In an era of high-profile purchases around the coach and bus industry, one that progressed quietly in late 2023 was the sale of transport legal and compliance specialist Backhouse Jones to rradar.
The buyer is “a legal enterprise dedicated to helping business navigate risk,” it says. That mission statement may seem to overlap Backhouse Jones’ specialties, but Director Ian Jones says that the two organisations’ trading models are in fact highly complementary.
Flagship of the Backhouse Jones line-up is the Backup subscription service. It started as a HR-based platform before expanding into regulatory matters, and it gives users access to a specialist lawyer 24/7.
Backup membership also includes Public Inquiry representation, should the operator be called to one; not only does that benefit the subscriber, but it places an onus on Backhouse Jones to ensure early intervention should the client encounter compliance problems. The number of subscribers delivers what Ian describes as “herd benefit” to those that use Backup.
He adds that the subscription service sits close to rradar’s offerings, notably via its strong connections with the insurance industry. Backup aims to maintain an operator’s compliance, and evidence of doing so benefits insurance premiums. As Backup becomes coupled to other parts of the rradar model that major on digitalisation, and Backhouse Jones’ established training and HR expertise is further leveraged, a virtuous circle will come into being.
More will follow on product development for Backhouse Jones, but the business is keen to inform the market why it has become part of a larger group. Overarching key to the agreement is that the Clitheroe business’s brand, products and team – including its leaders – will remain the same, but it still represents major change for a company that can trace its history for 200 years.
Backhouse Jones and rradar: Meeting of entrepreneurial minds
Sale of Backhouse Jones to rradar followed multiple other suitors having been rejected over many years, Ian explains. “We turned down the first offer in 2007 because we were still building a brand, and others have followed,” he adds. So why rradar?
“We met its Chief Executive Gary Gallen in 2022 and saw him as a true entrepreneur, as we view ourselves,” Ian continues, speaking of his fellow Backhouse Jones founders. “Gary’s journey is not unlike ours; he is a lawyer, was an equity partner in a large legal firm, started his own business in 2011, and has built rradar from there.
“We were clear that if we were to sell, we would do so only to someone with an entrepreneurial streak.” That stipulation largely mitigated against private equity to develop the business.
Three things were mandatory if the deal was to proceed: Respect for what Backhouse Jones has built, but also to look at succession; for Backhouse Jones shareholders to become rradar shareholders; and to preserve the standard and integrity of the services that the Lancashire firm offers.
The latter point included retaining its family approach and considering the next generation of young lawyers coming into the transport regulatory profession, Ian adds.
Backhouse Jones had already identified a need to bring in digitalisation of its products and to further enhance Backup. Capital from rradar is allowing that, and Ian sees significant scope for the two businesses to grow in tandem. “Backup will be the same. All Backhouse Jones staff have received shares in rradar; one of the reasons for that is to enthuse the more junior members of our team, who ultimately will become our next leaders,” he continues.
A journey that will continue under new ownership
The idea of bringing together compliance, training, HR and insurance was first floated by a Backhouse Jones client 15 years ago, Ian explains. There will be no expectation that Backup customers take on insurance as part of future development; rather, it will be offered as a complementary bolt-on.
Further information on how Backhouse Jones will leverage rradar’s digitalisation skills will come later, but in the opposite direction there is scope for Backup to gain more clients via insurance circles. Acknowledging the market’s surprise at the sale of Backhouse Jones to rradar, Ian is keen to stress that the move is a positive one for both businesses and their respective clients.
“We have access to significant capital and skills to develop and take our product forward,” he explains. “Our function and ambition is to enhance our brand and service and bring more operators aboard. Because we innovated 10 years ago, we believe we are ahead of the market. Backup is a ‘hard benefit’ to operators. Coach and bus is a small industry, and we have no choice than to deliver what we say we will.”
What of the Backhouse Jones namesakes? James and Jonathon Backhouse have “never been busier,” Ian observes. Of himself: “The Japanese don’t have a word for retirement, and I have decided to honour that concept.”
Founding shareholder Andrew Woolfall – who will continue to wear the hats of transport lawyer and Finance Director – believes that “the future will belong to those who predict it,” and that with capital investment and greater digital services, all six of the business’s Directors “intend to create it.”
