Lost & Found Courier Services - In the Beginning

Thought it was time to introduce myself formally and give you some insight into how the company started.  My name is Darrin Armstrong, and I am the founder and Managing Director of Lost & Found Courier Services Ltd.

I started the company nearly 5 years ago after what can only be described as a 'light bulb' moment.  I had been working as a self-employed courier driver for around 11 years for the same company.  As much as I enjoyed my job and the freedom of being self-employed, I needed a new challenge and started to think of ways to set up my own courier company.  Based in close vicinity to Heathrow Airport there was no shortage of courier companies.  Many of which had been trading for decades and the was no way I could compete with these so-called big boys in the courier industry.  For several months I continued to brainwave the idea of a new courier company, but what could I specialise in?  Was there a demand out there that had not yet been covered by other courier companies?

Literally like divine intervention I had that light bulb moment and thought, "Who deals with lost property that gets left behind?" I began to google lost property couriers, I couldn’t find any, not in the Heathrow area anyway.  The more I investigated this idea the more the idea began to grow.  Not only lost property at Airports, but what about Train Stations, Arena's and Hotels?  I continued to look further into whether there were any courier companies that were set up specifically to collect and deliver lost property, I could find none! Eureka!!! This was the moment I decided to launch out as a courier company that would specialise in the collection and delivery of Lost property!

The name for the company was not hard to choose and I soon began to work on a logo.  I was determined to build a company that from the outset would be professional in approach not only to the customers but also to the companies I would be approaching.  Therefore, I had a professional website created along with business cards and of course a company uniform.  I was keen to make a good impression rather than just turning up to airlines or hotels looking like one man and his van.  But, in the beginning that was very much the case, I was just one man and his van!

It was always my intention to build a company on good standards, the type of service that I would expect to receive if my property had been lost.  To not view this opportunity as just another item to deliver.  But to treat each case in a way that was personable, professional and most of all offer a prompt service.

Like any new company there were many challenges that lay ahead and a lot of learning on the job so too speak.  I continued to deal with general courier work and managed to build connections with a few companies which kept me busy.  But my true passion was still very much lost and found items and slowly over the years more people got in touch via my website, which was beginning to move up the rankings on google.

The general courier side of the business really took off, so I decided to take on other drivers to help cover the work.  From the outside looking in the company was growing.  I had other drivers working for me, but it was at the expense of the Lost Property side and that was my passion and the whole reason I started the business.  I decide to strip the work back freeing me up to concentrate on the lost property side.  This meant letting the drivers go as there wouldn’t be enough work for all of us, in order to re-focus on the lost property side.

The main breakthrough came when a couple of the airlines at the Airport began to recommend me directly to their passengers who had left items.  The floodgates were opened as more and more enquires began to come in daily.  I am grateful for the early years and although the process was slow and at times frustrating.  It enabled me to learn more about the challenges there are when dealing with lost property and to build a blueprint which enabled me to deal with the new influx of cases.

Although we are seeing less enquires due to the pandemic, things are beginning to pick up again.  I remain just as focused and determined to ensure that Lost & Found Courier Services become a specialised company bridging a gap in the industry that enables people to be reunited with their lost property.

And as travel becomes more accessible again my aim is to continue to build the company up and providing a first class service in the lost property industry.