Head Office

The Group’s Head Office is located in the rural village of Milton Ernest in North Bedfordshire. It accommodates the Executive Directors and the central functions of Finance, HR, Marketing, IT, Health and Safety, and the Central Archive.

HR

Our highly professional HR team makes sure that we recruit and develop the best people, as well as managing payroll, staff development, people planning and policy. Our rigorous HR systems enable our people to be inducted and trained to make the most of their ability, with appropriate planning for future development and opportunities for promotion. The HR function provides guidance on the ‘Bedfordia Way’ – a “journey to success” which recognises that the company will achieve its goals and ambitions through its people, by striving to become an employer and a provider of choice. The HR function also ensures our people are suitably rewarded for their contribution to the success of the business.

Marketing

The marketing function supports the Group’s corporate objectives by devising and implementing a group marketing strategy complementary to the marketing plans of the individual trading operations. It is responsible for all internal and external communication, corporate PR, corporate social responsibility and brand development. It also works closely alongside the HR function on achieving the Group’s people based objectives - such as establishing and maintaining the business as an award-winning Employer of Choice.

IT

Our IT function ensures that our technology is used effectively and that future technology needs are identified and put into place. As our organisation becomes more reliant on new technologies, we ensure that our IT and communication systems are secure, scalable and highly resilient, whilst remaining user - and customer-friendly.

The IT Department is constantly seeking economies of scale by procuring group-wide IT systems and contracts, and obtaining best value for money for the Group as a whole. Working with external support partners, our IT systems are a blend of standard and bespoke packages, each one having been thoroughly tested in order to meet our business and user needs. The technology that we use ranges from systems using GPS satellites through to wireless technology to link with cars being serviced in our automotive division workshops.

Health and Safety (H&S)

Our NEBOSH (National Examination Board of Safety and Health) trained Group Health and Safety Advisor identifies both current and forthcoming H&S legislation requirements and ensures that the Group responds by fulfilling all its responsibilities. The advisor also provides a professional link with other H&S orientated agencies including Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency and Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Group Central Archive

The Group has a custom built central archive facility at its Milton Parc site for the storage of hard copy archive material for all the Group’s companies. This archive is managed by a qualified professional archivist and provides an easy retrieval capability, in a controlled environment, for a wide range of documents which are not required for day-to-day operations.

The reasons for storing materials in the archive fall into three categories:

• Statutory or regulatory requirement

  this includes documents such as tax and payroll records which have to be stored indefinitely or for minimum periods as specified by law e.g. accounting records and property transactions

• Operational requirements

  documents that, for operational or customer service reasons, need to be retained for periods in excess of those provided by law e.g. customers’ vehicle service records.

• Historical interest

  the history of the Group extends back more than 75 years and it has many documents and records which warrant preservation, either to provide an understanding of its development or to contribute an insight into a wider social and economic history of the period. This historic archive includes both photographic and written material, which may be shared with other interested parties such as libraries, schools and local history groups,

Contact numbers:-

Group Head Office

Milton Parc,
Milton Ernest,
Bedford,
MK44 1YU