John Coombes

John Coombes took over the leading chauffeur business that his father built in 1995, and hopes to pass it on to his own children.

But the 54-year-old grandfather is overwhelmed with fears for the future of Fylde Executive Cars as coronavirus restrictions hammer demand.

He has cut staff and sold vehicles to try to keep the Lancaster business afloat – but some days questions if it is worth it.

“I consider myself the captain of a ship who can see the barrier reef coming,” says the former Tory parliamentary candidate who led Fylde Borough Council as a councillor between 2007 and 2011. “I have asked the crew to throw everything we don’t need over the side.

“Some of them have had to jump overboard themselves, and now I have one lifeboat left with one seat and I don’t know whether to get in it or go down with the ship.”

Demand crashed 99pc as lockdown started in late March. The firm has had government support through a grant and the furlough scheme, but that is far from enough as rules prevent demand from recovering.

Mr Coombes has already had to make 11 of his 16 staff redundant, while more than 60 self-employed drivers face steep income cuts as government support winds down. He and other directors have also taken steep pay cuts.

He now wants people to be allowed to get back to normal, while being aware of the risks. “In all my time in politics, the biggest single factor was people’s livelihoods,” he says. “The challenges in society were where people had no money and no prospects.”

Mr Coombes’s father, John Snr, died in 2018. “I’m sure he would have said: ‘Let’s carry on, son’.”