INTERVIEW
CHECKATORNADO When a freakish 100mph tornado ripped apart the small seaside town of Selsey, it left a trail of destruction - but it also gave birth to one of the most spectacular business success stories in the South East. Kevin Byrne, MD of Checkatrade, tells Platinum Business Magazine how the company was born out of his desire to prevent rogue traders taking advantage of the vulnerable and how his faith has driven him forward.
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s a child, Kevin Byrne was wracked with anxiety, lacking in any self-confidence and plagued by a feeling of insecurity.
The son of a military policeman, he was moved around the globe, from school to school, never staying anywhere long enough to form any proper friendships. His nervousness manifested itself in a speech impediment, requiring speech therapy from the age of four onwards. When he was ten, his gregarious father went into hospital for a biopsy to investigate a shadow on his lung. The anaesthetist pumped him with enough anaesthetic to put an elephant to sleep, in act that can only be described as gross negligence. He wasn’t expected to come around, and when he did 20 years of his memory had been wiped out, including any idea that he had a wife or kids. Unable to cope, he turned to drink with his personality tumbling into a darker place. As a young adult, Kevin struggled to provide
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