BusinessCar’s Paul Barker puts 13 testing questions to another victim
1. What was your first job? Apprentice truck mechanic.
2. What was your first company car? A second-hand, red Ford Fiesta 1.1.
3. What did you listen to on your last car journey? Podcast of The Archers.
4. What one thing do you wish you could do better? Organise my email inbox.
5. What’s your biggest achievement? Winning a national ‘fleet manager of the year’ award in 2008.
6. Who is your role model? Richard Branson and writer Alan Bennett.
7. What’s the stupidest thing you’ve done? Left a good job in a dealership to set up my own garage during the late 1970s.
8. What was the most hotly debated topic at your last meeting? Fleet funding.
9. What’s in your garage? My 20-year-old Kawasaki Eliminator motorbike, my downhill soapbox derby racer, an Edwardian pool table and more stuff than I could possible list or get into one skip.
10. What’s the worst thing about your job? It is addictive. I can’t leave it alone even when on holiday.
11. What one law would you make or change? Tougher penalties for uninsured drivers and litter droppers.
12. What keeps you awake at night? Worrying about my first tee shot in the lead-up to a corporate golf day or eating Indian food too late in the evening.
13. Who is your ideal celebrity date? ACFO chairman Julie Jenner – together we could rule the fleet world. Oh, and failing that, pop singer and Strictly Come Dancing star Rachel Stevens.