A FAMILY-run Darlington company has clinched business from a major plc to supply minibuses to Hurworth House School.

Orbit Vehicles hopes to double turnover to more than £3m in the next few years.

Orbit, a small business set up six years ago, has won a £50,000 contract with the private school to provide two minibuses.

The previous supplier to the school was Darlington plc Northgate, which is a multi-million pound business.

The vehicles are Renault-built, and Orbit believes it won the contract because it undercut its rivals on price.

Mike Crawley, director of Orbit Vehicles, which is based on Weir Street, Darlington, said: "We effectively won the contract from Northgate, because they had it before. They still have one vehicle on contract from Northgate, but we have supplied the other two new minibuses."

It is now in negotiations with another private school, St Bees, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, to supply minibuses there.

Orbit specialises in new and nearly-new commercial vehicles, as well as minibuses and fridge vans, on contract hire.

Mr Crawley set the business up with his family after spending his working life in the motor business, selling cars and vans in several dealerships.

He said: "We tend to get more work from outside the area - we supply vehicles all over the UK.

"It is something we are specialising in, because not many people do minibuses, and specialise in being able to convert them.

"We recently did some minibuses for a company in Shildon, who wanted a converted minibus to be able to get wheelchairs in. It is a niche market.

"We are negotiating with quite a few schools at the moment, including St Bees, as that is an area we are really specialising in."

Mr Crawley said he hoped to grow the business to more than a £3m turnover - but didn't want to get any bigger than that.

"Our business is more one-to-one with our clients," he said. "We don't want to get too big because it would ruin the special service we provide.

"The key to our business is sitting down with a client and finding out exactly what their needs are, then solving the problems for them, such as converting a minibus, that larger dealers don't want to be bothered with."

He said the firm may create one or two jobs in the next year, but wanted to keep it in the family.

He also hopes to increase Orbit's profile locally. Although it does business across the UK, he said he hoped to win more contracts in the North-East as well.

For more information, visit www.orbitvehicles.co.uk