Courier expands to beat the recession

A WARRINGTON courier company has diversified in a bid to protect itself from the recession.

The Today Team, which specialises in same day deliveries, has seen turnover grow to £350,000 since it was set up four years ago by friends Jamie Boyd and Jon Woodall with a £3,000 Prince’s Trust grant.

But the downturn has hit courier and haulage firms badly. Mr Boyd said it has dented sales at the business by 15-20% and they have been forced to cut costs.

Now they are starting an executive travel arm which they hope will give the business some protection from the downturn.

Mr Boyd said: “A lot have gone to the wall in our industry but we have not got to the stage where it’s a major problem. We wanted to set up a high-specification travel business and offer that to current customers doing things like golf days and private hire.

“We’ll start from the ground up, learn how the business works and hopefully get to a situation where we can manage other drivers.”

He added: “The last time there was a recession we were at primary school so it’s totally unknown.”

The Today Team uses a network of freelance drivers to offer a nationwide express delivery service. Its clients include Manchester United FC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and ITN. In the past it has been asked to deliver unusual loads including a pork pie wedding cake and Ferrari hubcaps for a Premiership footballer engraved with his and his fiancee’s initials.