A Polish migrant whose first job in Britain was working unpaid as a London cycle courier now has a medical delivery business turning over £7million a year.
Alex Landowski arrived 13 years ago with just his bicycle and £200. At 24, he had no plan and found himself sleeping on the floor of his friend’s bedroom, in a tiny property that was home to 10 other migrants.
Now his hi-tech firm, Medical Logistics – which recently launched a ground-breaking drone delivery scheme – is the capital’s only 24/7 dedicated medical courier service. And he employs a team of 25 staff and more than 50 contractors.
Alex, 37, moved to the UK hoping to make enough money to repay a debt from a failed business in Poland.
He says: “I’d got some money from the government and I opened up a shop selling sneaker shoes. But I was young and inexperienced. I made a lot of money quickly and I wasn’t ready for anything like that mentally. I became sloppy and lost everything. I had to pay back the government about £20,000.”
Alex’s family took care of the debt until he could find ways to repay it – and with his last £200 and limited English, he headed to London. He says: “With its size, I felt, you’ll actually be able to do something there.”
After weeks searching for a job, he finally found a role as a bike courier – but working for free.
He recalls: “I was already low on my £200 and started to run out of money. I couldn’t keep cycling round London for no money, so I quit. But those three weeks gave me an understanding of London – I could now tell people I had experience.”
It enabled him to get another bike courier job, this time with pay, and he could save enough to rent his own room. But with limited income, he was soon back to living in the shadows – illegally squatting in an empty warehouse near Old Street in North London.
He recalls: “There were loads of weird people, but there was water and electricity and you didn’t have to pay any bills.”
Two months later, bailiffs turned up trying to clear the property.
Alex says: “I was home by myself and there were some big guys banging on the door, kicking the door. They wanted to kick us out. I decided I needed to move on.”
He was able to find another room to rent on a “typical council estate” in Bethnal Green. Determined to improve his lot, he became one of his employer’s top riders within a year and saw his income double from £30 a day to £60.
But after years in the bike courier business, Alex decided he had done enough of the legwork and felt ready to become his own boss again.
He says: “My former employer was small but very good, they had a good service level. And I was thinking, there was nobody providing dedicated medical couriers in London with that kind of service level. That was my plan.”
Securing a £50,000 investment from a friend, Alex started delivering to GPs and clinics himself.
And the success has given him the chance to take things to another level – using drones to deliver urgent blood supplies, medicine and lab samples. The venture is part of an investment with UK aerial solutions partners Skyfarer and Altitude Angel.
Alex, who studied political science and journalism at university before leaving to sell trainers, adds: “Drones are a natural path forward – the tech can save lives, time and the environment. Delivering organs is not far off.”
But he admits: “I never expected it to take off like this.”
Alex now lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two kids and hopes to gain UK citizenship. And he is proud to have been able to create jobs, saying: “It’s my way of saying thank you for letting me in.
“The UK has always treated me good. Every time I tell this story, it has some positive impact.”
Fizza Qureshi, of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “We know migrants enrich communities and have a positive impact on our society when they are given safe havens and the right conditions to thrive.”
