Powys Dragon's Den winner Stashed Products wins King's Award
Stashed Products based in Abermule - which won the backing of entrepreneur Touker Suleyman on the BBC programme in February this year - has fresh reason to celebrate after landing the King's Award for Enterprise.
The accolade was in the Innovation category, and Stashed won along with Invertek, meaning that of just eight businesses in Wales to be given a King's Award, two are from Montgomeryshire.
Other winners include The Village Bakery in Wrexham and Bluestone Resorts based in Dyfed.
Launched by Elliott Tanner in 2021, Stashed Products designs and manufactures innovative, space saving bike storage systems for every bike.
The award allows the King's Award logo to be carried by Stashed for five years, and will be officially conferred in due course by a Grant of Appointment made under royal warrant.
Richard Harris, Head of Trade at the Welsh Government and a judge on this year's panel commented: 'It's an absolute privilege to represent Wales as a judge on the Kings Awards and reviewing and appraising the applications which seem to grow in quality year on year never fails to impress.
'The Kings Award is the gold standard, it means something, for me it's the benchmark award for quality that can literally open doors and start conversations across the world, enabling companies to access opportunities that ordinarily might not be available and win business.'
The Dragons' Den deal will see fashion entrepreneur Suleyman take a seven per cent stake in the business - dropping to four after he recoups his cash - in exchange for a £100,000 investment.
Elliott said stepping in front of the Dragons was 'one of the most intense experiences' of his life, but added that he ended up 'enjoying' his time on the show once he got into his stride.
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They are accepted by every reputable car hire company; if they try to convince you that you can't use it and you have to buy theirs, that is wrong. There are some very high pressure selling techniques around at the moment, trying to up-sell you various different things. You have to be strong. You don't need to take a policy out, you've taken an excess care hire policy out in the UK. You could also get yourself an annual, or even a two-week excess waiver policy from a specific company in the UK, too. Document dents The one thing you must do when they hand over the keys to the car is make sure that you take as much video and photographic evidence as possible before you leave. Very often they will give you a form where you're meant to mark little crosses where you see dents, scratches and other problems. But do take photos and videos yourself; it's much more important because it's timestamped and means you have incontrovertible evidence to counter any claims, should they come about. It's really important, if you do see any damage on the car when you pick it up, to make sure you have alerted the hire company. You could say to them: "Look, I've noted this damage. Here's my photo of it. I'm going to be returning it with the same damage on the car, because this was here before I hired the car.' Fill up yourself The fuelling policy that your car hire comes with is really important, too. Make sure you choose to refuel yourself and a 'full to full' option. Don't leave it up to the car company to refuel your car at the end of your trip, because that means they are deciding what the price is. It gives you the opportunity to find a cheaper petrol station. Make sure you fill the car up - if you're having to drive five or 10 miles to get back to the care hire company, that's acceptable. We're seeing exactly the same with electric cars now. It's really important that you're in control of where you are recharging because the prices can vary drastically. 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In several cases, vehicles and services appear to have been issued under a different brand identity, while still being processed within a CARWIZ-branded environment, including signage, uniforms, and physical premises. We fully understand how, from the customer's point of view, this leads to the perception that the service is being provided directly by CARWIZ. When staff in CARWIZ uniforms hand over a vehicle from a CARWIZ-branded office, the distinction between brands is understandably blurred, even if the booking, payment, and contract technically fall under a separate company or brand entity. "We are currently conducting a formal internal review and will take the necessary measures to eliminate all forms of dual-branding at CARWIZ locations in the future. "At CARWIZ International, we continuously monitor, audit, and improve our global network to uphold the standards our brand represents. We are committed to ensuring that every customer feels respected, safe, and well-served."
South Wales Guardian
4 hours ago
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Racing tax: What is it and why is the sport going on strike
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