Meet U-Drive Directors, Richard Sutton and Mark Hamblin:
How long have you worked for U-Drive?
Richard: 36 years
Mark: 34 years (full time)
Tell us about your career progression within U-Drive.
Richard: I had known Dave Hamblin for about a year before I was first recruited to U-Drive in February 1988. I started as a rental agent and I joined the team of Dave H, Dave S, Gerry and Nick. We had approximately 30-35 vehicles at that time.
As a rental agent, I took inbound calls, cleaned vehicles, checked them in manually, checked them out manually, took cash, cheque, debit and credit card, using a card imprinter, delivered and collected vehicles, and helped in the workshop when heavy lifting was required or a tyre needed changing. I was employed to work Monday-Saturday, 49½ hours a week, but the reality was more an average of 55 hours a week, including Sundays.
As the company grew and new team members joined, I took on additional work to that of a Rental Agent, which included managing the purchase ledger, weekly payroll (manually using tables) and insurance claims. Over time, I was promoted from Rental Agent to Branch Manager to General Manager and finally, in 2022, I was invited to be a Director of U-Drive Ltd, as well as a Director of U-Lease Ltd and Parallel Insurance Service Limited, which form the U-Drive group.
I have literally - at some point in my time with U-Drive - lived in everyone's shoes and undertaken every role.
Mark: Prior to working full-time at U-Drive, I worked part-time from the age of about 14 running the office in Wareham on a Saturday, which included cleaning the vehicles, answering the phones, signing up the customers etc. After leaving school, I got a job in a bank, which was great, but I continued to work at U-Drive on weekends and late afternoons and also had a job in a pub in the evenings.
Twelve months later, I joined the Parkstone office in a full-time Customer Service role. I quickly got involved in selling the used vehicles and, very soon after that, I became involved in the purchasing of new ones. It was all 1's and 2's for a few years, but in around 1995 we started buying 5 or 10 at a time, and by 2000 we would be buying and selling 10's and 20's and even 30's at a time. As well as purchasing, I also looked after the advertising for the Yellow Pages and Thompson Local directories, sign-writing and ply lining of all the vehicles etc. This was on top of still working on the front desk, particularly at busy periods.
It wasn't unusual to be working 7 days a week 10-12 hours a day, as we would all be delivering vehicles until late. We did what we had to do to make the business grow, and we all enjoyed working as a team and having fun whilst doing it. Fortunately, we don't have to be quite so hands-on with all the aspects of the job anymore, as we have built a great team of people in the business.
What do you like most about being the Directors for U-Drive?
Richard: As a Director, I really value the trust placed in me by the owners of the U-Drive and I take pride in upholding the core values that founded the business. I also enjoy being able to make positive improvements, which hopefully all of the teams have benefited from at some point.
Being able to pass on my experience, seeing young people join the company and being able to provide encouragement and support where they can grow into the business it also a key highlight for me.
I feel very proud seeing the business continue to grow on a day-to-day basis, and one of the best parts of my role is working with great people at U-Drive.
Mark: The feeling of accomplishment - that I've helped to get the company from where it was, when I started, to where it is today. I love the fact that the ideas to move the company forward come from everybody in the business and we get to help push the business on.
Above all, I most enjoy working with the teams in U-Drive. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we have the best team we have ever had! Everybody is pulling together like never before and it's great to see. I'm looking forward to the next 10 years and to see how far we can all go in that time.
