It was New Year’s Day 1999. The world was recovering from a great night of fireworks and parties, and somewhere in rural Warwickshire Stuart and Lynn Slaughter were out for a New Year’s Lunch.
Published : 13th March 2019
It was New Year’s Day 1999. The world was recovering from a great night of fireworks and parties, and somewhere in rural Warwickshire Stuart and Lynn Slaughter were out for a New Year’s Lunch.
At that lunch, a bet took place; a bet that would change their lives forever.
It wasn’t a big bet. It was just a couple of quid actually, but it led to millions of miles, thousands of customers, and hundreds of products… and a dream that would eventually come true!
That bet lead Stuart and Lynn to invest in a small tool hire business in 1999 with just 100 plates (and no wash-up facility!) that would lead to the creation of Plato in October of that year. By the turn of the millennium the pair hoped they would make back their investment (which was a little more than £2 !) And they did!
Fast forward to the here and now and Plato is a well-respected hire business with SafeHire certification and winner of the Event Equipment Hire Company award in 2017.
And this year, we’re going for it again!
We are in the national finals of Event Equipment Hire Company of the year 2019!
We love these awards for the quality of entrants and the beautiful location. We were runners up in 2016, and winners in 2017!
We decided to put in a submission this year as the business is in a great place and we know how important recognition like this is for our customers and how important it is to celebrate our achievements and our industry.
It seems we made quite the impression in 2017! According to Steph McGovern and the other judges, our 2017 entry was:
“Refreshingly innovative and different from the start and managed to clearly demonstrate commitment to customer and employee alike. It was obvious from the start that they had set out to win this award. It was just a superb entry.”
And we’re delighted to announced that we’re up for the Event Equipment Hire Company of the Year 2019.
Why is this important to us?
Hire Association Europe (HAE) and Event Hire Association (EHA) are behind these awards and that gives it so much more clout than some other awards ceremonies.
The event is not only well-run and organised, but specific to our industry and celebrates the very best. To even be included is a huge honour for us.
For HAE and EHA (the internationally recognised leading body for the development of the hire and rental industry) to recognise Plato and accept us into the awards goes a long way to show our commitment to the industry standards and the quality that is possible.
We not only adhere to SafeHire and their Code of Conduct but we adopt the very best practices within the hire industry and these awards recognise that. We’re pretty proud of it too!
Feeling like a winner…
Awards might seem a little ‘back-patting’ for some, but we understand the importance of recognising efforts. We’re the first to pat our own backs when things go well and when we have a great year.
But there’s nothing quite like someone else, someone from outside, announcing to the press and your peers that you’re worthy of some external praise too.
Having being nominated for the third time, we feel very honoured that all the hard work our team put in to creating such a company is noticed.
Our independent health and safety consultant said this about Plato just last year:
“In the years I have been working in health and safety it’s rare a company reaches Gold Certificate. To achieve this in three years is unheard of! The commitment to health and safety within Plato is evident to see”
Lee Douglas, Health and Safety Advisor.
Why should you care if you’re a caterer or customer of ours?
At Plato we’re progressive. We’re consistent and single-minded in being different from the competition and excelling at what we do. This award nomination and potentially our award on the night demonstrates our continual progression and constant strive for the best we can achieve.
“We’re never frightened to lead and tread in new snow, never ones to wait for others to put their toes in the water first, and we were the first SafeHire company in the Midlands,” says MD, Stuart Slaughter.
Stuart adds,
“We’re successful even as the market gets more crowded by just executing everything we do better than the competition”.
From £2 bet to £multi-million hotel on Park Lane
It’s not without a smile and knowing look back to that lunch in 1999 that we write this. It’s amazing what you can achieve with drive, vision, and some fearless advances into new and often unknown territory.
Wish us luck at the awards?
And watch out for a few selfies when we get there!