Fleetline named ‘Business of the Year’

Fleetline Coachworks has been crowned ‘Business of the Year’ at the Croydon Business Excellence Awards 2017.

Mark Boret, managing director, was presented with the trophy in front of a crowd of 450 delegates and VIPs who attended the black tie event at the Grand Sapphire Hotel on 5 October.

Entries to the borough’s premier awards rose by 50% this year, with more than 200 entries across 14 categories. Fleetline Coachworks was also Highly Commended for the Apprentice Employer of the Year award and were shortlisted for Women in Business after Rachel McGuinness, operations director, entered the company in these two categories. After submitting the entry forms for each Award, Rachel was then quizzed in two different 30-minute face-to face interviews for each of the Award categories.

The ‘Business of the Year’ is the top award at the Croydon Business Excellence Awards which are held in association with Gatwick Airport, and one that companies cannot self-nominate themselves for.

Fleetline Coachworks has also created new jobs when it invested over £2.25m earlier this year in buying and refurbishing new premises and upgrading equipment and IT systems. The impressive 40,000sqft repair facility in Croydon is the biggest bodyshop in the south east and features a unique drive-in meet and greet area where customers can drop off their car and see technicians working on vehicles through a 10m high glass wall at the front of the workshop.

Mark said, ‘Croydon is seeing unprecedented growth and has attracted a number of start-ups and high profile businesses into the area, so against this competition I was absolutely thrilled to hear our name called out as the winner of the Business of the Year award. It was a wonderful surprise and a really proud moment. We’ve been in Croydon now for 25 years and it is great to get recognition for how we have grown as a business. We have an amazing team of people here and they are doing such a good job. This award belongs to everyone at Fleetline.’