South West Minibuses is a well-known independent operator that knows the minibus market inside out. Richard Sharman visited its Bristol depot to find how this success story came about and what the future holds
The coach and bus industry has many operators that offer a full range of vehicle sizes for private hire, but for Jay and his two brothers, Sham and Nav, the minibus is king. South West Minibuses was formed in 2005 with one Ford Transit. 15 years on and the company now operates 28 minibuses of varying sizes to cater for all private hire needs.
From humble beginnings
“I started South West Minibuses from scratch, but for me and my two brothers, Sham and Nav, buses are in the blood. My father used to own a coach company called Amber Coaches, along with nine taxi companies during his career in transport,” said Managing Director Jay Raja.
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“As kids, we would help wash the vehicles at the weekends… I remember we had a few LDV minibuses around then and we would really put the effort into making them look good. My father would then reward us with a day out or a takeaway meal – it was a team effort.
“By the time I had hit my teens, my father had left the industry and owned a nightclub. Even though we weren’t in the industry anymore, transport was still in my blood, so I became a taxi driver. I was very young at the time and after many hectic Saturday nights I decided that moving people was still what I wanted to do, but on a much bigger scale.
“I initially thought about six or eight-seaters, but my father said, ‘why don’t you just go for a minibus with 16 seats?’ He had all the knowledge of how to set an operation up, so I gave it some thought and approached a few taxi companies to see if they were interested in working together.
“One operator, Streamline Taxis, agreed and that was really the beginning of things in terms of minibuses. My first 16-seater Ford Transit was only a few years old at the time of purchase and I took out a £10,000 loan to get it. For the first few weeks I just did taxi work with it, but as time went on word spread and things got busy.
“By this point, I had decided that I wanted to have my own brand and operation, so I came up with the name South West Minibuses. This was around the time that the internet was starting to come into its own, although other local operators were not so quick to take advantage of it. So my fleet name had large green letters on a white livery with ‘.co.uk’ on the end.
“My brother, Nav, initially designed a website for me; it was not great but it was an online presence. Many fellow operators in the Bristol area were not yet online, so after a while, I went all out and paid for a professional website to be designed. I knew that I had the get the company’s name out there. I designed flyers and business cards to get the word out in the Bristol area. Although my ethos has always been that I do not want to poach other operators’ work – I have always got on with other operators in Bristol, and I consider us to be friends – the flyers and business cards worked and things were getting very busy. A few years in I needed someone else to help drive; my father would help at times, but at this stage I needed someone full time and that was to be Nav.
“Nav left his normal job and joined me. By this time I had enough money to go out and buy an LDV minibus for him to use. So once Nav had joined there were three of us.
“This led to the purchase of a Caetano Optimo, which used a bulletproof Toyota engine, although we picked this one up in a cold and dark Glasgow. We drove it back, but anything over 50mph it would overheat – that was a long drive home!
“I got it straight into a workshop and it turned out it was just a blocked radiator. Once that was sorted it was a solid, reliable little mini-coach. In those early days of operation, my father’s knowledge of the industry was a great help in getting set up and between myself, Nav, Sham and my father we have built the success story you see today.”
Trying full-size coaches
“By the time we got to 15 smaller vehicles in the fleet, we thought that we would give larger coaches a go. Eight years ago we moved to a larger yard, which allowed us to purchase two identical Mercedes-Benz Touro coaches from Plaxton bus and coach sales. These were 53 and 04 plates.
“I learned very quickly that a minibus company cannot be a coach company and vice versa – it is two totally different businesses. The setup, pricing structure and drivers’ and fitters’ mindsets are different. A minibus may do four or five jobs of different lengths in a day, which is harder for a coach to do.
“We operated the pair for three years. We did well with them and they were always out on the road, but there are many coach operators in the Bristol area. We decided that we wanted to concentrate on minibus operations and let the coach companies do their thing.
“We sold the pair and purchased two 33-seater Mercedes-Benz Ategos instead. These did wonders for us and I am glad we took that decision.”
Safety is paramount
“We have been in our current yard for eight years now; it is an old scaffolders’ yard and had been empty for a number of years. The yard came with a good-sized office block and a workshop, which we modified for the fleet. We have invested in two sets of reamers, a four-post lift and roller brake tester last year.
“We got fed up with taking vehicles to a third party for brake testing. The time and the cost of going elsewhere was just too much, so we had a new brake roller tester fitted.
“I am someone that is all about the safety of our customers… every vehicle goes on the rollers when serviced and after any work has been undertaken on the brake system,” explained Jay.
“We have two engineers, but I am also a qualified engineer by trade, as is our Operations Manager, Kevin Dowd. So we are also happy to help or stand in if need be.
“Compliance is something which we take extremely seriously, which is why we use TruTac products for tachograph and driver card analysis and TomTom mixed telematics. We are currently looking at options for vehicle CCTV.
“Additionally, our 35 full and part-time driving staff are put through their Driver CPC training by my brother, Sham.
“Next on our agenda is looking at getting Earned Recognition from the DVSA; everything we do is geared around safety and compliance.”
South West Coach and Commercials
“Around a year ago we started up a new venture called South West Coach and Commercials. We buy vehicles from other operators, do the bodywork and put them through a fresh MOT.
“This work is all done in our spare time. We may not turn a vehicle around for three months sometimes, but it is always completed to a very high standard.
“We now have an additional yard that we can use for vehicle storage. This a large open space, so we have plenty of opportunity to expand the sales side.”
The latest vehicles and the Bristol ULEZ
“We have an operator’s licence for 30 vehicles in total and currently operate 28, but we are currently in a transition period.
“We have five new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 516CDI extra-long wheelbase minibuses on order from DCV, who also extend them further. We were very impressed with the DCV product and what it has to offer. We have ordered 19-seaters plus a courier; they have a large boot which will be ideal for the airport runs we regularly undertake.
“Four will be ready for service on 1 March on 20 registration plates, and the fifth will arrive in June. We own a large number of select registration plates, but our policy is to keep the original registration mark from new for three years, then change them to select registrations.
“I want our customers to see that we are always investing in our fleet, and Bristol deserves some quality – that’s what our brand brings. All our vehicles are fitted with leather seats, air-conditioning and USB ports as standard. Our customers’ comfort is important to us.
“We want to operate the greenest vehicle possible. We have had a strategy since Euro VI came in that we would convert the fleet as soon as possible. We made a huge investment in vehicles last year, buying five new Noone-bodied Ivecos along with four Mercedes-Benz Atego-based mini-coaches. The order from DCV will make our private hire fleet fully Euro VI once these vehicles arrive, ahead of the Bristol ULEZ coming in.
“We have experimented with various vehicle types over the years, from the BMC Nifty to the recent Ivecos, but we always go back to Mercedes-Benz. We have now decided that all future purchases will be with them.”
The personal touch
“Our operating area is Bristol, Bath and as far as Yeovil. We have a good customer base and carry out all kinds of private hire work.
“We do a lot of hen and stag dos, airport runs play a big part in the operation and we also do a lot of work with celebrities.
“I have always priced all our private hire jobs personally, although my brothers are also trained in pricing. Even when I am out of the country I am dealing with quotes… it’s what I do, and it ensures consistency.
“When it comes to busy times, as a management team, myself, Kev, Nav and Sham all go driving. It’s like a therapy when you are in the office all the time,” laughed Jay.
“I have got a good team around me, and that is why we succeed. The knowledge my father has passed on to myself and my brothers has also been invaluable over the years.”
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