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1 n 1982 Paul James got tired of delivering material

19th September 2002
Page 46
Page 46, 19th September 2002 — 1 n 1982 Paul James got tired of delivering material
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for a fabric company fitted rails in his van and set up in business transporting hanging garments. In 1985 he got a warehouse, and he moved to his current site in 1990. Twelve years later PJ Transport occupies four business units in Edmonton, North London.

James remains as managing director of the company but now spends most of his time in Tenerife, leaving the day-today running of the business to his staff.

The premises are half a mile from Tottenham Hotspurs' White Hart Lane ground, so congestion is a fact of life, particularly during evening kick-offs. "Getting trailers in is a nightmare when Tottenham are at home for night matches," says transport manager Dean Hockley. "I hope to God they don't get into Europe!"

But as 90% of PJ Transport's pick-ups are in North London, a rural base would only result in more miles travelled. PJ's main customer is fashion group Arcadia but virtually nothing is manufactured in the UK these days, with clothes coming from as far afield as Lithuania and Morocco.

As in so many other sectors, haulage rates in the clothing business have fallen but yet PJ is obviously doing something right: "We have survived by pulling our belts in, getting bigger lomes, becoming more competitive," says Hockley. "We are big enough for what we are. Touch wood, we have always been busy—we take it a month at a time.

"Sometimes you could put another five vehicles on the road but you don't know what's around the corner," he adds. it's very easy to grow, take on more staff, buy more trucks, but all of a sudden the work drops off and you could be left holding the baby" The company collects from processing warehouses and loads its vehicles overnight for delivery between 06:00hrs and noon at distribution centres rather than high-street shops in Milton Keynes, Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham. "We need to get them back in the afternoon to make them pay," Hockley explains, Livery is non-existent, and that's not just to reduce costs. Anonymous white vehicles make sense when a single truckload of leather jackets could be worth £500,000.

But Hockley is not unduly worried about the security risks. 'Most of our drivers are pretty cute: they've got their heads screwed on," he says with a smile. Staff loyalty is important to the company: "We have almost no turnover of staff at all—a lot of our drivers have been here for 10 years or more." The company has never used agencies. "Garments have to be loaded in a spe cial way because if it doesn't come ol the correct order we get fine Hockley explains.

Most of PJ Transport's 15 vehic came from S&B Commercials Hatfield, although the company empii two Manchester-based drivers wtx trucks are looked after by No Manchester Commercials. "All our vE cies are on maintenance contracts you know what it costs you weekly r you can budget," says Hockley. "We had no trouble at all with the AtE electrics, just a couple of gearbo; which we've replaced under warrai We are just swapping an Actros actually, after three years. It's a ME Space, flat floor, but the driver virtu. lives in it, away for eight or nine days z time. We haven't had a problem witl apart from one indicator stalk falling You forget you've got them, to honest. We have never had proble with Mercedes. We tried a couple lvecos about 15 years ago but didn't f they were very reliable."

The fashion market may be relativ depressed at present, with consumi showing signs of reining in their spei ing, but the future remains quite bri for one simple reason, Hockley believ "As long as girls buy clothes we'll alwi have ajob!"


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