VPS Story

Cye Elliott was Travel Industry Service Manager for Hertz Rent a Car. She was made redundant after the Oil Crisis in 1974.

Tom Dugdale, a travel Agent in Manchester, asked Cye to handle their visas, whilst she looked for another job; “What’s a visa?” was her reply! The first visa Cye obtained was from the Polish consulate for John Jurkowski from Turner Brothers Asbestos.

The main visa requests in the 1970′s were for the Soviet Countries, the Middle East, Nigeria and Zaire. Machinery from the North of England was in great demand. Transit visas were needed for truck drivers delivering goods to the Middle East. Each trip involved six visas, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Ninety six page ‘Jumbo Passports’ were available back then, and long distance haulage drivers could fill their passports with visas within two years by crossing the Eastern Block and the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia was a popular destination for businesses and entrepreneurs. Visas were usually very urgent, they would be returned to the applicant by train via British Rail’s Red Star Parcel Service. Visa forms were always completed by hand and the visa fee was gratis or very minimal. The UK Government was among the first to introduce fee’s which at the time was a £20 fee for Commonwealth visitors to the UK.

Fast forward forty years and travel bureaucracy has increased greatly and it is no longer as simple or as straightforward as it was in the late 1970′s. However, as a company we do get satisfaction in helping you clear any of the many bureaucratic hurdles you may encounter when applying for travel documentation.

Wendy, Karolina and Lucy all have a wealth of experience that ensures we have remained at the forefront of the visa industry throughout the many global changes that have occurred since the company’s inception. Our company policy is to process your applications and return to you in the fastest time possible.

We are a Small Family Business and pride ourselves on our depth of knowledge, quality of service and personal approach to our clients and affiliates in this industry.