TRUCKING
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David Gill uses his ERF El 0 to haul concrete — and to win prizes for its pristine condition. He takes his trucks, and his trucking, very seriously.
• At first glance, David Gill's ERF EIO looks like it hasn't done a day's work since rolling off the production line. With gleaming green paintwork and bright, polished chrome, it shows all the signs of being a showpiece instead of the concrete-hauling workhorse it is.
The effort Gill puts into his rig's upkeep paid off when he won first prize for both "Best Kept Working Truck" and "Best Company-Owned Vehicle" at Truckfest South-West on 5 July.
"Whatever motor I've had, I've always kept it clean," says Gill, "but I've never really had one which has been done up as much, and I never entered competitions before getting this truck."
The prize-winning vehicle is a three-year-old G-reg 38-tonner with a Cummins 10-litre, 242kW (325hp) engine. Gill has added roof-mounted marker lights and air horns, a stone guard around the windscreen, and plush fur-like trimming to the cab interior.
He has also painted the rig's chassis a bright pillar box red, and added ornate company livery in gold lettering around the cab. A banner painted on the cab front bears the names of his three children: Clare, Richard and Amy.
Gill is a family man and proud of it, and EA Gill is very much a family business. He is joint director, along with his father, Eric. The company was started by his grandfather 70 years ago.
In his grandfather's day the company undertook a wide variety of work including building, waste disposal and farm work — but it was Eric Gill who built up the transport side of the business.
After leaving the army in 1947, he started hauling grain for the mill his father owned. The mill was at the same site in the village of Offord Cluney, near Huntingdon, where EA Gill & Son is now based.
The company now operates three 38-tonners and has a turnover of about £300,000 a year, carrying mainly grain and concrete around the UK, It used to run three tippers, but was forced to sell them because of low rates.
"We sold off the tippers about three years ago," says Gill. "That was before the recession really started, though it was starting to get underway."
Gill puts the company's continued success down to the fact that it has been established so long, but he is cautious about the future and while the recession continues, EA Gill will be keeping its head down: "We're not getting into anything new now," he says. "We'll just sit and wait until things pick up."
David Gill started driving for a living in 1971, at the age of 21. His first truck was a Bedford TK, and he says he has bought British ever since. His two previous trucks, an E-reg Foden 4300 and an older Y-reg Foden 265, are still working for the company, and looking smart for their age.
DEDICATION
"Each truck I've had, I've done a bit more to," he says, adding that looking after a vehicle to this standard takes up "a hell of a lot of time", and needs a lot of dedication, "You've got to be at it every weekend and all your spare time," says Gill, "you've got to wash it every night, especially if it's been raining. It's the only way to keep on top of it."
A huge burden of work made all the more difficult by the fact that Gill carries a lot of dusty loads to muddy building sites. Nevertheless, he insists that it is worthwhile. "I just feel happier in myself with a cleaner motor," says Gill. "It makes you take more pride in the work, and the people you work for do notice it a lot."
He feels that the transport industry is moving towards a cleaner, more professional image — and this image is promoted by the Truckfest competitions. People always used to encourage Gill to enter, and in 1990 he finally did, In 1991, Gill's ERF snapped up first prize for Best Company-Owned Vehicle and third prize for Best Kept Working Truck at the Peterborough Trucldest. He says this took him by surprise, since there were many other worthy candidates. 'You see other trucks there, and you think they look better than yours," says Gill.
His success has continued this year, with second prize for the Company-Owned Vehicle competition at Peterborough, and most recently his success at Shepton Mallet. The Working Truck award alone won him £500.
While admitting that the money comes in handy, Gill doubts that anyone could make their fortune this way.
"You're putting all the prize money back into the truck," he says, and even then that doesn't cover everything. "Next year if I win something I might break even," he adds, "but it's not what you make out of the competitions that makes you enter. The cups have much more value to you."
He also gets the satisfaction that others appreciate the time, money and effort that he puts into the truck.
His 14-year-old son Richard is also an enthusiast. He says that he hopes to carry on the family business some day — Gill seems happy with the idea.
Having been brought up with trucks himself, Gill is content to build his life around them. "I've got no other interests," he says. "I get away on holiday abroad two weeks a year, and spend the rest of my time with the trucks. Mind you," he adds, "I get fed up on holiday — and by the second week I'd just as soon come home," by Andrzej Jeziorski