Employers who provide workplace parking and remain unlicensed or knowingly license incorrectly will be subject to compliance and enforcement checks which may lead to legal enforcement including Penalty Charge Notices.

The WPL team are available to assist with licensing. Additional business support can be accessed by contacting the WPL Hotline on (0115) 8765050 or by visiting www.mynottingham.gov.uk/wpl

To say business is booming for Alex McConnell is a bit of an understatement… Thanks to an interest in the environment, a desire to succeed and a business loan, advice and support from the First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA), his company, Autogas Network Sales Ltd is set to take the motor industry by storm. 

Alex, originally from Coatbridge, near Scotland, arrived in Corby in 1972 when his father, Alex Snr, moved to improve his job prospects in the then thriving steel industry.  After a nine year career in the British Army, where his tour of duties included The Falklands, Germany, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, Alex joined his father in opening Central Autopoint – a vehicle repair garage – in 2005.

“The business was doing ok.” Alex says.  “But we knew if we wanted to make more of a success of it, we would have to improve our offering and expand our services.”

The family knew that the environment was a hot topic and considered everything from solar panels to recycling before research led them to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and, in October 2010, Autogas Network Sales Ltd was born.

“Offering a vehicle conversion service fitted in perfectly with the existing business and LPG is becoming more and more popular as people realise just how much better it is for the environment.  And, with an average price of 77.23p per litre, it’s much cheaper to fill up your tank then petrol or diesel.

Electric cars won’t really come into their own for another ten or twenty years but LPG is here now and, with 1400 filling stations across the UK, there’s plenty of it.” said Alex.

A month into the new business and Alex was contacted by producer of conversion kits, G1 who invited Autogas Network Sales to be its UK distributor.  Canadian company GFI soon followed suit and Alex is now supplying its kits across the UK alongside Nicholson McLaren.

Alex said: “The first plan was to buy and convert four taxis in order to help advertise the business.  By doing so we caught the eye of The Taxi Shop, one of the UK’s leading supplier of private hire vehicles to the taxi market, which gave us an order of 50 Vauxhall Insignias which was a really great start.”

With orders coming thick and fast, Alex needed £35,000 and he needed a bigger plan.  With the banks refusing to lend him any capital for expansion, at the advice of Business Link, he found himself at a Connect Midlands Forum where he met FEBA advisor, Chane Biant.”

East Midlands based FEBA is a leading business support organisation established to help pre-start and existing business owners throughout the region.   FEBA was able to loan the company £20,000 while Alex Snr made up the difference.  Alex said: “Chane was so helpful.  Not only did he help refine and finalise our business plan and cash flow forecasts, he turned the loan around in just four weeks which was a massive help as we couldn’t even get an overdraft.”

The loans funding comes via the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and European Regional Development Funding (ERDF). Corby is a European Priority Action Area and an area which has priority for funding so that local businesses progress and thrive. The ERDF programme aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by supporting regional economic development.

For Autogas, the business keeps coming in.  Corby taxi firm Star Cars has already had ten of its 55 vehicles converted by Alex and his team and has made a commitment to convert its remaining taxis over the next five years.  Corby Borough Council which already had 50 of its vehicles converted to LPG has now given its servicing contract to Alex. Alex is currently in negotiations with The Taxi Shop to convert a further 750 vehicles including Vauxhall, Citroen, Ford and Chevrolet.

Autogas Network Sales is also a lead member in a brand new alliance that has been created to promote LPG and make it more accessible to the masses.  The Autogas Alliance, which is due to be launched in early September also includes a national fuel supplier, the Jigsaw Finance Group, and The Taxi Shop.

“We’ve come together to give a bigger voice to LPG and provide a one-stop-shop for LPG.  We can now provide fleet companies with their own LPG tanks as well as finance and quality training.  This is a very exciting time for LPG.”

Alex is positive the money from FEBA has made all the difference to the company’s capabilities to grow and prosper.  “I can now actually sleep at night knowing that we have some funding behind us.  Not only has it helped us purchase and stock the kits we need, it’s helped with our research and development.  We are now in the process of developing a process that’s really going to make a difference to the future of new LPG-fuelled vehicles and take us a step forward to being market leaders in this industry.”

The growth in business since FEBA’s help has been quite phenomenal and Alex is, quite frankly, amazed.  “We have turned over £66,000 in conversions alone in the last six months and the second half of the year is set to be much better than projected.  In fact, I’ll be disappointed if we don’t hit the £200,000 mark.”

In fact, such is the success of the business that Alex is now having to look at its capabilities for satisfying future orders and is considering creating franchising opportunities across the Midlands.

