Starting a business. I want to buy a small hovercraft and give people rides in Southsea, UK?

Question

Can I do this? I was thinking of having a small 5-person hovercraft on the beach at Southsea, and give them 15-minute rides on the sea for £8 each. Is this a sensible idea?

What sort of license or insurance would I need? And permission from the council to run the hovercraft from the beach?

Any other considerations for the business?

Thanks

Answer 1

Contact your local Business Link for free help and advice on starting your business.  They'll guide you through the process for working out whether your business is likely to be viable, how you're going to attract your customers and all the legal side of things.  Public Liability insurance is going to be high for something like you're proposing.

The CAB also has information on licences that businesses require.

By the time you load and unload your passengers you're looking, realistically at 3 trips per hour.  Assuming a full load of passengers per trip that's £120 for an hour or £960 for a full day.  Is it likely that you can achieve that and will it cover all your expenses, give you a living wage and leave a bit of profit?  How many months of the year can you reasonably expect to run this and what are the charges for storing the hovercraft out of season?

Good luck!

Answer 2

Well firstly you will need to calculate if you are making a loss or profit.

Answer 3

Well there used to be hovercraft services in the UK (Hoverspeed?) . I think they all disappeared. Reason? Don't know, but you should find out. Maybe environmental. I think they are classified as aircraft rather than boats. So you might need a pilot's licence.