A Burton firm specialising in the production of vehicle number plates saw its business boom in the early 1980s.
Burton Specialist Services started life at a small Woodville factory in 1978, but by 1983 its turnover was projected to be close to £1.5 million.
The firm was so successful that branches were set up in Birmingham and Coventry and the firm employed more than 100 agents for its products.
By 1983, Burton Specialist Services was producing around 80 per cent of the number plates for new cars registered in the area from Burton to Loughborough.
The factory at the Boardman Industrial Estate, in Swadlincote, was producing close to 600 number plates a week which, added together to the other factory units, gave the firm a production rate of around 5,000 number plates every week.
The firm had famous sporting links too as former Burton Albion and Notts County striker Jon Nixon was a senior sales representative while David Needham, who played for Notts County, Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers, was a director.
In 1983 the firm installed new machines to enable them to produce embossed number plates.
Speaking in June 1983, managing director David Grundy said the new process was a manually operated press and inking rollers system known by the name BOSS. A screen printing department was also in development which would enable garages to add their branding to the number plates.
When the company was founded in 1978, it began life repairing radiators for cars and commercial vehicles.
Mr Grundy had previously worked for another number plate business and decided to set up his own firm.
It didn’t take long for the business to grow with factories opening in Birmingham in 1980 and then in Coventry in 1981.
The Boardman Industrial Estate unit was purchased in 1983 as a bare shell, with the Swadlincote workforce of 20 people carrying out the rest of the building work.
Speaking in 1983 about the risks involved with setting up a new business and opening branches in big cities, Mr Grundy said: "We never even thought about the risk. We knew we had a good competitive product. We are really excited about the future. We hope to double our turnover and take on more staff."
