Mel Cooke and his team at Dolphin Travel outline to Andy Izatt how entrepreneurial thinking, loyalty and family values lie behind the firm’s continuing success
Not many Managing Directors have an office quite like Mel Cooke’s at Norwich-based Dolphin Travel. It’s an Aladdin’s cave crammed with mementos from his and the Cooke family’s past. Press a button below the moose head, a gift, that’s hanging on the wall, and it will sing for you while the way the skeleton standing by Mel’s desk is adorned is guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone entering the room.
Mel, the second generation of the Cooke family to run Dolphin, is very much a people person who appreciates loyalty and believes in the importance of family values. He’s also a shrewd entrepreneur to which the growth of the business under his leadership is testament. [wlm_nonmember][…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
Built by Kenny
Dolphin Autos (Norwich), which trades today as Dolphin Travel, was founded by Mel’s father Kenny Cooke in 1963. One of four children, when Kenny left school he became a Co-op butcher, but when wife Connie damaged the wheel arch of the car she was driving and he had to repair it himself, he discovered his true vocation.
Kenny rented his first yard in Raynham Street near the centre of Norwich in 1963, naming his new venture after a nearby pub. As well as undertaking car repairs, he sold second-hand parts and later, introduced car hire.
By the early 1970s the focus of the business had changed to operating taxis and running minibuses on special needs contracts for the local education department. The workshop was refocused on maintaining the in-house fleet rather than undertaking commercial repairs. Taking over Wells Taxis in Norwich and Beeline Taxis helped grow the operation and the Beeline name is still used today.
By 1987 a larger site was required so premises were acquired in Nelson Street only a short distance from Raynham Street. As well as a car showroom and a forecourt for selling petrol, there were around eight workshop bays to which another two would be added. Mel recalled it took six days to transfer everything that had been accumulated.
When the special needs schools that Dolphin had been serving received grants to buy their own minibuses, the minibus contracts the firm had been undertaking dried up, but Kenny was given the opportunity to tender for work using larger vehicles and he bought his first, a Plaxton-bodied Bedford at a local auction.
He was also told there would be work available for smaller 25-29-seat midis so he started buying those and opting for Mercedes-Benz vehicles helped open up private hire opportunities. “My Dad used to say, little ones will make you. Big one will break you,” observed Mel. “I’ve always remember that. Mid range earns the money.”
Kenny bought his first new full-size coach, a Plaxton Paramount 3500-bodied Volvo B10M in 1988. It was going to be used by another company on a Contiki contract and painted accordingly, but the deal fell through. Dolphin Operations Manager Nigel Kelly, who joined the company for the first time as a driver in 1991 after Kenny offered to put him through his PSV test, remembered it well. He took his test in the coach which went on to work a full life with Dolphin.
General Manager Harry Martin recalled how, not long after the Volvo B10M arrived, it went up to Lockerbie to collect local residents traumatised by the Pan Am plane crash and took them to a Norfolk hotel owned by Kenny’s brother for a break.
“Kenny was a close friend of mine,” explained Harry. “I was with him from the start. I used to take Mel to school. When I got married I left to do other things, later running my own haulage company, but we kept in touch. When a local insurance company contacted me about staff transport, I put Kenny on to it and got more involved again after he wanted some advice over the introduction of tachographs in minibuses.”
As well as the B10M, Kenny bought new mini and midi coaches over the years. Probably one of the most notable was a Euro Coach Builders EX33-bodied Mercedes-Benz Vario that was initially used on a contract for Norwich Prison and remains in the fleet.
A new addition that didn’t last was a stretched limo that could seat up to 15 on bench seats. When the city council said only a maximum of eight could be carried, it became uneconomic to operate and was sold after a year.
“We had that one big coach, but we mainly bought mini and midi vehicles,” said Mel. “We were doing all sorts of private hire. The fleet built up to 28 vehicles and then there were the private hire taxis as well. In those days there would be 15 out during the day and 20 on nights.”
Changing times
“It was in 2002 that Kenny came to me and said he’d had enough,” recalled Mel. “He must have been 64 by then and had worked hard all his life. When I was young I didn’t see him much because he was always grafting. He did it for his family and that holds true for me today.
