Otago Limousines owner John Gonsalves has hit the brakes on his two-year career as a limo driver, in that time ferrying an estimated 1500 people around the city and its surrounds.
Mr Gonsalves, who also owns Big John’s Mobility Express, said he sold his 2005 Ford Falcon BA stretched limousine earlier this month because life was getting just too busy.
So busy he only found the time to give the vehicle a wash and hand over the keys yesterday.
"I haven’t got time for a limo any more," Mr Gonsalves said.
"I’ve had it for two years and it’s been a lot of fun.
"I’m sad to see it go."
The limousine once belonged to a Taupō businessman whose tourism business shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was valued at about $55,000.
"One’s enough, trust me — this cost me a fortune.
"I won’t miss putting money into it all the time, I can tell you that."
The life of a limousine driver involved weddings, airport trips, hen nights, stag dos and a lot of children’s birthday parties.
He once drove some children up to Larnach Castle for high tea on their birthday, which was cool, if not "a wee bit over the top", he said.
A lot of time was spent cleaning; the limousine needed to be freshened up after each job.
"Kids have God knows what — lollies, bubble gum. You’ve got to clean that all off."
Everyone was mostly well-behaved.
"It’s only been trashed twice. Both of those times I wasn’t driving it.
"Vomit and broken glass and alcohol poured into seats — it’s 400 bucks to clean it properly."
Mr Gonsalves said he would miss the fun of chauffeuring people around on Friday and Saturday nights.
He recalled driving a group of women from Maori Hill to Oamaru one night for dinner.
"They were drinking bottles of Champagne all night.
"It started in the afternoon, like about 2pm, and I think we got back about 11.30pm.
"Fun night, real hard cases — probably one of the better nights I’ve had."
They even took their rubbish away with them, he said.
Otago Limousines would continue operating under new management.
