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RED MIST MOTIVATION
Page 9
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Brian Lee of Alan Morris Transport suggests patient, reasoned argument can extrad better services from suppliers. If that doesn't work try shouting very loudly indeed...
The majority of the time I travel through life calmly and serenely. However, there are occasions when the red mist descends.
It happened a couple of evenings ago when, during the twilight of the day in the traffic office, after the sheet had been put to bed and all the drivers informed what delights the morrow had in store for them, another driver popped his head around the door to say: The tyre people will do me tomorrow at seven." Well as everyone knows, seven o'clock in haulage terms is usually around lunchtime, so I enquired why. "Because he's doing a big job at Bloggs Road Transport & Plant Hire," came the reply.
It was about then that the mist kicked in. I am very proud to be a road haulier and I'm proud to be in an industry which gives the nation back far more than the nation gives us. We run quality, legal kit. We charge fairly and pay fairly. There are, however, people on the edges of our industry who are far from decent, exploit everybody and everything and break every rule.
Oh, and they usually fall into the following categories: 1. They're never purely into road transport-there's always "plant" or "skip hire" in the title.
2. They have fancy names that don't match their humble business address"The Universal Trucking & Logistics Company Worldwide Ltd", based in Room 2, Flat A.
3. They're farmers dabbling in haulage with their beetroot subsidy money.
Rates and the industry's reputation take years to build up, but these haulage hobbyists can destroy them in seconds.
It was one of those companies which was prioritised ahead of my driver's tyre change. Well I hit the phone buttons and launched into a tirade, reminding our tyre fitter that I gave him his first break and actually housed him in our depot for awhile. Oddly enough rny driver's tyre was done that night -just going to show the power of calm and reasonable argument.
"There are people at the edges of our industry wh are far from decent, expl everybody, break every r