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ENFRANCHISED PARTIES
Page 64
Page 65
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Michael Roney swapped the life of a civil engineer for the driver recruitment world. As Tim Maughan finds, his franchises turn over E4.3m, and he has never looked back.
Most people work from one office, but Driver Hire franchisee Michael Roney works from three in a single week. He is managing director of Driver Hire's Northampton branch, and owner of the network's Cambridge office.
"I spend two days a week in the Cambridge branch. two in Northampton, and one day in my office in Orwell, Cambridgeshire," he explains.
There are 90 drivers on the books in Northampton, with a further 80 driving personnel operating from Cambridge. Additionally, there are 80 parttime drivers spread across the two branches.
With nearly 300 drivers, organisation is important. Chris Moderate and John Major are managers of the Cambridge and Northampton branches respectively. With them. Roney constantly checks the details of the business." We look at the sales, and the finances, and check if the bills have been paid," he says. Late payment is the curse of many businesses, and this sector is not immune. Operators complain when customers are slow to pay the bills after hiring an HGV; but Roney reports that some hauliers arc equally slow to settle up after benefiting from Driver Hire service.
And a transport firm's size is no indication of its credit worthiness, he adds: -Some of them are good payers, but some are very poor —size is no guarantee of a quick payment."
Turnover
Roney's two main offices turn overf.4.3m. He provides van and 7.5-tonne drivers, and C+E holders. He must be doing something right as he won the British FranchiseAssociation's Franchise of the Year award this year.
He's been involved in the recruitment market for eight years. "I was a civil engineer for 20 years, and worked in the water and irrigation industry in the UK, and overseas," he explains. "I spent a lot of time in Africa, but it got to the stage where the lifestyle was becoming a problem.
took a big decision, and moved back to the UK. I established a financial advice company in 1988." he adds."It was OK, but it was not giving me the sort of rewards I was looking for."
He moved into the recruitment business but it wasn't all plain sailing— Roney reports that it took three years to become established.
Today, the two branches supply most of their drivers to the agricultural and builders' merchants sectors.
Roney assures us that his drivers are fully vetted before they get behind the wheel of customer's trucks. "We have a fairly strict checking system," he stresses.That sounds sensible, but what does it actually entail? "Well, we never do anything on the telephone. Instead, interviewing is done in sub-offices. It also depends on the look of the driver. If his references are not good we will not take him on."
Training in tack's
Driver llire in Cambridge and Northampton offers tachograph training. Roney maintains that agency drivers need to know the ropes as well as operators' own personnel: "There is a market for [driver] agencies. and there always will be. Companies cannot afford to be overstaffed, and they need to be flexible."
Poor agencies can spoil the reputation of decent driver recruitment companies, he points out: "Part of our problem is being undercut by agencies that don't do the job as well as we do. Some [recruitment firms] are here today and gone tomorrow."
Identifying inferior agencies
However. Roney believes operators can quickly identify the inferior agencies because sloppy work practices tend to manifest themselves rather promptly.
Driver Hire's nationwide coverage benefits each individual franchisee, he believes: "The fact that we are a national network is a strength. Occasionally a driver will go sick, say [when driving] in Newcastle. When this happens he can be replaced by a driver from a local Driver Hire franchise. This would not be possible through a smaller network."
Roney supplies a small army of drivers, but he is not interested in running his own HGVs: "I don't have to worry about vehicles. We just have to provide the drivers, so it halves the problem."
Selecting the right workforce is the key and identifying suitable candidates is crucial. "If he looks like a bag of rubbish we will not take him on," Roney concludes. •