'We are grass root hauliers'
Page 42
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He swears by his Mercedes rigids, but swears at his Mercedes tractors: "We've had lots of problems. The alternators came with the wrong voltage, the 1644 was delivered with the wrong fifth wheel plate mounting and then the airsuspension failed at Mont Blanc. The brakes were underperfonning so that the artic was relying on the trailer brakes.
"When we sent the trucks for annual test, the first two were on the borderline, then the test station started failing them. We've only discovered in the past month that they had the wrong brake chambers: We've switched to Leyland Daf 380s," says Pulleyn. "They've got enough power and the drivers like the roomy cabs. Also, the back-up is superb. I had a problem in Spain a while back, with one of the Mercs, and when the Merc dealer couldn't fix it, Dafaid did the job."
Pulleyn Transport's most exciting development is due for completion this year. Pulleyn has a small property company, and the transport operation is moving from its freehold site in Reading to a larger freehold site in rolling fields on the other side of junction II. Standing in the middle of the site, formerly a chicken packing station, on a hot spring afternoon, Pulleyn smiles: "Isn't this going to be a nice place to work. It matters."
The site will have warehousing and a cold store which, unlike so many in the industry, will be open round the clock, to do away with turnaround delays. The last thing a driver, or his boss, wants to do after driving half way across Europe is to spend all day waiting to get tipped.
Pulleyn has no intention of opening up sites further afield: "I wanted to be a good European a year ago, and opened an office in Boulogne. Hopeless. You've got no control whatsoever in a situation like that." But the business spread will remain. "You can't afford to be in any one area," says Pulleyn.
II by Jack Scruple