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Every year Saints Transport erects a huge Christmas lights display on the roof of its Heathrow head office, which acts as a useful landmark for visitors (and aeroplanes!) Words: Derren Hayes / Images: Tom Lee We re almost better known for the lights than anything else," says Piers Carroll, vice-chairman of the specialist air freight haulier. "When people ask us for directions on how to get here, as soon as we mention the lights they know exactly where we are," he says.
The lights were started by Piers' father Martin many years ago. "Christmas has always been a big deal in our family. Dad used to take us to see the lights in London when we were kids," recalls Piers, now a father himself. "I'm like a big kid at Christmas and I've given all our staff an advent calendar this year," he says.
As well as acting as a useful landmark for directing visitors, the lights are also the most visible — for one month at least — example of the idiosyncratic nature of the family behind them. Its origin dates back to the mid-1950s, when Piers' grandfather Frank Carroll founded Carroll's Transport. It wasn't long before a young Martin started working alongside Frank and eventually he took over running the business. In 1973, Martin and his best friend, Steve Beeches, created Saints Transport, as a kind of subsidiary of Carroll's operating out of its Hounslow yard. All went well until 1987 when a family feud resulted in Martin and Steve walking out, taking a few key people with them and starting again from scratch, initially operating from a portable cabin in a car park owned by Day Aggregates in Brentford, west London.
Opportunity From those humble beginnings, Saints moved to the 1.5-acre Heathrow site in the early 1990s and has never looked back; it now runs 200 trucks, 135 trailers — most of which are kept on a 2.2-acre site on the opposite side of the M25 — and employs 400 people in the UK (it also has depots in Manchester and Glasgow).
The feud presented Martin with an opportunity to go out on his own and make his mark. It was also the beginning of the end of Carroll's Transport, which closed in 2002, with Saints buying the name and goodwill. The feud has never been resolved.
Despite this, Saints retains a strong connection with the founders' families. Piers' wife Jennifer works there while Steve's brother Kevin and his three sons also hold positions, as do all but one of the original pilgrims who left Carroll's to go with Saints 25 years ago. And it certainly hasn't forgotten its heritage: around every comer of the head office, there is a plaque, photograph or piece of memorabilia accumulated during the family's 60 years in transport. From the boardroom table with the hundreds of photographs of family and staff printed on its Perspex top, to the grandfather's Rolls Royce stored in the workshop, the building and its contents are almost part museum.
Pride of place Another part of that history — the bonnet of a 1950s truck owned by his grandfather and displaying the Carroll's livery — has pride of place on the wall of Piers' office. And what an office it is — certainly not one of those bland corporate boxes. His desk is a tail fin from a DC10 complete with flashing red navigation light on the tip, while a quote from Oscar Wilde — 'I have the simplest tastes; I am always satisfied with the best' — hangs on another. "I'm here more than I'm at home so I wanted to personalise it," Piers says.
A 2.5m-wide photograph of the 50 MAN units bought 18 months ago, and taken just before delivery, also stretches across a wall. Piers is a big fan of MAN's style, but has recently brought two Mercedes-Benz Actros tractors into the fleet because, he says: "They are a lovely looking truck."
Appearance is important to Piers, and creating a recognisable identity has been a key factor in Saints' success. Piers designed the initial multiple flag layout livery when he was a teenager, before changing it a few years ago to flags from only the British isles, including one for the Isle of Man. "People have asked why we haven't got this or that flag on it. It's nothing personal; we just thought these ones looked good."
Fleet efficiency As well as having the right look, the opportunity to maximise fleet efficiency was another reason Piers chose MAN. Although it is yet to shape the business, an integral part of this is the investment Saints has made in telematics. Trailer tracking has been installed, while in-cab computers collect and report data on driver performance. "We're looking to drive efficiency through reducing our fuel and environmental impact," explains Piers. "I'm not a tree-hugger by any means, but people are taking it more seriously now and I can see the benefit to all of us."
Instead of worrying about what-if scenarios, Piers prefers to focus on delivering good services at competitive rates. "As long as you can demonstrate that, then you have as much chance as anybody to retain and win business." He admits Saints is not the cheapest, instead pricing on what it takes to do the job properly.
Tough trading For that philosophy to pay dividends you must live up to your promises. "People want the product for the best price possible, but to continue operating, you need to be viable," he adds.
In a tough trading environment, as this undoubtedly is, finding the right balance between service and competitiveness is crucial, he says. It is also a challenge, particularly when some competitors are prepared to work for small margins.
"It is a war of attrition out there: you are up against increasingly desperate people doing increasingly desperate things such as being prepared to lose money to keep busy," Piers says.
It is for this reason that he is passionate about things such as operators not being punished for breaking the rules, whether that be for failing to maintain vehicles or not being pursued for breaching the London Low Emission Zone.
"We will continue to abide by the law and to bitch about those who don't. If I could have one Christmas wish, it would be for a level playing field for operators like us," Piers says. That's probably one present beyond even what Father Christmas can manage. • It's a family affair As a 10-year-old boy, Piers Carroll would usually go straight from school to the Saints yard in Brentford. "I was always hanging around — I was bred to be here," he says of his childhood.
However, the succession from father to son wasn't quite as straightforward as some might expect. Piers joined Saints at 15, learning the ropes of the transport business by the side of his dad Martin. But after doing this for nearly a decade, Piers left the company to set up a second-hand car sales business with a friend.
"In no way did dad stop me: in fact he let us store cars at the yard. He probably saw it as something I had to do and an important lesson to learn."
The venture, while not a failure, "made me appreciate what I'd walked away from", Piers says.
After a couple of years, he asked to come back. "Dad certainly made it harder for me to rejoin than he had for me to leave. He made me jump through a lot of hoops."
His penance served, Piers took over the day-to-day running of the business a few years ago. "It's brilliant working with dad. We've had fall outs and we have good days and bad, but he remembers the frustrations he had with his father and now leaves me to get on with it. I'm only here because I'm his son; this empire was built by other people and I have the privilege of maintaining the business at this time."
Piers has a two-year-old daughter — could he see her taking over the Saints' reins in 25 years' time? "It would make me happy if she wanted to do it. Maybe my wife wouldn't be so keen though," he says.