22/01/2026
We wanted to share our Excell journey so far with a lovely story from our wonderful MD Tina 🌟🌟
31 years since I started Excell Lift Truck Training Ltd in 1995! I qualified as an RTITB Instructor in 1992 and took the plunge as a one woman band in 1995. No computer then, just a golf ball typewriter (remember them?). Everything had to be hand typed. I had a Kodak instant camera and stood all 3 candidates together on one photo. I’d cut round them and stick their heads onto a card and laminate it to make their ID Card - real Blue Peter stuff! A second-hand TV and my VHS video player from home was used to play safety videos. Trucks didn’t always have power steering but I could teach, type, and was a trainee chartered accountant for a short time after leaving school so I could manage a bank reconciliation and do my own invoices etc and having been a recruitment consultant meant I was good on the phone and was familiar with dealing with sales and understanding customer needs. A real head cook and bottle washer in those early days! Finding customers, servicing those customers, getting paid, paying staff and overheads - It’s been a journey and everyone on LinkedIn who runs a small business knows it tough, it takes grit, determination and the ability to keep a calm head while robbing Peter to pay Paul a lot of the time but I’ve been privileged to work with amazing staff, to have forged some great relationships with customers, suppliers and awarding bodies , and and to have had the support of some great sub-contractors, all of whom have contributed to Excell Lift Truck Training Limited’s longevity. The sign in my office reads “Everyone brings joy to this office - some when they enter, and some when they leave!” A sense of humour is key to staying sane in business and I appreciate everyone who’s been there for me in 31 years, you’ve brought me joy when you’ve walked in - and to the few who’ve brought me joy when you’ve left, well you know who you are!