Sat left school with only a handful of O-levels, and joined a YTS scheme as a trainee mechanic on £27.50 a week.
But even back in the early 1980s, when many teenagers on such schemes were sulkily cooling their heels waiting for clocking out time, young Sat had big ambitions.
His parents had arrived in Britain from India in the 1960s. His mum stayed at home to look after Sat and his four siblings, while his father worked long hours in a factory.
"My father worked very hard," says Sat. "And while I respected what he did, I wanted to do better for myself. We were all brought up with a very strong work ethic, and were taught that you had to work hard for things.
"As a result I'd always been keen on earning money - I had a paper round and even sold stuff like conkers at school.
"I was also keen to get into the world of work, that's why I took on a Saturday job at a local plant hire firm cleaning out the trucks and helping out in the shop. And when they offered me a full-time job at 16, I grabbed the opportunity."
The job was at Unipart in Sat's home town of Coventry. From working in the yard, a young Sat soon found himself managing the shop, and by the time he was 19, he became a depot manager. Within a couple of years Sat was promoted again to area manager, however he decided to leave Unipart and join A-Plant.
"I've only ever worked for two companies," laughs Sat. "But at that time, I felt Unipart had no real direction and when I saw an advert for a depot manager at A-Plant in the Midlands, which, in my view, was a dynamic company with an aggressive growth strategy, I applied and got the job."
Once at A-Plant, a driven Sat set about moving up the ranks and soon became operations director of 29 depots across the south east.
He says: "At that time it was a great opportunity for me. I'd always lived in the Midlands but I was a single man and relished the chance to move to another part of the country."
In 1998, Sat was offered the job of managing director for the north west, in charge of more than 60 depots. Then, four years later, when the chief executive for the A-Plant group retired, Sat took over at the helm at only 34.
A-Plant is the UK's second biggest hire firm with a £215m turnover and more than 2,000 staff. It is part of the FTSE250-listed Ashtead Group and last year made a 46 per cent rise in profits to £30.2m.
From its 215 depots, the group supplies more than 30,000 customers in the construction and industrial markets with equipment ranging from large plant such as dumpers and excavators to air-powered tools and heaters as well as specialist equipment including accommodation units and traffic control products. A-Plant is the second biggest in the sector behind Newton-le-Willows' Speedy Hire, which has recently announced a downturn in certain areas of its business. But Sat says that the two are very different companies.
He says: "Speedy predominately operates in the small tool market, however at A-Plant we have a huge range of equipment at both the large and smaller ends of the market.
"Obviously it is getting tough out there, and small pockets of the business have been affected. However, 40 per cent of our sales are from the big construction groups such as Costain, which are still very busy.
"Some of the smaller contractors have been affected by what has been happening in the housing market but it is not all doom and gloom. In times like these, a lot of companies prefer to hire equipment rather than buy it, which is good news for a firm like A-Plant. Also, we are already heavily involved with the London Olympics.
"While we are the second largest hire company, we only have a five per cent market share at the moment and there is still plenty of opportunity to grow the business in the future."
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