{"id":32857,"date":"2026-08-10T16:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=32857"},"modified":"2026-08-06T16:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:30:43","slug":"meet-driver-hire-franchisees-priyank-pinky-patel-kingston-leatherhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/meet-driver-hire-franchisees-priyank-pinky-patel-kingston-leatherhead\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Driver Hire franchisees – Priyank & Pinky Patel, Kingston & Leatherhead"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Finding the sweet spot between balancing career ambitions with personal life can be hard. There\u2019s the desire to do a good job for your employer, the potential for career advancement and the related financial rewards all pulling you in one direction. Pulling in the other, there\u2019s the need to find sufficient hours in the week to have a meaningful life outside work.<\/h3>\n

That was the situation in which Priyank Patel found himself. After graduating with a Maths degree, Priyank had been climbing the corporate ladder, working for several blue-chip companies. His burgeoning career had seen him reach the position of Operations Manager at DPD\u2019s Southall site in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a demanding job,\u201d Priyank recalls. \u201cI was responsible for all day-to-day operations, working 60 to 70 hours a week, sometimes seven days a week. There wasn\u2019t much time for anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making the most of your connections<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Whenever Priyank needed a truck driver for one of his vehicles, his first port of call was his local Driver Hire office in Uxbridge. He worked closely with the franchisee, Ed Pockney. They had regular planning meetings and occasionally met socially. Whilst having a drink together, Ed, having observed Priyank\u2019s work ethic, suggested that he\u2019d make a great Driver Hire franchisee. \u201cHe said to me: \u2018Instead of working to make money for someone else \u2013 why not do it so you\u2019re the one profiting from your labours\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

A seed had been sown. Priyank asked more questions and liked what he heard. \u201cAt the time, the Driver Hire Twickenham business was for sale , but I was engaged and due to get married. Whilst I was on a good salary at DPD I didn\u2019t have enough money to get married and buy a business!\u201d<\/p>\n

Time to make the leap<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 2018, now married to Pinky, Priyank saw a new opportunity present itself, when the franchise owner of Driver Hire Kingston decided to sell his business and retire . \u201cIt was at a perfect time,\u201d Priyank continues. \u201cPinky had just completed her Masters in Finance and Risk Management and was looking for a job. It meant that we could go into it as a joint venture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whilst neither of them had any previous experience of running their own business, Priyank\u2019s experience of transport & logistics at DPD provided him with good industry knowledge. Before doing her Masters, Pinky had been a senior customer consultant at Dixons Carphone \u2013 responsible for face-to-face customer service and sales. All useful work experience for the new franchisees.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things Ed Pockney explained when he first talked to me about a Driver Hire franchise was, \u2018to be successful you don\u2019t have to particularly smart or intelligent \u2013 just good with people. I thought, I\u2019m good with people. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing for the last ten years at DPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meetings with Driver Hire\u2019s Franchise Sales Director followed, finance was arranged and Priyank and Pinky found themselves masters of their destiny. After completion of the franchise deal, as with all Driver Hire franchisees, Priyank and Pinky attended a two-week Foundation Course at Driver Hire\u2019s Group Services headquarters. It taught them the key aspects of running a Driver Hire franchise, the road transport industry, and the world of recruitment. Once they\u2019d taken over the business, there was ongoing support from Driver Hire\u2019s Group Services team covering everything from invoicing, IT, HR, Marketing, Compliance, and Sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest our biggest initial challenge was balancing our operation,\u201d says Priyank. \u201cWe had a tendency to over-promise to drivers in terms of work or over-promise to clients about driver availability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediate impact<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The previous franchisee was achieving annual turnover of around \u00a3500k. In their first year (2019\/20), Priyank and Pinky more or less doubled that. The Covid pandemic pegged them back a little, but post-Covid, as the economy recovered, they settled in and started to show just how good they are. Turnover has grown from \u00a31.3m in 2021\/22 to \u00a32.1m in 2024\/25., New customer acquisition is always important, but the growth they have achieved with existing clients, thanks to their focus on service excellence, has been especially impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve developed an excellent reputation with our customers,\u201d Priyank comments. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve learnt is, if you look after your people \u2013 drivers and clients \u2013 you\u2019ll get excellent results. Forget spreadsheets, just get the right people on your team. Running a successful Driver Hire franchise is about being a matchmaker \u2013 finding the right person for a particular job. That\u2019s what we do well, time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like any business start-up you\u2019ve got to be prepared for some hard work. . \u201cInitially it does take over your life. In the early days of the business, that\u2019s all we talked about; all we did,\u201d Priyank recalls. \u201cThe difference is, it\u2019s your business and you\u2019re using your entrepreneurial skills to make it grow for your direct benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sustained growth<\/strong><\/h4>\n

