J A JOHNSTONE CHAUFFEUR DRIVE - Key Persons
Owner Jim Johnstone started out as a salesman travelling throughout the Scottish Highlands and Islands selling food products to the catering industry. When he was about 24 years old it finally dawned on him that, whilst the travelling part was great, he was not really cut out to be a salesman.
As a 'short term measure' he applied for a license to operate a taxi in his home town of Inverness, and in July of 1981 his new career began.
He very quickly realised there was a market for a higher quality service combined with a firm guarantee of standards, so within the year he made his first moves toward providing just that for both business and tourist travellers. In particular he recognised that when it came to private touring people were certainly looking for a clean quality vehicle, but of equal importance was the abilities of their driver. It had to be someone who not only knew where they were going, but also something about the history and culture of the places they were visiting. A learning process began and it was not long before travel agents from various parts of the world started to seek Jim Johnstone as the driver/guide for their clients visits to Scotland.
Though operating in partnership with others in the early years Jim soon took overall control and the business became J A Johnstone Chauffeur Drive.