Coatham Coaches’ Celebrates 40 Years
We’re over the moon to be celebrating our fortieth year in business! We’ve battled through the pandemic and managed to triple our revenue over the last three years through the hard work, dedication and strength of all of our team. We wanted to look back on where Coatham started to get a better understanding of where we’re at today.
Our company was founded in the early 1980s as a way for Michael Hodgson to earn a living and supporting his young family with an honest “means to an end”. He did this with a minibus whilst closing Coatham Tyre Centre without owing a single penny to creditors.
Michael may be better known across Teesside for his achievements with Guisborough Town Football Club in non-league football. His teammates, and opponents, will tell you of his doggedness, untiring spirit and ability to stay one step ahead of the opposition – something that translated into his business life.
Whilst many business owners may have gone bankrupt due to a bad debtor, Michael’s sense of pride and morals wouldn’t let him do that. This ethical approach was at the core of Coatham Coaches and continues to be a driving force behind the business.
Coatham Coaches grew steadily with Michael and his wife, Barbara, at the helm. Taking on regular school contracts and building up a strong private hire client base helped them to keep building up the business. The industry was unregulated at this time and profit came hand in hand with the ethos of ‘the more you work, the more money you make’.
Opportunities arose with ICI Wilton and its subsidiary companies, allowing for upgrades to be made to the existing vehicles to reflect the higher levels of service that Coatham was now providing. Unfortunately, ICI Wilton closed in 2008, causing corporate work opportunities to temporarily dry up.
Fast forward today and we’re still a family business! Michael’s son, Mark, is the MD and his sisters Nicky & Louise, brother-in-law Andy and nephew Aarron are all integral parts of the company.
The core of our business is providing high quality ‘home to school and college’ services and workforce shuttles, whilst having a glowing reputation as being the ‘go-to’ operator for all things transport.
Mark said: “Our strength is our flexibility. One day a driver may be taking children to school and their swimming lessons, the next day they may be carrying multinational company CEOs on a site visit to Teesside.
“We really are the Swiss army knife of the transport industry. We replace trains when the lines aren’t working, we help airlines move passengers when airports are closed and Coatham alone gets 1,300 children to and from school and college each day, taking up to 1,000 cars off the road during rush hour.”
If you have any business requirements we may be able to assist with don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
