It took her all over London, with occasional forays further afield, delivering anything from documents to solicitors, and blood to hospitals. The silliest call-out was to deliver a package from the ground floor reception of an office to the fifth floor in the same building. Her organisational skills came to the fore over a decade ago, and she came off the road to work in the office as telephonist, coordinator and radio controller.

Fran explains that: 'The heyday for courier work was about 10 or 15 years ago. Then the fax machine took away a lot of the work, and now e-mail is having the same effect. I like the job, even though it can be quite stressful coordinating a dozen riders and three vans. It’s wonderful when things go smoothly. But then you get a couple of clients whose packages aren’t ready and someone’s not in to receive a letter and the whole day is put out of kilter.

I’m good enough at the job to go away travelling for a while – I’ve been to India and Nepal three times – and find work when I come back. It’s five years since I’ve ridden for the job, but there’s nothing I like better than riding my 750cc Suzuki, which can do 115 mph. She’s been my pride and joy for 12 years.'