Pictured above: Dean Oldham, business manager at Brett & Randall and John Bowers, managing director of Bowers and Freeman

A year on from a massive factory fire at Bowers & Freeman, the Leicester Company is back to full capacity. 

It took seven fire engines four hours to put out the blaze in Saffron Road, but by then half of the factory had burned down. 

The fire started when highly volatile celluloid self-combusted on an unusually hot summer's day. It happened even though the company was storing the material correctly in a fireproof room as requested by their insurance company.  

The firm was left with a huge bill and less than half of it's normal working space at the ruined premises. It was a catastrophe that would put many companies out of business. 

Dean Oldham, a Business Manager at the firm's insurance brokers, Brett & Randall, was on the scene within two hours of the fire being discovered. "The road was closed off and flames were licking up the side of the building," he said. "So it was obvious Bowers & Freeman were going to have a very large and complex insurance claim ahead of them."

The most pressing problem was to find a way to get the company back into production so that it could fulfil the orders on its books.

Within a week, with help from their insurance broker, they were working again in temporary accommodation located just a short distance away.

There followed the complicated business of sorting out the insurance claim.

Brett & Randall's Claim Manager, John Tyler, and who is an ex-loss adjustor, worked with Bowers & Freeman director Yvonne Copson to get the insurance claim processed. 

He arranged for interim payments from the insurance company to keep cash flowing. 

Brett & Randall carried out site visits with loss adjustors from the insurance company and handled negotiations with them.

Damage to the factory was severe, and it cost £750,000 to replace machinery and equipment.  Although planning officers were slow to grant planning permission to rebuild the factory, Bowers & Freeman is back to full capacity with 22 employees at the rebuilt and repaired Saffron Road premises a year after the fire.

Yvonne Copson said: "We are so glad we decided to have an insurance broker rather than just dealing with an insurance company directly, as Brett & Randall have proved to be life savers throughout this process. 

"Their experience and advice over the years has resulted in us obtaining better cover and meant that everything damaged in the fire could be replaced." 

Brett & Randall's Dean Oldham said: "There are always challenges with major claims. A disaster like this could have been the death knell for many companies, but we have seen them through."

R E Bowers & Freeman Ltd was established in 1948 by Ronald Bowers, and was originally located in Highcross Street in the city centre. The family-run firm moved to Saffron Road in 1966 where it diversified and expanded considerably under the guidance of Ronald's sons John and Robert. Yvonne Copson, who has worked there for 23 years, is the granddaughter of founder Ronald Bowers.

The company is known worldwide for it's variety of products, including tooling for the packaging of food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; security printing; and heading punches and stamps.