“I wasn’t sure I was ready to take over the business. I wanted to do some property development so we found a new yard to rent, the one we’re in now in Swanton Road. Again it’s not far from where we were before. We moved in 2004, and I started Nelson Street Properties to develop the old site where I put up 26 flats and 10 houses all of which I continue to own and rent.
“When I left school at 14, Kenny had put me straight into the workshop as a mechanic and when I was old enough, through all my driving tests. I enjoyed being one of the boys, but by 2004 the industry had become increasingly regulated and it just wasn’t the same. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I thought of the mechanics I’d worked with who had been loyal to Kenny and me over the years – people with families like my own and mortgages to pay. We had staff who had worked for us in Raynham Road as well as Nelson Street and that mattered. This is a family business and it was important to keep rolling with it.
“Kenny was ill with cancer for nearly three years before he passed away. By that point I wasn’t always telling him what I was doing because he wasn’t here a lot of the time, but he was still the governor. He brought me up to be respectful towards him and my elders and I think that’s the way it should be.
“I remember going to the hospital just before he died to tell him I’d won the contract from UEA (University of East Anglia). It was for three years with a one-year extension and we’ve been doing it now for 11 years. Our location means we can be on site in 20 minutes and that’s important if we’re to continue delivering the service expected.”
“The UEA contract is for at least five days a week and ties up an average of eight coaches at a time,” explained Harry. “It might be four or it could be 12 and we do a lot of other work for the university as well – all their sports travel and whatever the medical students want for example. It’s an important customer.”
“When I took full control of the business the fleet was just over 20 of which the majority were mini and midi coaches, many with personalised ‘KEN’ registration plates,” Mel continued. “There was just three full size coaches including a Setra S315 GT-HD and Mercedes-Benz Touro registered KAC1 for Kenneth Arthur Cooke. We still operate both of those. There would have been 15 private hire taxis on days and 17 on nights.
“Not long after Kenny died, I was approached by the owner of Horsford-based People Movers who wanted to sell. He had five Norfolk County Council school contracts – a type of work we didn’t do at the time – and operated a similar number of Bova Futuras as well as a Volvo. I bought him out and had the contracts reassigned.
“One of the Bovas was a 70-seater. What struck me was it was the same size coach, but able to carry an additional 20 children – two classes of 35. I’d not seen a vehicle configured like that before and it seemed like a real opportunity we could develop. That is how it has proved. Schools like booking 70-seaters for trips because it saves them the cost of a vehicle and we now have nine, all Bovas, some of which we’ve converted in-house.
“If I can get that number of seats in a coach, why would I buy a double-decker? I did have a Roe-bodied Leyland Olympian open-topper for three years that was used for weddings and proms or similar jobs, but it was very seasonal and because of its configuration, needed to be kept undercover.
“We run 22 Bovas now in a fleet that has grown to 56. Seating 49, 51, 53, 55 and 57 as well as 70, they account for nearly all our full-size coaches and the number we operate is a reflection of the growth in school contracts we undertake. One is a Magiq that is Euro V compliant and there are seven or eight that have been fitted with emissions abatement equipment so they can go into London, but after April when the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) is introduced we will have to put the extra cost of the charge onto the job. We have some customers that have already accepted that.
“I scour the internet for Bovas and, while corrosion can be an issue, particularly around the wheel arches, my workshop staff have become adept at dealing with that. Several have been given updated headlights and mirrors and I’ve also put private plates on some of them. Yes, the gearbox linkage means care has to be taken when changing gear, but the DAF engines go on forever.
“While contract work makes up the bulk of what we do, our midi size fleet continues to be used on a wide variety of private hires and we have vehicles with eight, 12, 14, 16, 29, 33, 35, 39 or 41 seats – anything a customer might need. Three operators within 20 miles of here have gone in recent months so the number of bookings is on the increase. Nigel is kept busy and having Coach Manager software enables him to schedule the fleet and drivers efficiently.
“With the growth in the fleet, I’ve also invested in workshop capacity. We didn’t have any workshop bays that were undercover, but now we have six – three for big coaches and three for 35-seaters or under. There’s also a spray booth where we can paint anything up to a small coach, a two-bay car MOT centre for our taxis and outside work and a taxi workshop. With 23 private hire cars out during the day now and 27 at night, 16 hackney carriages and the coach fleet, we need that maintenance capacity.
