1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
Define your terms
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ONE OF THE THINGS that becomes clear when you toss a stone into the murky economic waters of road transport is that there is tremendous confusion across and about size boundaries. Some hauliers with 15 or 20 trucks still see themselves as owner-drivers because they choose to drive as well as manage.
Some owner-drivers work in loose co-operatives enabling them to function like larger firms.
It is extremely hard to find accurate figures for the numbers of owner-drivers in the UK. Vosa reports there are currently 44,700 one-vehicle 0-licences in use, but many of these will be own-account operators, local authorities and the like.
RHA president Roger King says: "Even the government doesn't understand this market. You would think we would have good figures through TAN21 [the Traffic Area Network's web-enabled licensing system] but it can't account for the anomalies in this sector. We think there are about 12,000 out there, but that data is a little old."
And most operators see a flaw with other people's business models. Individual owner-drivers often say they are targeting 'big rivals' who have up to eight trucks, on the basis that their customer service is much better. Medium-sized companies with up to 20 trucks will tell you the same thing about firms with 200 vehicles, on the basis that they know all their drivers personally, have good customer relations and operate as a family firm with family values. And so on up the chain.
What is certain is that while big firms can offer good quality, few can be personal about it. The smaller the company, the stronger the bonds between an operator and his clients. And that appears to encapsulate the unique selling point of the successful owner-driver -the client's trust in one man's expertise, honesty and reliability.