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MUTUAL APPRECIATION
Page 173
Page 174
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In the 42 years Richard Read has run his family haulage business in Longhope, Gloucestershire, he has bought and operated hundreds of ERF trucks. Nothing strange about that you might think, but Richard Read is also an ERF distributor, and last year won the ERF dealer of the year award. Since the late 1950s Read has sold hundreds of EHFs. He retains an infectious enthusiasm for the marque: "They're right when they say they are the best oil-engined vehicle in the world:' he declares. "I have been very pleased working with ERF. They are a family business like us."
Read bought his first ERF in 1957. It was a Gardner-enginecl MG tractive unit (his first tractor), which he purchased direct through ERFs general sales manager Harold Sansum. The MG cost just over £4,000. "At the time it was the Atkinson versus the ERF as far as I was concerned," Read recalls. "They were always pricier than the Leylands or the Albions, but [wanted to try the ERF because of the quality They're a hand-made vehicle with the best components."
He was so pleased with his 64G that within months an ERF eight-wheeler joined the fleet. Read's business was growing fast and by 1959 there were eight ERE trucks with the company.
Embarrassment
Ste k !tally disaster struck. One of Read's major customers, H & G Thins, went out of business. This caused Read some embarrassmenthe had recently ordered three ERF eight-wheelers, and now found himself unable to afford two of the trucks on order.
"1 ti Id ERF I wanted to buy all three vehicles, but couldn't afford to pay for them," says Read. "ERFs managing director, Dennis Foden. told me have one now and pay for it and have the other two and pay for them when you can."
Read took delivery of all three trucks, using them on a major new contract at the local Sudbury Paper Mill. Within 13 months he had paid off the cost of the two extra trucks.
"I wrote to ERF and asked how much interest I owed them," he adds. "Dennis Foden just told me, `buy more ERFs from us'."
Read went one better. He went to his cousin in lIereford and sold him an ERF tiLW for his low-loader business. He also sold a 4LW to a local potato merchant and another 4LW to HR Robinsons of lIereford.
"I sent all the orders through to the Sun Works, and they sent me a cheque for commission together with a letter asking if I would be the ERF distributor for Gloucestershire and Herefordshire," he says.
Businesses
Within three years of buying his first truck from ERF, Richard Read was building not one but two businesses around ERF tnicks.
Being both a haulier and a truck distributor makes a great deal of sense, argues Read. "We know what the customer wants," he says, "'Nutters want a straight talking approach and we supply them with the vehicle to suit the job:'
The new ERF ES6 is a case in point. Read has sold a "fair few" of the vehicles to local operators in the farms and forests of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire who need a compact truck with a good payload. Read is careful to try new ERF models in his own fleet first. "As a distributor," he says, -we must be able to talk to our customers and give them an honest answer about a vehicle
Six acres of land at Longhope provide the base for both of Read's businesses.
There is a 40,000ft2 warehouse, with a further 130,000ft2 planned. There is a weighbridge and a tachograph calibration centre, and there are also plans for a vehicle wash.
There are five repair bays, four service bays, two paint shops and facilities for bodybuilding and alterations to chassis (during CM's visit the company was fitting a lifting third axle on an ERE El 0). The parts department is impressive, containing comprehensive spares for ERFs current range, plus some anomalies, like parts for products from the long-defunct British 'limiter Company.
Read continues to look for growth in his business. Though the haulage fleet now numbers 25 vehicles (as against 87 in the 1960s), there is plenty of work to be had. Thgether with his general manager Bob Dowle and his son Richard Junior, Read is searching for new depots in Kent or the North.
"We're still looking now," Read explains, "but half the land available is rented. We would rather have freehold because then you've always got a bob or two behind you?'
Success in the haulage business (turnover £2.2 million last year) and as an ERF distributor (turnover £2.3 million last year) has put a bob or two behind Richard Read, who takes delivery of his 12th Rolls Royce in June (registered RRT 1). "Last year was our best ever," he says: "We have done pretty well with ERF all the way"