With the business going from strength to strength, it seems the future is looking bright for the next generation of McConnell’s too.  Alex’s son, Jack (19) is also lending his support and during breaks from his Construction Management course at Sheffield Hallam University, he’s busy helping out in the sales office.  “It’s been a roller coaster six months.” Alex said. “We’re so grateful to Chane for his invaluable help and support.  His mentoring and guidance and his constant willingness to advise has made the world of difference and we’re all very excited to see what the future will bring.”

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Richard Tyas, enterprise development manager at FEBA says: “Even in these difficult times, people are still managing to find opportunities following redundancy.  I think it’s a case of employed positions being increasingly harder to find.  Plus, people who may have received a redundancy payout have suddenly found they have capital to invest in a new business idea that they may otherwise only have ever dreamed about.

“We are also seeing a rise in people buying into franchises as these can often offer a lower risk due to the brand already being established.”

Established in 1989, Hyson Green-based FEBA is a leading business support organisation which provides a range of services aimed at helping people start-up and expand businesses in Nottingham and across the East Midlands.

As well as delivering a loan fund on behalf of Enterprise Loans East Midlands for aspiring entrepreneurs, its services include free, confidential and impartial advice, counselling and business training.

Based in Hyson Green and with an established client base of businesses ranging from the small to the very prominent, FEBA was originally set up to support the business support needs of the black and minority ethnic community but now offers support and advice to absolutely anyone needing it.

Richard added: “Across Nottinghamshire, we have recently been helping a wide range of businesses take their first steps to success in sectors as diverse as catering, health and beauty, green energy and the motor trade.

“We’ve had a fantastic amount of interest from inner city start-ups and in the last twelve months have loaned £118,000 to help start-ups in this area.  We are now actively seeking applications from wider Nottinghamshire, particularly in the North of the county.”

To find out more about the support available from First Enterprise Business Agency, call 0115 9423772 or visit www.first-enterprise.co.uk

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Leon’s new company has received help from the First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA), which has given its support in the form of a professional loan and advice.

East Midlands based, FEBA is a leading business support organisation established to assist pre-start and existing business owners throughout the region.

Football is in the blood in Leon Bowery’s family, and it’s more than just spectators’ enthusiasm… his father has an illustrious place in the sport’s history books.

Leon’s dad, Bert Bowery, was a striker who played for Nottingham Forest in the 1970s – and was no less than footie legend Brian Clough’s first signing when he took over as manager at the club. He played for the club between 1975 and 1976, making two league appearances and scoring two goals, before travelling to play in Boston and Hawaii.

While it seemed only natural for Leon to follow in his father’s footsteps a quarter of a century later, it takes a combination of talent, luck and opportunity to launch a fledgling sporting career, and Leon’s didn’t quite take off.

‘It didn’t materialise for one reason or another,’ Leon, 29, says, philosophically, ‘I had aspirations but they didn’t work out and with sport, you know fairly early-on whether or not you’re likely to make it.’

However, although he was unable to demonstrate his passion on the pitch, he looked for other ways to work in the field of football.

Leon, from Bestwood Park, did a business studies and ILEX law course at New College Nottingham. His exams won him a football agents’ licence. Agents provide a service to players in contract management and help them negotiate the tricky terrain of the financial and legal side of the industry.

Most agencies are based in London but Leon spotted a gap in the market for regionally-based entrepreneurs and set up in Nottingham, under the name Pro-Link Football Trials, at the end of 2010. A loan of £3,000 from First Enterprise gave him the boost he needed to go it alone, funding website design and events equipment. ‘They’ve been very helpful both in finances but also in terms of advice,’ Leon says. ‘It’s great to have someone on the other end of the phone when you’ve got a concern or a question that no-one else can really answer.’

He’s excited about the prospects for growth in the future of his company, which already represents a handful of young players.

‘I think it’s unique to Nottingham and I’m able to offer clients more one-to-one attention and support than the bigger agencies, which are more about the elite end of the market,’ Leon explains. ‘When you start off you don’t know anything about the business side of the game and an agent can help a player get spotted and get them the best deal. You play a very important role.’

As his company name suggests, Leon also organises trials or ‘casting calls’ – auditions bringing promising up-and-coming players and scouts together. Having your potential spotted sooner rather than later, or by the right person, can make a footballing career.

‘It makes a big difference,’ Leon says. ‘I know a lot of players who could’ve played at a professional level but just didn’t get the breaks. Or they’ve developed at a slightly later stage and the route into the academies no longer seems to be open for them and they don’t know where to go. I have working relationships with the clubs so I can bring new players to their attention. Often someone has the talent but don’t know how to get seen by the scouts and it’s really exciting to be the one to put that meeting together.’

Leon says the greatest thrill of his work is undoubtedly seeing a career take off. ‘It’s definitely really rewarding, that’s the best part of it, thinking you’ve played a part in someone’s dreams coming true. And my dad’s happy with what I’m doing too!’

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