Your Total Guide To Business

My Strategy For Surviving Coronavirus

By Laura Woodward of Parkway Taxis in East Devon. A small family run business it was taken on by Laura's husband Richard in 2006. Richard's son Joe also works within the business. Their aim is to to become the ‘go-to’ taxi firm in and around Mid-Devon. Every day they aim to deliver the best possible service not only to visitors to Devon but also the local community.

When did you realise the Coronavirus could be a problem for you and your business?

From March it became very clear. Since then corona virus has impacted us in a huge way but I am proud of how we are weathering the storm. On the negative side, weddings, parties, social engagements etc were all cancelled. This has had a negative impact on our cash flow as our bookings plummeted almost overnight.

What has been your plan to continue?

A proportion of our work comes from Devon County Council and as such we have still been operating as key workers we have been able to provide essential transport: predominantly this has been taking patients to and from either RD&E (Wonford & Heavitree) or Honiton Hospital for non-emergency, regular treatment such as renal dialysis, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

All of our staff are employed and as such they have contracted hours, so in order to keep paying them their contracted hours during this pandemic, the regular hospital runs are shared out and each driver covers set runs each day. This is what sets us apart from the 'norm', as a lot of people in the taxi industry are self-employed.

Have you changed your business as the weeks are passing?

The fact that we 'have' to be out, to me, meant that if we're going to be out there we may as well be doing something useful. Having passengers who are patients and in some cases elderly, or vulnerable, or both for that matter, meant that we wanted to get in touch with them and any other members of the community who might be struggling, to see if and how we could help.

We put some posts across our social media channels urging people to stay home and let us be the ones who go out. Off the back of that, we were contacted by quite a few people in the local community to buy their essential groceries and deliver them to their door.

I am so proud of the drivers taking this in their stride; queuing up outside stores in all weathers to lend a helping hand. We have also been contacted by the families of local residents, but who live far away. Using a combination of phone calls, WhatsApps, emails and texts, we were able to do shopping for their loved ones and deliver it, eliminating the stress of 'how are we going to get food to them?' and not having to worry about them being out in the public when they really shouldn't be.

With delivery slots at supermarkets being few and far between, with sometimes weeks before you can get a slot, we knew we had to do something.

What have you seen which is positive in business?

Businesses where the owners are helping others even if their own cash flow has been affected. We're thrilled to do our bit and we believe it's the right thing to do. There are many small businesses doing similar things.

What advice would you give to others in business?

Be more than your business. Work on the business and keep in touch with your clients, suppliers and also any staff you have on furlough.

Your parting thoughts?

Every day we aim to deliver the best possible service not only to visitors to Devon but also the local community. With the progression we’ve achieved so far we are hopeful that once this terrible virus is brought under control we will be in a position to bring in more excellent career opportunities to the Mid-Devon area when we are able to grow further.

We wish to thank our special team - Geoff, Margaret (Magz), Justin and Campbell. A small, but perfectly formed team of hard working individuals who enjoy going above and beyond in their day to day work. I am immensely proud of them and hope as their manager I am doing enough to show this. I also have an office manager (Kayleigh) who is on maternity Leave at the moment, as well as two controllers: Shelley and Melanie who we furloughed in March. Thank you to all of them.

For more information visit www.parkwaytaxis.com

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