For Ross Basnett, Strategic Account Director at Mobilleo, an unfortunate mountain-biking accident meant that he wasn’t able to drive for some time. Mobilleo is all about redefining business travel, and coming up with alternative mobility solutions – for every situation!
So, we spoke to Ross to find out more about what happened, and how he’s been using Mobilleo for all his travel needs.
What were your normal day-to-day travel arrangements?
Before the accident, I was a fairly typical high mileage company car user. I would be in the car between 3 and 5 days per week, travelling either to customer sites or to our Shipley and Leeds offices. In some cases, such as for journeys into London and other urban centres, it made more sense to take the train.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself, and what happened?
I first got into Mountain Biking a few years ago when I stopped playing football and was looking for something to fill the adrenalin void, and help me keep some semblance of fitness! As with most riders I started simple, then ended up spending a fortune on a decent bike and extras, in the belief it would make me a great rider. That didn’t quite work out, as I realised the hard way after misjudging a drop-off, landing awkwardly and losing the bike from under me. Unfortunately I landed hard on my side and fractured my collarbone (ouch! – ed), which although pretty common in MTB circles, is still painful and takes a long time to heal.
Sounds painful!
Because I fractured my collarbone, I have to wear a sling when doing anything other than sitting still. Because I can’t support much weight with my right arm, or move it quickly, it isn’t safe for me to drive. Obviously my wife is delighted with me not being able to take our kids to any clubs, but more seriously it means I’ve had to reassess how I get to meetings and the office on a day-to-day basis.
So what other forms of travel have you been using in the mean-time?
In this case I’m very lucky to work for Fleetondemand, because I’m able to utilise Mobilleo in order to book train travel in place of car journeys. For that tricky last mile, I’m able to use our Ride-hailing feature to book a taxi.
All of the payments for these journeys are via the app so its not leaving me out of pocket, and I’ve found that having everything in one place means I’m not having to spend too long pulling together all the legs of the journeys.
Whilst taking the train is more expensive than the direct-comparison car journey, I have found that I’m far more productive in terms of being able to make calls and produce work than when driving, and I do feel that in a small way I’m helping to reduce congestion on our roads.
The experience has made me realise that taking the car won’t always be the automatic choice in future and planning mode of travel around workload as well as location will be the way forward for me.
Thanks Ross, hope you recover soon!
To find out how Mobilleo can help your business book a demo with one of our friendly team members or give us a call on 0330 3115135.