The pattern of hiring a manager and buying some premises was well set by the time we bought Leeds in 2000. I don’t really remember much about them, the outstanding feature was the sheep grazing in the fields opposite. The number of contracts we won was limited and none of them were particularly successful.
We employed a lady to help with our buying who worked with one of our competitors previously. As far as I could see she achieved absolutely nothing and without going through the correct protocols I terminated her employment. I thought that was the end of it until a few weeks later we got details of an industrial tribunal claim and since I couldn’t really argue with it I had to agree to a compromise agreement, after that I made sure that we stuck closely to the correct protocols if we wanted anybody to leave the company.
We tried to get success going with a couple of managers but we never made it. We decided to close the premises and sold them off fairly easily. They were sold in 2002.