Welcome to 2009. You will have seen on the news that London was covered in snow
on Monday 2nd February, and that the buses were not running.
James Blakemore of JMB Partnership and Martin Williams of EBS went to London on
that afternoon to have a meeting with a Finnish company which was in the UK for
just two days. We were able to travel by train from Warwick on the Chiltern
line, and all the trains were running normally and to timetable.
As a result of our meeting a new company was formed under the Bridge to Growth
program and agreement was made for the marketing activities to start. We do not
allow a little snow to interfere with business development.
The photos are of Martin Williams at Marylebone Railway Station in London, and
in front of the Finnish visitors’ hotel in Gloucester Place, which is just north of Oxford Street and close to
the Swedish Embassy for anyone who knows the area.
The Finns were not impressed that such a small amount of snow could have a big
effect on the city!
I hope that you enjoy our latest UK Business Club Newsletter.
Best regards
Martin Williams
The most efficient way to establish your own company in the UK
The Bridge to Growth program continues to deliver valuable benefits to
businesses wishing to establish in the UK market.
The program is based in the West Midlands region conveniently situated just
north of London and south of Manchester. This region is literally the centre of
England, and is the preferred base for many sales and distribution operations
as well as numerous IT, manufacturing and medical businesses.
The West Midlands is where the British Industrial Revolution started, and it
still has a strong manufacturing base. It is where the dictionary, cotton wool,
the LCD screen, spark plugs, postage stamps and jet engines were all invented.
The region has more business visitors than any other UK region outside the
capital.
With a population of over 5 million in an area of about 13000 km2, it is a good
place to start your expansion into the UK market.
The Bridge to Growth Program is a cooperation between the private and public
sectors which is targeted at companies wishing to establish and employ personel
in the region. It helps companies focus on the important business development
issues by providing a wide range of proven benefits and solutions which are
readily available to qualifying businesses.
Benefits include:-
- A Limited company formed for you free of charge.
- Registered Office and Company Secretarial services free for the first year.
- Office accomodation rent free for 6 months.
- Five days of Market Intelligence research.
- Database of 500 UK companies in a target market of your choice which is yours
to keep.
- General legal and taxation advice on issues that may be relevant to you.
You can find out more about Bridge To Growth by attending one of our forthcoming
seminars. The ones already planned include:-
9th March 2009 Oslo, Norway
10th March 2009 Copenhagen, Denmark
11th March 2009 Stockholm, Sweden
12th March 2009 Helsinki, Finland
All these events take place at the British Embassy between 13.00 and 15.00.
26th March 2009 Frankfurt, Germany at the Messetum, starting at 11.00.
To register for the seminars go to www.bridgetogrowth.com and click on your
national flag.
Travel News
Expansion at Birmingham International Airport
Plans to extend the main runway at Birmingham Airport by another 400 metres have
been approved in principle by the community authorities. This would increase the runway length to 3000 metres, enabling larger aircraft
capable of reaching more distant
destinations such as the west coast of the USA, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo and
Johannesburg with direct flights.
SAS introduce new CRJ900 aircraft to Birmingham
SAS has introduced the new NextGen CRJ900 aircraft on its service from
Copenhagen to Birmingham. The new aircraft, produced by Bombardier, is the most
fuel efficient in its class.
In addition to the environmental and economic benefits the new model
significantly reduces noise pollution as it is 4 times quieter than its
predecessor.
It offers enhanced passenger comfort with a redesigned cabin offering spacious
seats, greater storage facilities, bigger windows and new LED cool lighting
system.
Flight Schedule:
Heathrow
In a separate process plans are being submitted to the Government to build a 12
platform rail terminal at London Heathrow enabling direct fast trains to
Birmingham and Coventry from Heathrow, and increasing even more the fast and
efficient travel connections to the West Midlands Region.
More and faster trains between Birmingham and London
Starting on Monday 15th December a faster and more frequent train service
between Birmingham, Coventry and London was launched.
The GBP13 billion modernisation of the West Coast mainline, linking London,
Coventry, Birmingham and Glasgow, is one of the biggest civil engineering
enterprises for a decade.
There will be more than 1,100 extra trains running on the West Coast line each
week, a 50% increase in trains linking Manchester and Birmingham with London
and services almost doubling at weekends. The line, which is used by 75 million
people a year, will also be able to carry tilting trains with speeds of 200
kilometres per hour.
The result is that there are now 3 trains per hour between Birmingham and London
via Coventry, with journey time reduced to one hour. Journey times from
Birmingham International, for the airport and the National Exhibition Centre,
and Birmingham city centre, and approximately 10 and 20 minutes longer
respectively.
When the alternative service on the Chiltern Line, which goes from Birmingham to
London via Warwick (close to Coventry and the University of Warwick Science
Park) and Leamington Spa, is taken into account, there are five fast trains per
hour between the West Midlands region and London.
Essentially Direct Marketing means an approach by a business to a prospective
customer. Such approaches are regulated in the UK so that unsolicited approaches may not
be made unless the prospect has given the appropriate consent.
How the prospect’s consent is obtained depends on the way the direct marketing approach is made. The rule is slightly different when communication is through the post than for
all other (electronic) forms of communication. Electronic forms of communication include the telephone, faxes and email but not
anything broadcast e.g. by radio communication or over the World Wide Web.
To give consent to a direct marketing, which is made via a traditional postal
service, the prospective customer must actively consent. In other words that consent cannot be given passively or by omitting to do
something. It can be given by omission in relation to direct marketing approaches by
electronic means.
The difference between active and passive consent is subtle. To give active consent (in relation to post) the prospective customer has to do
something e.g. tick a check box. In the case of the passive consent for electronic direct marketing approaches,
the consent may be given by omission e.g. simply leaving a check box blank.
Consent must be in writing but that writing can be electronic e.g. email or over
the World Wide Web. The process of giving consent can and usually is kept very simply i.e. the
ticking of a check box whether on paper or online. Therefore, the difference between the active and passive consents mentioned
above will be in the phrasing e.g:
For postal approaches: “By checking the adjacent box you consent to mail you with other offers that we
believe may be of interest to you.”
For electronic approaches: “Please check the adjacent box if you do not wish us to approach you via
electronic means with offers that we believe may be of interest to you.”
There are just a couple of other rules to be aware of: -
- Services known as Telephone Preference Service and Fax Preference Service are
operated in the UK under statute. These are lists of phone numbers of persons who have declined their consent to
any kind of direct approach selling. It is an offence to market directly to any phone number on that list.
- It is also an offence to use automated phone calling as a form of direct
marketing unless an express consent to that type of contact has been given by
the individual to be approached (automated marketing are mechanical and
pre-recorded messages).
- You may have obtained the details of a customer or prospective customer during
other dealings or negotiations with that person. The fact that you have that information is not of itself enough to allow you to
do any direct marketing in relation to future or other transactions.
These obligations are additional to those under the Data Protection legislation
relating to the way in which you treat and use personal data and which are not
covered by this note.
Please let us know if you would like advice on data protection obligations or
any of the above issues.
This article was provided by Peter Manford of the Bridge to Growth partner
Martineau. To contact him, email peter.manford@martineau-uk.com
