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Dentressangle was held back by inqui
Page 8
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• by Donthdc Perry Norbert Dentressangle's new UK managing director admits that protracted problems in the Eastern Traffic Area disrupted the firm's UK expansion plans.
Patrice Schneider, who stepped into the job just as the final public inquiry was due to get under way, says that ND's relatively small presence in the UK can be traced to its brushes with the authorities.
He says: "We only have around 100 trucks in the UK. That's because we have not developed the UK as we should have done. I think we haven't grabbed all the opportunities that came our way.
"Peter Cvetkovic [former MD of ND UK] was extremely distracted from the business by the inquiry. He did an excellent job in motivating the staff but at the same time it diverted him from other possibilities."
However, while Schneider admits that ND deserved to be punished for its offences. he believes the case could have been handled better.
"Before the last inquiry we were told that analysts had found 200 tacho offences," he explains. "Then a few days before it was down to 10, then to eight—even the people analysing the tachos were getting it wrong, yet they were expecting perfection from our drivers.
'If you put a driver under pressure then they are bound to make a mistake sometimes, even if it is only going over their hours by five minutes."
Schneider says that expansion of the UK-based Continental operation was particularly stunted by the firm's problems. But he promises that ND is now planning to expand in this country: 'We want to double the size of the UK business—at least that's the plan.
The group wants to have more business in countries other than France and the UK is a prime target for that."
Although ND is renowned for buying up other successful firms, Schneider says there are no plans for acquisitions in the UK until at least 2004.
• See next week's CM for a News Analysis on ND's UK operation.