subject: What is a chauffeur? [print this page] What is a chauffeur? What is a chauffeur?
Whether or not you've had the pleasure of experiencing what a chauffeur does or not, the role and history of the emergence of this profession is rather fascinating. A chauffeur, at a very basic level could be boiled down to essentially a hired automobile driver; however, history tells us that such conclusions do the profession an injustice.
Depending on your age, you may remember the chauffeur as playing an integral part of many fantastic television programmes probably the most memorable being Parker' in the 1960's puppet TV series Thunderbirds'. The role of Parker went far beyond just simply a driver; in his case, he was also employed as a butler, and there is some truth behind the notion of a chauffeur fulfilling a range of services to their clientele besides simply driving.
The origins of this relationship between driver and client date back to when automobiles first became available as a form of public transport. Not surprisingly, it was only the very rich that could afford them. In addition to that, there was also a great deal more involved in maintaining and running an automobile than there is today; for example, in early vehicles, there was no such thing as electrical ignition to initiation combustion (what we enjoy now through the use of spark plugs powered from a battery), instead, the driver would need to pre-heat hot tubes' within the engine head to ignite the fuel in the first instance. This is one example of why a chauffeur might be employed to take care of the intricacies of the automobile, allowing the client to concentrate themselves on other things. In addition to starting the vehicle and driving it, a chauffeur would also be responsible for maintain all aspects of the vehicle including cleaning it inside and out, and performing mechanical maintenance too.
But wait, there's more! As previously mentioned, chauffeurs have historically been attributed to much more than the above aspects of their job, but they also in many cases have formed a very integral part of VIP's close protection teams. Many professional chauffeurs are specifically trained in very advanced driving techniques including evasive manoeuvres, high-speed driving, and defensive driving techniques. These ensure that the clientele has optimum protection from potential sources of harm on the road. Further training in addition to these techniques is not uncommon, including aspects of awareness training to spot potentially dangerous situations or tails' before they become serious problems.
Nowadays, the role of the chauffeur, whilst evolved along with their vehicles, is still very much alive; and in some cases chauffeurs are also relied upon as confidents since they are typically in a unique position to the clientele, where a strong relationship of trust is vitally important.
