Ron Rowe. .s.ixorvhercletobubsuiiIndesas
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from scratch in two years
by a special correspondent AGED 23, Ron Rowe must be one of the youngest fleet operators in the business and certainly, one of the most active. His company R & D Transport, of Alrewas, Staffs, has been operating for two years and he now runs a fleet of six vehicles—five of which have been bought new.
The early months of the business, although fairly typical in many ways, are worth examination in detail, as they provide useful guidelines to anyone considering investing in transport—particularly in the present economic climate.
The primary consideration—as any successful haulier will testify—is motivation. At some stage every potential fleet owner will run up against serious problems—usually finance, but there are other regular headaches which require persistence and hard work to overcome. Most operators usually sum up this motivation with a shrug of the shoulders and say: "It's in my blood". Ron Rowe has it in his blood. His father and uncles operated Wm. Rowe & Sons at Elford and it was from this that his interest in transport developed. During schooldays, however, his family hoped he would go into accountancy and after the death of his father Ron left Leamington Boarding School and started work as a 12.50 a week accountancy clerk. Later, he became a representative for an oil company selling diesel fuel to farmers and it was from here that the decision to start up in haulage began.
Opportunity Living and working in a farming community (his mother still runs the farm which is used as a base for R & D Transport), he saw the opportunity for a reliable haulier to obtain a reasonable amount of business supplying agricultural requirements. The immediate problem in this was finance. He sold his car, persuaded Mrs Rowe to put a small amount of money into the business, found a partner and ended up with £1,200. "This was money," he says, "until I tried to buy a vehicle. The bank manager laughed at me and so did the next one."
Nevertheless, he went ahead with his application for a carrier's licence, naming agricultural sundries and sand and gravel to be carried on a three-axle flat-bodied rigid. A strenuous interview, supported by several encouraging letters from potential customers, was going well until he was asked how he would unload sand and gravel from a rigid body.
Within weeks he had successfully reapplied for a licence for a six-wheel tipper needing sand and gravel work to offset seasonal reductions in agricultural requirements.
The first vehicle, a new Ford D1000 with fold-down tipper body, ran for 14 months. Maintenance was poor because the vehicle was on the road for almost 24 hours every day, costs were high and Ron lost his job with the oil company. But the reputation for service was building up—in fact it was almost too good, customers were expecting more than a haulage service.
Eventually, the seven-day running became too much for Ron's partner and the partnership was dissolved, but the reputation of R & D Transport had been established and by hiring drivers Ron was able to continue running the business_ with the addition of a second-hand vehicle. The turning point came in August 1969 when a Guy Big J eight-wheeler, the first of the current fleet of vehicles, was bought from the local Tamworth distributor, Mayfair Garage. Powered by an AV505 engine and fitted with a Bopen bulk-body, this machine has since only had three or four days off the road and it was the reliability of this vehicle which laid the foundations for the build-up of the business.
Until this time, finding loads had meant hours spent on the telephone and knocking on doors but by maintaining delivery schedules consistently it was found that customers were beginning to ring asking for transport. The second new vehicle followed in March 1970—again a Big J eight-wheeler from Mayfair, this time with a Gardner 6LX engine.
Eventually, the large contracts arrived. One of the main grain merchants give 90 per cent of its work in the Midlands to the company and this has meant yet another smaller four-wheel tipper being required. A contract for delivery and storage of ICI fertilizer has resulted in the addition of a flat-bodied Big J four-wheeler and another eight-wheel flat.
So far drivers have been no problem although Ron still drives when compelled to because of drivers' hours limitations. Maintenance is carried out by drivers and vehicles receive a weekly check by an outside mechanic who is given complete authority over vehicle servicing and maintenance. Any major servicing or repair is carried out at Mayfair Garage.
Now that the fleet is established finance is easier to obtain although all the vehicles are on hire purchase. Day-to-day running is funded by a generous bank overdraft though it has never been found necessary to use the full facilities available. Other payments, apart from drivers' wages and vehicle running cost, include rental for the garaging and storage facilities on the farm and, of course, . his own wages. Perhaps surprisingly, Ron Rowe takes an average of only £25 per week out of his business.
Consolidation Future plans are directed towards consolidation rather than expansion. He feels that already the time has come when firms will really have to demonstrate their ability to provide the service that customers require and that the competition to the reputable haulier is likely to come from inside the industry rather than from the railways. In fact, as chairman of the Staffordshire branch of the agricultural and horticultural group of the RHA he has tried to rally support from other members to maintain the emphasis on reliability rather than price-cutting; if this is not done he fears that third-rate operators will undercut the responsible haulier into extinction.
One of the things which might help, he suggests, would be a relaxation of weight limits for multi-wheelers which would assist the operator who is using newer, more reliable vehicles to recoup some of the costs for purchase of new machines.
It is easy to believe that these views have influenced his choice of vehicles rather than choice being the result of circumstances.