A Staffordshire company whose mission is to keep businesses safe on the roads has trained more than 500 drivers since it launched in 2018.

Cheadle-based Adrian Hide Consultancy specialises in delivering face-to-face and online road safety courses for businesses who have staff that drive for work purposes. He also offers consultancy services and driver risk management support.

Adrian has trained hundreds of drivers and worked with nearly 40 businesses over the past five years.

He said: “I have spent my entire career working in road safety and it’s something I am passionate about. When I set the business up my aim was to help make the roads safer by giving businesses the tools to keep their drivers safe when they were behind the wheel. That’s still the case today.

“Essentially, I want to help businesses manage the risks associated with their on-road driving activities, ensuring that the business, its people and its reputation are protected.

“If a driver is involved in a serious accident, the police will investigate the business, if they fail to meet their duty of care obligations fines start from 20% of turnover and custodial sentences for business owners if the incident involved a fatality.”

Earlier this year Adrian launched a partnership with Road Safe Northern Ireland which means Adrian’s online courses will be made available to businesses and organisations in Northern Ireland through the charity. Adrian also works with MDEL Fleet management as well as insurance brokers.

He has more than 30 years of road safety experience, including 13 years as an approved driving instructor and 13 years with Staffordshire County Council, the last seven of which he headed up road safety training and education for the county. He then worked with a private road safety company for around six years.

He said: “I love my job but it hasn’t always been easy. Lockdown was difficult because a lot of my business involved delivering face to face training. I had to move quickly and look at different ways of delivering training. I invested in equipment and set about creating and developing a range of on-line training courses. Thankfully it paid off and the on-line training sessions are now an integral part of my offering.

“I’ve also tailored the courses to keep up with changes to industry trends – with more and more people driving electric vehicles I wanted to launch a course aimed at those who are new to driving them as there are things that you need to know including information on safety, range and charging.

“My clients and their needs come first – trust, honesty, transparency and integrity are very important to me and I think that’s why the business and the training offer has gone from strength to strength.

“I’m delighted to be celebrating the company’s 5th birthday, but I couldn’t have done it without the fantastic client base I have. I’m really looking forward to the next five years and seeing where the journey takes me.”

Adrian has set himself a target of training 1,500 drivers at 15 businesses across the UK over the next 12 months. He’s also working on a new online course to support organisations who have volunteer minibus drivers.

Adrian Hide Consultancy has entered the Skills For The Future category of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.