The owner of a growing transport company said he would love to wrap one of his coaches in Watford FC club colours and drive the team to the FA Cup final.

Peter Evans, managing director of MET Minibus Executive Travel in north Watford, said having the opportunity to transport the FA Cup finalists to their next victory would be a “marvellous” experience.

The self-starter who lives in Loudwater moved to London from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales in 1980 when Hoover closed down costing his town 5,000 well-paid jobs.

After a stint in banking and another job at Ford, he began delivering newspapers for WHSmith in Watford to the surrounding areas, seven-days-a-week come rain or shine.

Peter, who is a keen sportsman, was inspired to start his own company driving people throughout Hertfordshire after a conversation with a friend.

Watford Observer:

Peter Evans

From there, the now 63-year-old business owner, won contracts with many private schools in the area and gradually built his company into the MET Minibus Executive Travel brand it is today.

He said his love for sport engendered a “fighting” quality in him that pushes the father-of-two to be better today than yesterday.

Speaking to the Watford Observer he said: “‘Driven by success’ is the slogan on my website and I still have the same drive now that I had 25 years ago, I don’t know where it comes from.

“I was quite clever as a boy, perhaps more sports minded, but just because you don’t work hard initially does not mean you cannot get on in life.

“I say to myself every day if I wake up and I’m not driven to be better than I was yesterday then that’s the day I don’t want to be in business.

“I actually go back to private hire customers to talk to them after a job to ask how we performed the night before because I’m so driven. And if we didn’t do well that would drive me to make up for that day.

“As a youngster I played semi-professional football, table tennis, anything with a racket really - I was quite good. And those fighting qualities in sport have transferred over to my work ethic.

“If I notice someone else is doing something better, I ask myself ‘what can I do to get to that level?”

Watford Observer:

Peter decided to build his own brand after a colleague told him they were making more money in one night driving people around London having converted a van into a minibus.

He bought a minibus straight away, upgraded his licence and began asking for contracts around Hertfordshire.

“There were no computers in those days,” he said. “So, I had to go out and find work. I wrote to local authorities asking about school contracts.

“But what I didn’t know was Watford and Hertfordshire had lots of private schools, and if you’re not in the industry you wouldn’t know that.

“I wrote to them and some got back to me saying they needed my services in mornings and afternoons.

“I had to say yes even though I didn’t have the vehicles. I was still delivering papers too.

“Then another company pulled out of a contract a month before it was due to start with another school, so I took that one on too. I went from one to three buses immediately.

“Now we have 25 buses and we have a really upmarket coach service too. We do lots of sports events and we also work with Camelot, The Grove and Costco - building the company to what it is today.

“We transport the Saracens and do all the big sports events like The Ashes, but I’d like to drive the Watford FC team now. I told the club I’d like to wrap my coach in the colours and take the team and its bosses to the FA Cup final. That would be marvellous.”

Peter has lived in Loudwater for 12 years. He is married to wife Rosa, has two children and one grandson.

www.metcoaches.co.uk