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Some people end up running haulage companies by accident—John Donald and Glenn Finch run one because of the kind of accident which many people don't recover from...
/nSeptember 1990 John Donald was delivering rolls of newsprint in London when an over-enthusiastic forklift driver made the kind of mistake that sends a shiver up the spine.
"I was on the back of the trailer unloading the rolls when he said 'I'll take this chock out for you.' I told him to leave it where it was and wait till I got out the way," says Donald.
But as the forklift driver backed off he dislodged one of the 750kg rolls, sending it crashing down on Donald and pinning him to the sidewall of the tilt trailer. Despite the intense pain, Donald's first thoughts were to extract instant retribution: "I'd always been superfit. In the army I'd done karate.. .all I wanted to do was get out from underneath the roll of paper and beat the crap out of the forklift driver!"
Stubborn streak
He didn't get out from under that quickly, and even when Donald was freed he recalls: "I was hurting so bad it was unbelievable. But I had this stupid stubborn streak that says you've got to look after the wagon first." Getting back in his truck he managed to drive back to his depot at Aylesford before collapsing and being rushed to hospital.
Under examination the full force of the impact of the newsprint roll on Donald's body became obvious. His bowel was perforated and lower back and abdomen were so badly crushed that it led to the removal of one of his kidneys last year. "When they took it out, it was like a nut", says Donald matter-of-factly.
After a long and painful period of recuperation Donald was faced with an uphill fight for compensation. The company on whose premises he'd had the accident had gone bankrupt and the legal case dragged on and on. "We tried, The papers are still upstairs. In the end my solicitor said the best thing was to forget it," says Donald, left with little alternative but to try and find another driving job.
It didn't take long for him to realise that the last thing the average haulier wanted was a beat-up driver with a registered disability. "I'm very restricted in my body movements," he explains. "I can't lift the weights 1 used to lift and with one kidney left you can get kidney infections quite easily." A lifetime on the dole seemed to be beckoning. But for Greenock-born Donald that wasn't an option for consideration: "I'm a wee bit prouder than that. I wanted to earn my own living."
One evening in late 1994 Donald was sitting at home in Dymchurch, Kent talking with friend and fellow HGV driver Glenn Finch. Like Donald, Finch had also been through the mill. While working as an agency driver he sustained a spiral fracture of the femur and a badly broken arm when a restraining strap he was tightening on a load snapped and flung him off the back of his wagon.
During the conversation Donald reflected on a particularly harsh appraisal he'd received from one operator he'd approached for work. "He said to me, 'You've got about as much chance of getting a job with us with your disability as a chocolate fireguard."
That blunt comment rankled with Donald, who told Finch: "I've a good mind to try it on my own." And thus was the seed of D&F Freight planted with Donald and Finch as partners.
Had the operators who turned down Donald looked beyond his disability they would have seen a man with a wealth of transport experience. Having learned to drive in the army, by the eighties Donald had built up a successful three-vehicle fleet on UK and Continental work until his main customer collapsed owing thousands of pounds to him, and many other owner-drivers.
"I got in with the wrong crowd," says Donald philosophically. "They went bust owing me around 00.000. We'd had six months good money then in Christmas 1988 they asked us to go to 90 days' credit. By April 1989 they'd gone down."
Donald decided to liquidate his business: "I closed down, sold the house, paid off all my debts. It seemed to me why should anybody else have to suffer because I can't pay my bills? You can't take somebody down with you." Then it was back to working for others—until that fateful day in September 1990.
Getting D&F Freight up and running has taken some nine months of hard planning and preparation. That flash of inspiration happened in September '94," he says. "And we did a lot of checking with people I'd worked for before, asking 'What work can you give us?'"
Armed with a comprehensive business plan Finch and Donald went to see the man at the NatWest for capital. "They treated us very fairly," Donald recalls. "and as luck would have it his parents were in road n-ansport!" The preparation paid off; not only has the bank backed D&F but it has continued to help by extending overdrafts when needed.
When it came to a wagon Donald was determined to buy new, backed with a contract maintenance package. "You've got to offer reliability," he says. After trying a variety of top-weight tractors the partners settled on a 4x2 MAN 18.462 with the high-roof Roadhaus cab—not least as Finch is over 6ft flin tall.
Donald has nothing but praise for the support D&F has received from Geoff Nott at MAN dealer Thameside Trucks. This even extended to finding an alternative finance package when MAN's own finance company "moved the goal posts" according to Donald. The white knight was the Dutch-based finance house De Laage Landen which not only provided the capital but also restructured the loan to take account of the slow start-up period.
With the partners double manning the F2000 Donald is looking to offer a better turnaround service than a typical owner-driver. Should either fall ill insurance will provide for cover and while Donald and Finch are out on the road their wives Jo and Suzie run the office.
Building up
The customer base is steadily building up—it now includes Ferryline, Norbert Dentressangle and Netzer. Now Donald is keen to get more Continental miles under the big MAN's belt and the company aims to acquire its own trailer.
Donald seems determined to pur• sue success with the same pugnacious spirit that's enabled him to overcome the kind of injuries that would have stopped a less determined man in his tracks. His forecast for D&F Freight is unequivocal: "There's no way we're not going to make it!"
El by Brian Weatherley