Carole Nash, a lifelong Manchester City fan, once pipped Manchester United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, to a £23,000 Lowry painting at auction. She could afford it. After her employer closed its vintage motorcycle insurance book, Nash, 69, took over the account and used her redundancy payment to found an insurance broking business in 1985. Turnover at Carole Nash Insurance Consultants was £834 in the first month but now the Cheshire company claims to insure a third of Britain's motorcycles, ranging from modern superbikes to vintage Harleys.

Her company's entry into the car insurance market, with the addition of services such as alarm fitting and a dedicated repair centre, boosted the business. The AA's motorcycle insurance business was acquired in 2004. Nash sold her company to Groupama UK, a subsidiary of a French insurer, in December 2006. Though no details of the deal were disclosed, the price was reckoned to be £70m. The Nash family, who had received £15m of directors' pay since 1998, owned it all.