Dennis Parker's personalised transport business LuxLift has given him a new lease on life

Mr Parker, 70, who has called the Hunter home for the last 25 years, had done a lot of driving in his previous job at Laminex as a technical manager training staff and customers.

"I wanted to do some work of some kind. I have always enjoyed driving, and I like meeting people," he says.

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Mr Parker decided to start his personalised, luxury transport company LuxLift, using his Audi Q7 and a trailer, if needed. He mainly does transfers between Sydney airport and Newcastle for clients who have included celebrities Carrie Bickmore, director Rachel Perkins, singer Deni Hines and model Samantha Harris, alongside doctors and executives.

He thinks his niche is the personalised service.

"The transport is private passenger hire, so no matter what you want to do or where you want to go, I'm there. It's door to door," he says.

"There are a number of people who do ring me who are desperate to get someone somewhere in a hurry at all times of the day and night. Some of the other services may do that at a premium and may not be able to react as quickly as me. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from someone who had someone coming in from an international destination, they rang me at 2pm and I was in Sydney at 6am the next morning. Those jobs aren't unusual for me."

Mr Parker has just raised his rates to reflect higher petrol prices and there is pretty much no job he won't do - except go to the Hunter Valley for those attending concerts.

"The reason why is not because I don't want to do the jobs but the parking and the wait to get out of the venues is horrendous and it can be extremely stressful and extremely volatile because people get aggressive," he says.

He believes that in the wake of COVID-19, Hunter tourism operators have put in more effort to put themselves on the map, never more so than in the past year.

"I think it's going extremely well - the fact that a lot of people want to get out and do local travel is helping a lot," says.

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