H eying a niche in haulage is all right but if you have the fleet, there's
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something_ to be said for placing your eggs in different baskets as an insurance against change. This is certainly a philosophy followed at Parsons Transport in Aylesbeare. General haulage accounts For more than half the work carried out by the 40-vehicle fleet but it also has 13 tippers working for the likes of Devon County Council and building materials supplier Camas. It sends cranes into a nearby quarry and has seven reefers working for Northern Foods transporting butter,
Other sidelines include 2,600m2 of warehousing, fertiliser sales to local farmers and the ownership of a 350-acre farm with 200 cattle and 500 sheep.
The business is run by Philip Hoskin and his wife Noreen—it was her grandfather Robert who launched the operation in 1929. Hoskin joined in 1970 after he was made redundant from his job as fleet engineer for an Exeter-based firm which shut its transport division. Parsons had just Five vehicles at the time. "We've expanded by three to four vehicles each year and now we're a containable size," says Hoskin. Today's link with the dairy industry is an important one: Hoskin reckons a third of Devon's dairies have closed in the past 15 years and contraction has not yet ended as production is channelled into larger plants. Volumes may remain unchanged but, as Hoskin points out: "If you work for a dairy in your area and it closes, it's a severe blow."
His own work for Northern Dairies involves collecting butter from manufacturing plants and delivering it to local coldstores. When it's settled, the butter—in 25kg packs—is picked up again and distributed by Parsons to food processors throughout the UK and Scotland, from pork pie makers 10 biscuit bakers. Most of the firm's work is multi-drop and Hoskin is adamant that you need that kind of business to make money:
"The rates are better; you need a multitude of different customers on your vehicle." The firm has put a lot of effort into building up its base of general customers with around 180 on the books at present. Products carried include machinery and paper with most of the long-distance work averaging 10-20 drops. There are occasions when the loads don't fill the trucks and they run a bit light but as Hoskin says, "You have to keep your away customers happy."