Wish you were here
Page 44
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Driving along a rain-lashed motorway in February is a miserable experience however much you love trucks. For many drivers the thought of that holiday in the sun is all that keeps them going.
Owner-drivers often do without that muchneeded break because there's simply too much to worry about Will the customers still be there on their return? Who's going to look after the truck? Is the house or yard secure from burglars? Like many small businessmen the owner-driver is reluctant to leave the shop in someone else's hands.
But several owner-drivers working for Rugby Cement believe they've found someone they can trust to mind the shop, in the shape of Lady Truckers' Club founder Ilona Richards. Richards has set up Cross Country Driving, a one-woman agency providing cover for owner drivers on holiday. She has12 regular clients at Rugby Cement depots in Rugby and South Ferriby; drivers like Rugbybased Derek Randell book her 18 months in advance to make sure they get a slot. Randell is off to Canada for two weeks to celebrate the golden wedding of his sister-in-law. It will be the fifth time that Richards has taken over Randell's job to give him and his wife a break.
He has two more holidays planned this year which Richards is covering for. As well as handling the work she's living in Randell's house while he is away, "The service is first class," says Randell: Richards was recommended to him by Rugby Cement.
"With Ilona driving for me I can go away and forget the truck," he says, adding that the house-sitting service is particularly reassuring: "My wife was all for it; it gives us peace of mind." Two important aspects of Richards' service are customer care and care of the vehicle: the powder tanker Randell drives demands a special skill when unloading into customers' silos to comply with dust emission regulations. Randell also wants to find his unit as clean as he left it.
Richards meets both these conditions. "I have trained on different types of tanks," she says, and has received authorisation from Rugby Cement to drive their vehicles and discharge their loads: "They have good customer relations and won't let just anybody in. I get nice clean vehicles and I try to give them back clean." Richards charges a normal week's wages for her services she also waters plants and cares for pets. Before the holidaymakers disappear into the sun, anxious to shake off the dust of Britain's roads for a fortnight, she asks them to complete a short vehicle profile form. This includes details of the maintenance outlet and the location of vehicle documents. As she points out, you only get seven days to produce them if stopped by the police.
Richards began her holiday-cover service in 1992 for a woman driver working for Rugby Cement at its Barrington depot. "I stayed in her house and looked after her three cats while she went to Portugal," she says. "One or two drivers at the depot asked me to do the same thing for them." She has won the respect of male colleagues , even though depot shower facilities are of a unisex nature."The cubicles are all in a line," she explains. "When I walk in there's blokes in various stages of undress. I ask if they want me to wash their backs. And I sing in the shower—it scares them to death!"
Not all her customers want her to live in their homes while they are away. To accommodate their needs she has bought a caravan which she parks close to whichever depot she is providing cover for. "I call myself a new-age traveller," she chuckles Randell has been driving for 35 years and plans to retire to his home county of Hampshire in seven years. He began driving for Rugby 11 years ago and after four years was asked to buy his vehicle or accept redundancy. He chose to become an ownerdriver, moving to Rugby when the company closed its Southampton depot.
For Richards the business has developed by word of mouth and this year she is fully booked from April to October. She sees the service as more than a job. "1 like working for owner-drivers, "she explains. "The lorry costs so much money that they can't afford to park it up and they can't have a holiday if there's no one to drive it for them. I like to think I'm helping them and that they're my friends."
She looks serious for a moment but her cheeky humour breaks through when CM's photographer asks her and Randell to pose for some farewell shots; "Bye Derek, I hope I don't burn your house down! Bye Derek, I've already broken the toilet! Bye Derek, I'm having a party tonight!" What's more likely is that she will be up at 3am tomorrow morning taking out her first load.
7Iby Patric Cunnane