I had been covered by private health care for 20 years as part of my employment package with a variety of companies in my Senior Management career in the clothing industry. As a lot of the industry is now offshore, I was made redundant and I lost my private medical cover. Soon after this I had a nasty accident, which showed me the difference between private health care and the NHS leaving me with a passionate belief in the need for private medical cover.

After speaking to WPA representatives at a franchise exhibition I was impressed with what they had to say. I especially liked the fact that the company has a thorough recruitment process that ensures only the best people become franchisees. Additionally, I wanted to join a franchise that offered a good support and mentoring system, which WPA does.

As well as being allocated a mentor for my first two years of trading, I also had one weeks' training before launching my franchise. Since I'm no longer under the mentor scheme I'm now in close contact with the team at the northern support office who have helped me tremendously. I think of myself as very fortunate to be a WPA franchisee and I enjoy the fact that I get to provide a high quality product as well as being part of the WPA team. Since launching my business I have had a £100,000 a year increase in turnover and in the future I'm aiming to continue this and increase the number of people working for me.