- tion/renewal process, or a delay because of
the CRB - which in some cases amounts to months. Why can’t they issue a temporary licence to bridge the gap?” This strikes us as a reasonable question, as a good many local authorities do just that: issue temporary licences whilst other elements of the licence application are being processed.
Another example: “If a vehicle fails a re-test on a bulb or something else minor, why should that vehicle be made to go through the full test again? It all seems so over-the-top to me,” Brett continues. Again, a reasonable question about reasonableness on the part of the coun- cil. Obviously in these recessionary times, a
A
more reasonable approach would be deemed to be helpful by the trade.
Overall though, Brett Palin is delighted with the company’s progress and is very positive about the future. The company has ambitions of becoming one of the biggest transport providers in the North West... and why not? Having initially embarked on this industry during a time when the private hire trade was only just being licensed, Cresta Cars have emerged as a definite market leader.
For them,
onwards and upwards is the only direction to consider.
fleet currently numbers 350. Now that’s some growth!
It would appear that a good many customers who need a PHV in and around the north and central Manchester area have Cresta’s number programmed into their landlines and mobiles. Cresta spe- cialises in this particular district, although they of course cover the entire greater Manchester area. Cer- tainly there are some extremely favourable comments logged on some of the websites that provide transport information in and around Manchester, from those who have used Cresta both casu-
HI TECH TIME
In recent months Cres- ta Cars have undergone their most dramatic expansion, which included the installation of the Auto- cab computerised booking and dispatch system from GPC. This coincided with a move to a brand new state of the art premises to deal with the increased busi- ness since the merger with Avenue Apple Cars, making them the biggest PHV firm in the Manchester area. According to director Brett Palin, their com- pany changed to the Autocab system because it is the only system on the market
delighted with every aspect of the Autocab system. We have received outstanding service from Autocab, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a booking and dispatch system. Obviously there has been a settling-in peri- od during the changeover and open- ing of the new premises, but that’s gone quite smoothly and the system is now bedding in.”
H R TIME
As always, we are quick to point out that it takes the right combination of people to run all this equipment, and ride herd on a fleet of this size. Directors Paul Meek and Brett Palin head a formidable team at Cresta’s new head- quarters, which includes a general manager, a company secretary, four accounts staff, and
CRESTA CARS MANCHESTER
Address:
Telephone: Email:
1 Knowsley Street, Cheetham Manchester M8 8QN
0161 817 6817
bookings@crestacars.co.uk
Year firm started: 1973 Number of vehicles: 350
Types of vehicle: 100 per cent private hire: Saloons, estates, MPVs, minibuses
Licensing authority: Manchester City Council Cost of -
Operator licence: £500 Driver’s licence: £100 Vehicle licence: £207
Radio rent fee: £95 plus VAT
Standard fares: £2.50/first mile, £1.80/mile thereafter
Booking system: Computerised - GPC Autocab Phone system: BT BCM50 Radio system:
Tait/Motorola
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
