How R5 started
Louis Herbert was eighteen when he started delivering for Deliveroo in a VW Passat around Manchester, and he drove for Uber through university.
On airport runs he watched the black chauffeur cars lined up, drivers suited and cars immaculate, and studied that world until he understood how it worked.
At twenty-two, with a broker willing to take a chance on him, he put down a deposit on a Mercedes E-Class. That car became R5. Insurers didn't want to know, and he heard "too young" more times than he could count. He had already seen what goes wrong: cars nobody had inspected, chauffeurs turning up unbriefed, quotes that moved at the kerb.
Louis now runs R5 with his dad, Geoff. The fleet covers four vehicle classes, and the two of them still answer the phone.