“Trying to do everything in-house included converting our DAF CF recovery truck and DAF LF tilt and slide low-loader. We can’t do all of that if we haven’t got good people working here. While the taxi drivers are self-employed, we still employ more than 50 staff. I always think, the more you put into your people, the more you get back from them and ever since I took over, that has been my approach. My door is always open to anyone who wants to have a chat. I will always do what I can to help.”
Andy Marrison is one of Dolphin’s numerous longer serving staff – a driver with 19 years service – and he highlighted how the business had grown since Mel took over. “When I first came there was a regular workforce, but that has increased tenfold,” he observed. “I get on really well with the family. They’re good people to work for. They look after people and I wouldn’t stay if I wasn’t happy.”
Said Mel: “Before I employ a coach driver I get them to show me how they would do a 15-minute walk round check. They then go out with one of my more experienced drivers. They could be transporting up to 70 school children so knowing they meet our standards is vital. They’ve also got to be able to work within the realms of a family business. We expect them to look after us like we look after them.”
Next generation
“I want to develop what we do during the summer school holiday period when the full-size coaches are sitting here day after day,” said Mel. “That’s why we introduced an excursion programme last year which we advertised on the website, in the local press and through leaflet drops. It’s days out with fish and chips to Cromer, Great Yarmouth and Hunstanton – that sort of thing – and to places like Cambridge.
There were reduced rates for mums with two kids and we tried to provide a door to door service. We’ll be doing it all again this summer.
“I’m custodian of a family firm that my father started more than 55 years because it matters, not just for the people who work here, but for my children as well. My daughter Megan came straight from school into the business – the best university of life there is. She’s been here a few months and I refer to her whenever I can now. She worked hard on developing the excursion programme.”
Said Megan: “I’ve got my Transport Manager’s CPC and passed my D1 driving test last year. I’d like to do the full PCV just so I’ve got it. Over the last six months I’ve started doing the wages and become more involved in the accounts, but there’s still a lot for me to learn.”
Continued Mel: “My son Perry has his singing career and wants to go to the Brit School in the autumn. He started singing when his grandfather passed away and he has raised £30,000 for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals cancer charity through doing that. We raise money for several charities. A hare sculpture we covered in 50p pieces for Break which helps underprivileged children raised £22,500 at a charity auction.
“Perry is also continuing the family’s motor racing tradition. Kenny raced as did I. Perry started karting when he was eight and is now driving a National Hotrod Vauxhall Tigra. He may well want to come into the business at a later date. He’ll get his driving licence in September and he might want to earn from hiring out our small fleet of ‘Funky Fun’ novelty vehicles. There’s a 1960s Mini Moke, a short Mini we converted, a pink Nissan Figaro and our VW Shortie van that can take three passengers. We’ve just added a Mini with a rollaway bed inside and trailer with a kitchenette.
“I have another daughter, Laura, who won’t be coming into the business. She’s a gymnast for England and is going to Iowa in America for five years to pursue her career.”
Working as one
“Running Dolphin Travel can be very demanding seven days a week and without the support of my wife Deborah and children Megan, Laura and Perry it would be a much more difficult task,” said Mel. “I work very closely with Harry and Nigel, but there are others. Garry Turner is my overall yard foreman. He and I left school on the same day and we have been here ever since.
“My workshop general managers are Stuart Day and Michael Lemon while Andy Norton and good old Juggy (Melvyn Thomas) run the mini coach workshop. Sam Murphy is in charge of the car MOT bay while Kevin Skinner is our taxi mechanic and Stanislav (Stan) Andreev our breakdown/recovery engineer. They’re all good people.
“When I was debating how to take the family business forward all those years ago, a key consideration was whether I’d enjoy running it. Of course there are good days and bad days, but everyone here is striving for one thing – to keep on going. I’m now thinking about my retirement in a few years. By that time I should be able to hand the business over to Megan and we’ll take it from there. We’ll see where the journey takes us.”
[/wlm_ismember]