They say that variety is the spice of life. And variety is what’s kept Neil Scott very happily driving for Driver Hire Preston for the past 20 years. Two decades is quite something for a ‘temporary’ worker.
“You could say I’m a bit of a stayer,” says Neil. “I was a forklift truck driver at Booth’s, a local upmarket supermarket based in Preston. But they changed the shift patterns and it meant that I’d end up having different days off every week. I like my weekends with the family and watching football, so I popped into Driver Hire and they took me on straightaway.”
Over the past two decades Neil’s made the most of the variety of temping, doing van and 7.5 tonne work for a wide range of local businesses. “Because of the pandemic I’ve been doing a lot of work for pharmaceutical companies delivering to high street chemists,” he continues. “I’ve made a lot of friends at the places I’ve worked at. We keep in touch, go out for a beer every now and then. So as well was making a decent living, working as a temp as widened my social network.”
Preston born-and-bred, 63 year old Neil is married to Florence. Together they have a daughter and two grandsons, Aiden and Daniel. A keen follower of his local club, Preston North End, Neil played five-a-side football until he was in his fifties. In his younger days he was a Merchant Seaman and covered most of the globe. “One of my proudest moments was getting my steering certificate whilst serving on the Globtic Tokyo, a super tanker which was the largest ship in the world at the time,” Neil adds.
Simon Wright (pictured), his boss and owner of Driver Hire Preston, interviewed Neil and took him onto the books at Driver Hire Preston.
“I was a trainee recruitment consultant at the time,” Simon recalls. “Neil was the very first driver I took on. So we go back a long way. Since Neil joined us, other than his statutory holidays, he’s only had five days off. Neil’s so popular with clients, it’s easy keeping him busy. After 20 years, Neil rather makes a mockery of the term ‘ temp’. As far as we’re concerned here at Driver Hire Preston – he’s a perm.”
