Ripon’s Bill Plant celebrates Tom’s 17-year journey
Posted by The Editor
In May 2009, at the age of 16, Tom Hixon joined now nationally recognised driving school Bill Plant - headquartered in Ripon. Now, he heads up a department following 17 years’ service.
Tom joined the firm two days a week while studying a sports/coaching BTEC. Mostly tasked with removing stickers and the dual controls from used instructor cars, there were exciting conversations within the business at that time around what the future looked like.
Jake, son of original owner, Bill Plant, expressed that he’d like to have Tom in the office, which he agreed to – and the rest is history but an exciting journey!
Tom never wanted to answer phones (his own words) but operations director at the time, Roy Danby asked him to ‘jump on the phone’, which Tom described as the ‘first integration for being in the nucleus of the business and was a bit of a baptism of fire - but I was so happy.’
Tom continued: ‘I did that, loved it, had a spring in my step. I worked part time all the way up to July 2010 and thought I would take my summer holidays, however Roy asked if I wanted a job. The business needed staff, I was offered a decent salary, and it made sense.’
Tom worked in the booking team for a year, but then as the business grew, Bill wanted to set up a specific phone line for instructor support, which led to creating the team the company has today.
‘One thing I would say, and commend, is that Bill always liked consistency - car the same, everyone gets the same thing, very uniform, and I have always felt that this was important.’
Back then there was around 400 instructors, and the business was based at Phoenix Business Park, more recently relocating to Canalside House, still within Ripon.
Tom says: ‘We have to understand what instructors need - provide reassurance, guidance, be that caring ear at the end of the phone. In my mind, it’s about being that chirpy person at the end of the phone who cares and wants to understand - this is a partnership, we need to work together.’
The business has also been something of a family affair for Tom - his mum, Lynn, used to manage the bookings line (back in 2003, that simply meant her sitting at home with a Nokia phone and a Bluetooth headset), and she's also Bill Plant's wife's cousin.
From managing the bookings team, to becoming head of instructor support, to then heading up a newly formed role - Head of PDI success; Tom shows how hard work and dedication can really help you to succeed.
The business was purchased by the current owners in 2017 who brought in a strong sense of wanting to grow strategically from the incredible work already done by Bill and his team, leading to creating the Driving Academy and moving to a highly strategic approach across the business including marketing, vehicle use and management structure.
During Covid and the lockdowns that ensued, the business supported its franchisees by dropping their fees to the bare minimum (approximately 75 per cent decrease) which ensured that they retained their vehicle, fully insured and maintained, to use as they needed - especially helpful for those with key worker pupils who were still entitled to lessons under the restrictions at the time, while also making sure that families were not left without vehicles. The company also opted to make furlough as minimal as possible on an internal basis, instead keeping teams available (albeit mostly working from home) to support franchisees every step of the way - while also supporting its own people.