And, as the figures show, it is growing very nicely. Including himself, Priyank now has four people working in the office looking after admin, driver recruitment, payroll and sales. Combined they regularly find work for around 60 drivers which can go to 80 drivers at peak periods. Following the birth of their two children, and as their team has grown, Pinky has chosen to change her role within the business. She now works two days a week, chiefly from home, looking after the all-important compliance side of the business and customer relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a graduate trainee at Argos,\u201d says Priyank. \u201cOne of their mantras was \u2018working together as one\u2019. That\u2019s what\u2019s been at the forefront of our business. We focus on customer relationships, inviting some of them to our Christmas party. We once took a customer to recover their vehicle when our driver had run out of hours so they couldn\u2019t legally drive back to the depot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paying equal attention to the wellbeing of drivers is also a key part of Priyank and Pinky\u2019s success story. \u201cAll our drivers receive a birthday card with a \u00a310 Nando\u2019s voucher in it,\u201d says Priyank. \u201cWe\u2019ve even done a bit of baby-sitting to ensure a driver could cover a shift for us! As a result, we\u2019ve got drivers who\u2019ve been with us for 6 or 7 years. They\u2019ve had offers of permanent work but stay with us because they appreciate the regular work and feel part of the Driver Hire family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Innovation and future plans<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Since buying the Kingston franchise, Priyank and Pinky have added Leatherhead to the office name. \u201cIt\u2019s always been in our patch, \u201cPriyank explains. \u201cThe area is close to Gatwick Airport, which offers plenty of opportunities for increased business. By adding Leatherhead to our name, it makes it clear that we\u2019re a local supplier covering the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priyank and Pinky make full use of Driver Hire\u2019s bespoke IT systems to increase efficiency within their operation. Out of hours they use the company\u2019s online tool to find new candidates and register them, before completing a face-to-face interview. They liaise with clients on Zoom and Teams \u2013 something that can be done from anywhere, maximising flexibility and responsive service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest daily challenge is finding the time to do everything that needs to be done,\u201d says Priyank. \u201cThat\u2019s why a team is so important. Running the franchise is still demanding \u2013 it\u2019s fast-paced and no two days are the same. But it\u2019s had a massive impact on my life in a very positive way. I still work full time in the business but my work-life balance is so much better. No longer tied to 60-to-70-hour working weeks, I have time to spend with my young family, and I\u2019ve even had time to take up golf. Then there are the financial rewards too \u2013 I\u2019m bringing in double or even treble what I was doing at DPD. I\u2019d do the journey I\u2019ve had with Driver Hire over the last six years, once, or maybe even two times, over.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you have seen yourself in this story and are keen to explore the Driver Hire opportunity, simply click the button below, to get in touch.<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding the sweet spot between balancing career ambitions with personal life can be hard. There\u2019s the desire to do a good job for your employer, the potential for career advancement and the related financial rewards all pulling you in one direction. Pulling in the other, there\u2019s the need to find sufficient hours in the week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-driver-hire","category-recruitment-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Priyank-Pinky-Patel-Kingston-Leatherhead.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32859,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32857\/revisions\/32859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}