Name: Tom Highland
Job title: Director
Tom Highland had to earn himself a place in his family’s forecourt business by learning a trade, before his father would let him anywhere near taking a job there as a £7 an hour sales assistant. But the tough love has paid off, with Tom given special recognition at this year’s Forecourt Trader Awards for his achievements as managing director of the now four site operator, aged just 32.
His flagship store Childerley Gate Service Station, in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, has been turning heads as an industry pace-setter, with a feel not unlike motorists’ favourite Tebay Services. It also has a high end Adriateh jet wash hub and Tom plans to turn it into a community hub with offices, takeway food businesses, and a barber’s shop and hair salon on site.
01. Your career history: I left school aged 16 and got myself a carpentry apprenticeship. Paying £20 a day to travel down to London at the time felt like loads of money! I stayed for a year after qualifying and then once I had proven my work ethic I joined the family business, when I was 21.
It was a bit of a shock to go from earning £100-plus a day to just £7 per hour! I started as a sales assistant at our Bluntisham site and slowly worked my way up to becoming a supervisor. An opportunity then became available to run a chip shop on the same site, so my father Steve Highland thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to run my own business.
So I got some friends together and went on a frying course. After two years of doing that, and a small fire, it was back to retail. We purchased Childerley Gate in 2015 and I went to run the new site.
As I learnt more about the industry I was offered a site of my own, Greenfields Service Station.
Now at the end of 2024 we have four sites with a fifth on the way in January. I can firmly say my chip shop days are behind me and please don’t ask me to hang a door!
02. Dream job: British Prime Minister. Mainly to prove that I could do a better job!
03. What do you drive? I have a BMW M5, and an Urban Land Rover Defender.
04. Perfect day: Drinks with friends in a pub garden, with sunshine and my dog Max, a Red Fox Lab, sitting calmly next to me. That last bit is yet to happen.
05. Best holiday: I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of travelling. But the trip that stands out, and you must do if you get the chance, is a Safari holiday in Tanzania!
06. Holiday wish-list: Skiing in Japan, before touring around the country exploring its history and most importantly eating everything that is put in front of me.
07. Favourite read: I’m not a big reader to be honest. I did, however, enjoy Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity!
08. Three words to describe yourself: Driven, dependable and fun!
09. Possessions you could not do without: Sadly in this day and age my phone, my cars, and not that I see him as a possession but my dog Max, who is now almost one, and about 10 times the size he was in the photo!
10. What do you most admire? Without sounding corny, my Dad. He has always been there as a fantastic dad and role model. To this day I still run most major financial decisions by him. He always puts others before himself, and has come from humble beginnings to give me and my two sisters the best start in life. We work well as a team while running and growing the business, and I actually find myself becoming more and more like him as I get older!
11. Favourite sports person: Professional boxer Conor McGregor. He is a proper showman and his career is a real rags to riches story, although it has all gone down hill the past few years.
12. Best news over the past 12 months: Hearing that my Max, the puppy, was ready to be brought home.
13. Recent achievements: Winning Forecourt Trader’s Special Recognition Award in October.
14. What’s your pet peeve? Bad manners, lack of common sense and drive-offs.
15. Biggest fear: Fuel card margins.
16. Most important qualities in the workplace: Communication, a good work ethic and a hunger to learn.
17. What motivates you? Seeing an idea go from something in my head, to being fully built and operational, and hopefully successful.
18. Best thing about the job: Having to personally sample every new product that comes into our bakeries. It’s a role dad and I take very seriously.
19. Best bit of business advice you have ever received: You can’t work on your business if you are too busy working in it.
20. Most recent business achievement of note. Successfully taking over a new site, with plans to close and redevelop it in January 2025
