ONE YEAR OLD AND GETTING BIGGER
Just over a year ago Mr W. J. Gates Director of London Colney do-it-yourself business, branched out start up a van hire business.
Now his son 24-year-old Peter Gates runs a flourishing business for his father bill putting a new meaning into the initials DIY – drive it yourself.
Peter, an ex van driver has always preferred vans to cars
“We saw other businesses building up custom very quickly and wanted to try ourselves” he said “We started with one van and in a few months we had six”.
Now W. J. Gates (London Colney) Ltd have their own premises behind the shell garage in London Colney where Peter does the book work and most of the maintenance as well.
They supply 18 cwt, 25 cwt, and 35 cwt vehicles for private hire who wants a van for the day or two or contract hire to firms and businesses, for several weeks at a time.
They can provide third party insurance and the hiring rates include automatic membership of the RAC so that any breakdown anywhere in the country can be dealt with.
The firm have their own part time drivers and hirers can even take the vans onto the continent.
I think the business is reasonably comparable to established van hire firms, said Peter. “We claim to be cheaper, we’re open on Sundays and we give a more personal service.
“Running it all on a personal level, we know all the problems and how to deal with them and the business is getting bigger all the time”.
This piece was kindly donated to us by Tony Ward who recently went to a ‘London Colney Village History Exhibition’ thank you Tony for such a great cutting
