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Page 46
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D he Doherty livery has been a familiar sight on the roads in and around Luton for generations. After a stint as a maintenance contractor to Commer Cars in Luton, Barney Doherty set up in haulage as B Doherty
(Luton) 111 1962. The company soon became a household name in the area, running a mixed fleet of 25 low-loaders, skip lorries and tippers to move skips and carry muck to and from building sites and roadworks.
Barney's four sons and one daughter continued to run the company until 1992, when they went their separate ways and carved up the business into a handful of smaller operations, each specialising in one of the areas served by the parent company. Most are still operating in the area.
One of the brothers, Brian Doherty, took over the company's tippers and its yard next to Leegrave station, trading in partnership with his wife Rita as B&R Doherty. Their son Darren won a degree in construction manage
ment before becoming a partner in 1997. "I always knew I'd join the company," he says, "but you have to be 21 to drive tippers so I went and did my degree after a couple of years driving my uncle's low-loaders."
B&R Doherty has three tippers but only operates two of them, keeping one as a spare. Father and son both drive, Brian works mostly for John Crowley of Maidstone, which disposes of waste material for the local authority. B&R Doherty is subcontracted to keep John Crowley's yard in Luton cleat All the waste goes to landfill; as 'inert' material (no paper, wood or plastic) it is used to cover municipal waste.
Regular clients
The company works in a 45km radius around Luton, down to Borehamwood and up to Northampton. Apart from John Crowley it has a dozen or so regular clients, mainly small builders and block paving companies. it also collects building waste from households in the area, and Darren prefers to stay local: at the most the three tippers cover a total of 70,0 ookrn a year.
Father and son are busy everyday—they frequently have to turn away work—but, although they registered as a limited company last year, they have no ambitions to expand. Brian remembers too well the problems his father had finding work for a large fleet, and recruiting trustworthy drivers. "The turnover of B&H Doherty was maybe £2m," says Darren. But it may have made
as little as Zioo profit for all I know. WE been offered opportunities to expand, small is beautiful as far as we're concern We're good at what we do and we're be: off in control of the company. It's profit t matters, not turnover."
In fact B&R Doherty turns over ab £300,000, which is more than sufficient' far as Darren is concerned. His father ho to retire in five years, then he may think ab recruiting another driver. But he's more lil to wait until his own son Aiden joins the b-1 ness. He is just 19 months old at the momi but little Aiden already has a stake in the ix ness: the Dohertys' other pride and jo, brand new Volvo FMI2, is named after h
There's no doubting the firm's marque alty; the Dohertys wax lyrical on the virtue their Volvos—Darren says they wanted to I the best rig that they could afford.
The cab of the new unit is certainly vv specified, especially for the short journey makes, with air-con, digital tacho, electric v dows and mirrors and remote central locici Volvo allowed £2,200 for the unit to painted in the Doherty livery by Rife Bartlett Commercials of Bovingdon. The' crest' green is also used by two of Bria brothers for their low-loader and skip bi nesses, which also carry the Doherty nai " Everybody knows the colour," says Dan "Some kept it and some didn't, but for us recognition has been a major advantage."
The vinyl lettering and white-lining has z been finished to such a high standard flu seems a shame to send it out to work "It's difficult to keep the vehicles nice," says Dan "But we try to give them a wash once a w and we get the bodies repainted once a ye
The new Volvo is equipped with a Epsi EI2oL tipper crane from crane importer' White in Devizes. The Ei2,caL is sped designed for grab work: a standard en would have a longer reach but would only expected to last for about zoo,000
Et2oL has a shorter reach but can withst some 60o, oo o cycles—crucial stamina repetitive grab work. It also has a faster op+ tion than a lifting crane.
Tipping gear
The FM1.2 has a Thompson Loadmaster bc "The only body you should ever have," accc ing to Darren. "It's sturdy and strong, anc light as possible. Plus it's lovely looking— ordered another one to go on the Scania." moved by Eclbro underfloor tipping gear.
Although clearly over the moon with his r arrival, Darren has no plans to replace eit the old FLro or the Scania that is kept by company as a spare. "Volvo seems to think be buying another one, but the Scania is c seven years old and has very low mileage,' says. "I was stopped by the Ministry in it other week and they said it was in very g, condition—unusual for a tipper.
"It's important to keep the tippers look good," he adds. "People can't believe ti eyes when they see this new one—it's alrr too nice. Maybe we don't want our custonto think we're making too much money!"