Heathside takes gold in business awards

Heathside Travel of Ferndown, Dorset, has taken gold in a local business award.

The operator won the top accolade in the Family Business of the Year category of the 2024 edition of the Ferndown Local Business Awards.

“It is a great boost for the team,” Tim Southby, Director at Heathside, told B&CB. “We’re very happy. It’s a local award, so it gets seen by everybody from local councillors and other businesses.”

Tim says several people nominated his firm for the award.

The accolade comes at a time of growth for the business, which grew to running six vehicles from the previous five in April this year. It also replaced a 41-seater coach for a higher specification 42-seater earlier in the year too.

Tim reports Heathside’s day trip package has been a success, having today (4 November 2024) received a notification from bookings management software provider Roeville that it has exceeded a bookings number band in its package. Its holiday brochure for next year is about to be published, which will have 31 trips listed as opposed to the 24 in this year’s edition.

Looking ahead, Tim sees the possibility of upgrading its VIP coach as it could potentially gain more work from a customer. The company also has a young (24-years-old) trainee driver about to join the business.

“Drivers are loving their jobs and everyone’s happy,” said Tim of the mood at the depot.