£1,500 a week when they should be making at least
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£2,000." Ile also says that the general haulage market Norbert Dentressangle dominates is over-supplied and low margin. It is a charge often levelled at Eddie Stobart: a company takes market share and expands its fleet by operating on tight financial margins; then uses its purchasing power to squeeze discounts from truck dealers, fuel suppliers and ferry companies that smaller competitors stand no chance of getting
Serious allegation
A more serious allegation is made by another leading haulier, who points to the French company's record in the UK courts: "It is regrettable that a firm that sets itself up to be a market leader has had road safety infringements," he says. "If I was Norbert Dentressangle I'd be seriously worried about the ability of my drivers to stay within the law."
McCord dismisses both criticisms. "There's been a lot of snide comments about the way we've expanded and the way we're funded. There's been suggestions that we're backed by everyone from P&O to the French government to Renault (the company runs a largely Renault fleet). It's all a joke," he says. "The reason Norbert is so successful is that he re-invested money that he made in the early days."
On the legal side, he admits there have been problems twice in the past nine months French Dentressangle drivers have been fined or, in one case, jailed for hours offences. But he argues that almost any company running as many trucks as Dentressangle will have the occasional brush with the law. "We did 85,000 crossings of the Channel last year, so, of course, it's likely that we'll have more infringements than smaller companies." But he insists the company is not complacent. It is already using more than one driver for long-distance runs, swapping them at a depot at the end of a driver's shift.Above all, as the Continent moves towards closer integration, the company is keen to be seen as a European player, rather than a Gallic interloper. As Dentressangle himself says: "Since 1978, we've driven towards being European rather than French. We don't think of ourselves as being a French outfit in Britain."
But the British road transport establishment are a funny lot. Until now, Norbert Dentressangle has been a bit of an enigma. Its managers have not been famous faces at trade association functions. Few hauliers even knew there was Norbert Dentressangle the man, let alone had met him. As a result, the company has been treated more with suspicion than honest respect. Failure to take the promised Norbert conquest seriously, could however leave some complacent UK operators facing the same fate as a certain English king on a South Coast battlefield.
II by Juliet Morrison