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peop In a field next to Turners' depot in the village of Much Hoole, near Preston, a giant bonfire is taking shape. Old pallets, broken mushroom trays, discarded boxes and planks pile up to form what will be a hugely impressive blaze on Guy Fawkes' Night. You can almost taste the cold November air warmed by charred spuds and sausages rescued from the embers.
But it is still only midsummer. The Turners bonfire has been building organically since last autumn. On 5 November the transport firm will throw open its doors to the village for a fireworks night run by the scouts. The village football team also benefits from its support. This is PR at grassroots level.
This year the company celebrates 40 years of running a haulage business from Much Hoole. In all that time it has had one complaint—from a newcomer to the village— objecting to the sight of a haulage yard. Conifers have since been planted to screen the depot. Staff are local and never leave. Come September driver Sam Sweetnam retires after 23 years. The firm's longest serving driver joined in 1967 and is still many years from retirement. Another driver has completed 22 years. Managing director Joe Turner admits the drivers of his 12-vehicle fleet could get better paid jobs working for a larger operator, but they would be working in a different environment "Here they have their own vehicles with their own TVs. No one else drives the truck when they're on holiday so they take pride in their vehicle."
Quality standard
Several of Joe's family work alongside him: his wife Sheila is a director, son Graham drives and paints the fleet; daughter-in-law Margaret is office manager and has recently organised achieving accreditation to quality standard ISO 9002 after persuasion from Whitbread, one of the firm's largest clients. At first Joe dismissed the standard as a "waste of time" but Margaret says efficiency has improved.
Turners has worked for Whitbre_ads since 1981. "I quoted a price near enough to what they wanted to pay so they took us on," says Joe.
The work includes one tanker on contract, regularly running to Cork in Southern Ireland to collect Murphy's Stout, returning to Whitbread's Salmesbury brewery, near Preston, for bottling and kegging. The other vehicles stay in the UK, running 24-tonne loads of bottles and kegs by curtainsider from Salmesbury and from Whitbread's other major brewery at Magor in South Wales. The beer is delivered to regional distribution centres for trans-shipment to pubs in smaller vehicles. Normal stuff of haulage, but as Joe says, "Whitbread will ask us to do almost anything"
Last year, the brewer engaged Turners to sort and recrate beer bottles collected from pubs. Initially a six-week trial, the job lasted 24 weeks with Turners bringing 12 casual staff into its 4,300m2 warehouse to sort a dozen loads a day.
Three years ago Turners began working for Tetrad, a Preston-based manufacturer of soft furnishings which supplies several major retailers. Harrods, Maples, John Lewis, Furniture Village are some of its customers. Turners delivers to these shops and occasionally to private houses. Four vehicles run on the contract, including three in Tetrad's livery, the latest acquisitions being a pair of ERF EC Olympics. One is driven by Joe's son, Graham.
The contract has room for growth. Turners earns up to £240,000 a year from Tetrad, but the manufacturer still runs eight vehicles of its own.
Smaller clients
Aside from its two principal earners, Turners has a number of smaller clients which spothire vehicles. One contract involves collecting spawned mushroom trays from a Blackpool factory for delivery to local farmers.
With the exception of a Foden the 12-vehicle fleet is all ERE Joe switched to the marque after Atkinson ceased production .He still has the last new Atkinson he bought, a 1974 model which he plans to enter in shows. Pride in the fleet has led to awards National Expotruck Best Fleet 1988 and Aintree Truckshow Best Fleet 1989.
The fleet is unlikely to expand. "Ten to 12 vehicles is ideal, "says Joe, "It's enough to pay the rates on this place—I am quite happy with that. The next step is 20 to 30 vehicles which is more than one man can manage." This year has been tougher than last—rising fuel bills have added £1,000 a month to costs.
Joe joined the business after leaving school in 1955. His father Henry began with one manure-delivering vehicle. From this unlovely beginning, the firm added general haulage and fruit and vegetable haulage—nearby Hesketh Bank is known as the salad bowl of the Northwest By the time he was 18, Joe was running the business. "My dad was involved in a fatal accident in 1957 and refused to drive again," he explains.
Joe and Sheila have had this year's summer holiday—just a week in Poole with their 11year-old grandson. "It's difficult to leave— your day tends to be 7am to lOpm," says Joe. Sheila says living on the premises has its drawbacks: "You can't get away—people know you are there. But that's one of the advantages we give them."
7 by Patric Cunnane