THE former chairman of Standish Self Drive has launched a new daily rental company called Easi-Rent with a vow to shun businesses demanding the cut-throat daily rental rates that plunged his old firm into crisis. Nick Hanley has launched Wigan-based Easi-Rent to former clients of Standish with a 500-strong fleet saying he has learnt harsh lessons from the collapse of his former business, which went into receivership with debts estimated at more than £10 million.

He said most of the problems were caused by cut-throat rental rates from rivals preventing him bringing in rate rises needed to offset crippling residual value losses on the firm's stock. And he added that it was impossible to compete with rivals offering rates as low as £80 per week for a Ford Mondeo and £47 per week for a small van when the industry was being hit hard by falling used vehicle prices.

'We will concentrate on the northwest of England now and leave the 'big boys' to kill themselves in the their own battlefields,' said Hanley. 'The players in the major cities are still charging ridiculous rates and throwing away millions of pounds to win business. I was hoping they would put their prices up in the new year, but they have not. Rates are less than they were 13 years ago.'