QSI Awards 2021

Steve Sommerfeld

Steve’s background was in high street retail sales management and customer services. He came into the London executive car service industry in 1992 as a fledgling chauffeur and quickly progressed to controller then project/operations manager, successfully building and developing the chauffeur services for West One and consequently Lewis Day Chauffeur over a 15-year period.

Steve’s extremely high standards for customer service and quality were diligently applied to any fleet of chauffeurs he managed, winning prestige contracts and loyal high-end clients. Steve left Lewis Day in 2008 to run an independent chauffeur service, England Limousines, which grew healthily during the banking crisis period and went on to win several QSi Awards. Steve was interviewed by The Telegraph newspaper due to the prestige reputation of the small company and its growing collection of A-List celebrities and globally powerful businessmen and politicians. England Limousines’ trademark contract was working each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Steve was a co-founder of Chauffeur Training Academy in 2014 and wrote the UK’s first Level 3 Award in Chauffeuring Protocol and Etiquette Skills.

Steve sold his businesses in 2016 and took a year off in Spain, returning to the UK to become a successful freelance security driver/chauffeur. He trained and qualified as a SIA licenced Close Protection Operative and as a First Aid First Responder. He is a RoSPA Gold qualified advanced driver and has other civilian security and First Aid qualifications under his belt.

In 2019 Steve joined the Marshall Group of Companies in Cambridge, which incorporates Marshall Aerospace and Defence. He manages a small in-house team of security chauffeurs for the group and is raising standards with the team, including ensuring all members are trained and qualified to RoSPA Gold standards.

Steve volunteers his spare time to help run an industry non-profit, the Guild of Professional Chauffeurs as Chairman. The fast-growing Guild strives to raise standards and set a benchmark within the industry, supporting its members and improving the reputation of chauffeuring.