A TEESSIDE business has marked 30 years in the region by appointing a new MD.
Bedale Insurance Brokers was established in 1981 by Martin Littleton, Peter Atkinson and David Carter when they decided to leave their previous employer, a firm of Lloyds Insurance Brokers, and venture out on their own.
The company initially secured premiums and investments worth more than £1m, many in the farming and rural communities of North Yorkshire.
When they “ran out of chimney pots” to insure in the Dales and they took the decision in 1988 to move to larger offices in Northgate, Darlington.
Three decades on, BiB, as it is now known, employs nearly 90 staff, has a premium income of more than £35m and over £25m of clients’ funds under investment across the region.
All three original directors have since stepped down from the day to day running of the business and former commercial director Brian Jackson has taken on the mantle of managing director of the broking side of the business.
Brian, who has 23 years’ service with the firm, said: “We still have original clients on the books, which I think says something for the job we are doing.
“A lot of our clients are like friends and we will never lose that personal touch, nor the fact that we are easy to do business with.”
The firm is also now back in Bedale, having acquired Scanlan Insurance Services there in 2006, while the underwriting company is in separate offices in Valley Street, Darlington, under the control of managing director Stephen Record.
Many of the staff have stayed on too and the company has a combined service of 717 years.
Brian said: “We have seen such a lot of change and cycles. Insurance companies seem to be forever changing their names or merging making it difficult for the layman to keep track. For me, if people say we are ‘insured’ by BiB that is the biggest testament to our work.”
Alternative energy projects are the latest challenge for the firm with specialist policies required to insure assets and income streams.