Stay Home, Protect NHS, Save Lives

April 22, 2020 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

As we are sure you are all aware, we are unable to provide our chauffeur services currently as it is sadly impossible for us to observe the social distancing rules. Life is certainly very different to what it was at the beginning of the year!

What have we been doing?

Over the last month we have had numerous DIY projects ticked off the to-do list; finished building the greenhouse, hung the driveway gates (this means Clover, our dog, is able to roam freely in the garden safely kept away from the road), started growing fruits, vegetables and mountains of salad - although they are all rather small seeds at the moment. The garage is now fully organised and Dave has started to give our big cats a deep polish and wax.

Next up for us, is to start repairing our walls and decorating inside following the rewire that we had done earlier in the year.

**Clover has loved 'helping' us dig new borders - here she is making the potato bed!**

The government's help for small businesses sadly doesn't include us, so as we have no income coming in, Dave has had to diversify and recently started delivering parcels for Hermes. This was just a trial and we have found that using our big cat for this wasn't financially viable and too much risk to her, so we have decided to put the breaks on that idea for now.

**It was amazing how many parcels fo varying sizes and weights that could be fit into the car, even though the back seats were down. All the leathers were protected of course!**

Dave has been applying for numerous temporary jobs - supermarket delivery driver, keyworker positions and more to help tide us over until we can get back to normal. Hannah has also applied for lots of jobs, she is hoping to start a career in the care sector. Once the business is up and running again, she'll be able to keep working part time in our business.

How have you been coping with the huge change in circumstances? Have you had to diversify in ways you never imagined? Are you getting to catch up on the to-do list?

We'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, we hope you are staying well and coping during this social distancing period.

To discuss any questions you may have about travelling when we are permitted to, after the virus passes, get in touch now by:

📞 07850 100 859

📧 dave@dbexecutivetravel.net

#StayHomeSaveLives

Comfort Guaranteed - Who says?

February 15, 2019 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

I have often been asked, why Jaguar?

Why not Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volvo or perhaps a Tesla? Why not? The list is endless, but to answer this obvious question I need to go back to our roots first of all………………

Safety Guaranteed - Really?

January 28, 2019 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

I became an executive chauffeur following the poor experiences I had in the past when I was travelling in the back of cars with other people driving, during my previous career in corporate.

This propelled me to offer a very different way of travelling where we actually guarantee that

So, What's in the Masters?

November 02, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

After the good feedback received from my previous article on POWDERY checks I thought I would make public the 27 check points that examiners use to judge the skill of an advanced driver when they take the Masters driving test with IAM Roadsmart.

I realise doing this could make me vulnerable, but it does provide an insight into the testing involved should anyone be interested in improving their own driving skills to make them a safer and more observant driver.

Have you done your Powdery checks?

October 05, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

Following on from my previous article, where I outlined the major phases of the system of car control

“I P S G A”, the Information part flows through each phase and is a continual source of input and output.

Indeed there are many ways of giving information to other road users and pedestrians. Among them are those I have listed below:

From Irresponsible "Boy Racer" to Professional Chauffeur

August 24, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

During my travels and I am sure you all do, I notice varying skills of driving. It sometimes still shocks me at how some people can be when they squeeze their car into gaps when travelling at often excessive speeds even over and above the speed limit.

We have seen on YouTube

To Wax Or Not To Wax, That Is The Question?

July 18, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

Since my previous article on the preliminary stages of preparing my cars, it seems I have been on the road so much that I cannot quite believe it that 2 months have passed by !

So, here is part 2 of how I

Its all in the Preparation

May 04, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

One of the many questions I get asked is how do I manage to clean my car after a journey in such a short time, and when on a client job?

Preparation

So, before I answer that one,

Delayed for a Honeymoon!

April 20, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars

Some of the airport transfers I do for clients are to take them on the first leg of their journey to their honeymoon having just got married.

It just so happened that recently,

Help, I'm lost, do your magic!

March 30, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars, mobile technology

One of the most essential pieces of information given me for every single job is the full postal address including post code, of where I am to collect my clients.

Many years ago, in the days when

Snow Driving

March 02, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business, mobile technology

So, while I write this blog I am in my office looking out upon the incredible snow fall we in the UK are having right now. We are based at Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire and the snow that has fallen in the past couple of days is more than we have seen for more than

Matchsticks or Burning?

February 23, 2018 by David Barnes in customer care, Executive Travel, family business

Sometimes I am asked how do I stay alert when driving at night time. Many of us have probably seen images of Mr Bean using various means to stay awake when driving a long distance through France through the night. These include using match sticks to keep his eyes open as well as

From Proms to Sally Army!

February 09, 2018 by David Barnes in Executive Travel, family business, Wedding cars, customer care

As well as exhibiting at some wedding shows, we have been exhibiting at School Prom Shows and I would like to tell you about a very long day at the McArthur Glen Outlet Centre, Swindon when we joined with Prom Day and many other exhibitors.

The day was earlier in February 2018, and was a very cold day indeed.