From humble beginnings (above a chip shop)…
In Autumn last year we were asked to help Green Flag, the roadside vehicle recovery service, celebrate a major milestone – It’s 50th birthday. Five decades on from it’s very humble beginnings, from a conversation in a pub to a serious rival to the AA and RAC.
To help celebrate the big 5-0 Green Flag asked The Frying Squad to travel to Manchester, Bristol, and London to give out free portions of fish and chips to locals who had seen the publicity campaign and turned up with a voucher.
And if anyone happened to say “What’s the catch?” we could say “there isn’t one… apart from the fish itself, obviously.” The catch in question being our succulent cod, sourced from sustained Icelandic waters, line caught, and served skinless and boneless.
But why fish and chips? Because, 50 years ago the company’s first office was actually above a fish and chip shop in Bradford.
The Green Flag Story
Green Flag started as an idea between two friends, Bob Slicer and Jeffery Pittock, as an alternative to the AA and RAC, but using a network of local garages and mechanics to deliver recovery and repair services, instead of patrolling mechanics.
Originally known as the National Breakdown Recovery Club, the service originally only covered breakdowns within a fifty mile radius of their Morley Street base, but within three years, NBRC had become the largest breakdown recovery firm in the country, with over 100,000 members.
In 1984, NBRC was acquired by National Car Parks (NCP), and five years later moved to new purpose built headquarters in Pudsey, which were opened by Diana, Princess of Wales.
The company was renamed Green Flag in 1994 and, in 1999, became part of Direct Line when it purchased the business for £220m. June 2008 saw Green Flag announce that it would be branding four hundred vans across its network, to match its marketing.