Queen of the opticians Dame Mary Perkins is used to rubbing shoulders with
celebrities in her line of work and often has dinner with fashion guru Gok
Wan.
“He’s great fun and likes to involve everyone when he’s in a restaurant,” says
Dame Mary. “He helps us with our big fashion show ‘Spectacle Wearer of the
Year’ and he wears our frames. He comes to Guernsey quite often to see us
and I’ve even met up with him in Australia. We’ve also had Penny Lancaster
hosting the show.”
Dame Mary, 64, founded Specsavers in 1984. It now has over 1,200 stores and
20,000 staff in the UK and is expanding globally. Each week the company,
which remains privately owned by Dame Mary, sells 100,000 pairs of glasses
and has a turnover in excess of £1 billion a year. Dame Mary travels
frequently from her base in Guernsey to the UK, and to visit staff in
Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia.
Is it non-stop parties in the spectacle world?
No, but we do like to have a bit of fun amid all the work! I go to functions
put on by companies or associations that we work with, like Diabetes UK or
Age Concern, but I wouldn’t call that non-stop partying.
How do you travel from Guernsey?
We have two King Air turboprop planes which carry nine passengers. They fly
four times a day to Southampton, where we have a big IT centre, and twice a
day to the East Midlands and from there we can go to the offices. As well as
the scheduled runs, I also use the plane to go to other short haul
destinations, like Cork and Amsterdam. But we always try to fill them up
with staff and I don’t have any branding on them. I don’t want to give
people the impression that we’re wasting money on company jets when really
they are useful workhorses for getting around.
Is it the lap of luxury inside?
Well, we can pull the tables out and have tea and coffee and they also have a
toilet on board. They are quite comfy but, no, they’re not like the ones you
see in the glossy magazines.
What is the advantage of using the planes?
It’s all about convenience and saving time. You have your own private handlers
so it’s so much quicker when you arrive at an airport because there’s no
waiting around at the carousel for your luggage. At some airports, a car can
drive up to the plane to meet you. Also, I’m not domicile in the UK, so it’s
important I don’t spend more than 90 nights in the UK for tax reasons. The
planes allow me to start early and then return late at night and in reality
I only spend about 12 nights in the UK every year. We do pay tax in
Guernsey, but it’s a flat rate of 20 per cent. I could live in Sark and pay
nothing, but it’s a bit barren.
Do you ever get frightened on such a small plane?
