WO MAN Doreen Hukins is working hard to ensure that her
Page 42
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
haulage firm Deepcar Transport does not follow the same path as the declining Sheffield steel industry.
DOREEN HUKINS: Transport Manager
Doreen Hukins admits that she enjoys a challenge — so she's in the right place as transport manager of family-owned haulier Deepcar Transport. "I'm working until 9pm at the moment looking for work. The drivers rely on you, and to see their faces when you say there's no work. . . I'd rather work 24 hours a day to get them a job," says Hukins.
Deepcar, based in the heart of Sheffield's steel industry, relies on two steel works for about 75% of its business, but since October work has fallen off sharply. "It's a rat race at the moment because there's so little work about," she says. "Customers want everything done for nothing."
Deepcar Transport is competing against nine other local hauliers for a slice of an ever-decreasing cake. "There's just not as much industry in this area as there was," says Hukins. "A lot of hauliers have gone and I think a lot more will go."
She has already taken steps to keep her business afloat. She disposed of 12 vehicles last year and is managing to find work for the present fleet of 17 artics and 95 trailers.
With 17 drivers, five garage staff and four shunters, the business needs to be
operating at least 15 tractors to break even, she says. Most of Deepcar's drivers have been with the company for a long time; one started in 1944.
Deepcar has been working from its present site in the Don Valley since 1935; the business dates back to 1920 when founder Frank Broadbent sold vegetables from a cart. Three members of the Broadbent family are still involved in the business, which also runs a depot and railhead at Wakefield.
Hukins joined the firm 29 years ago as a clerk with no experience of road transport. The company ran eight vehicles at that time and Hukins was thrown in at the deep end: "I answered the phone and began taking on work because nobody else was in." Since then she has been to "every seminar and every course on transport that there is". Despite qualifying for a CPC through grandfather rights she took the national and international CPC exams just to prove she could pass.
"I used to think I'd like to have HGV licence," says Hukins, but it's probably not the best thing for me to have."
"When you're all on pins for someone to drive I'd probably go and do it myself. But if you're running a transport business, you should be there to deal with the problems. There's no point in me driving a wagon up and down."
She feels it would be difficult for a woman driver to work in Deepcar's line of business: "It's okay if you're driving
tippers or curtainsiders, but here you'd be lifting steel sheeting and I don't think a woman would have the strength to do it."
Hukins runs the business with the help of Pam Hough "who started, like me, as a clerk, and has now taken her traffic clerk exams".
Hukins says she thrives on never knowing what is going to happen next and does not complain when, as happened recently, like the other night, she is called back after 21:00hrs to reroute all the traffic sheets to accomodate a rush job.
Her husband Frank, a steel tester, does all the cooking: "He's the one who says my tea has been waiting for an hour when I get home and I often have to leave in the middle of eating it."
Hukins' chairs the Sheffield sub-district of the Road Haulage Association. She is proud of having one of the best-attended divisions.
Deepcar has been through its share of hard times. The company pulled out of tipping in 1970 after rates fell from 24 a tonne to 21.60. The situation improved until in the mid-seventies it was hit hard by an aboritve joint venture with a Welsh haulage firm.
FIRM BELIEVER
Hukins is a firm believer in offering the best price she can for a job and sticking to it: "When I order fuel they don't get the order if they don't quote me the best price first time. That's how we do business with our customers."
Hukins is currently buying 14,000 litres of dery a week, and although the price makes her wince she says she managed to avoid paying the sky-high prices being asked when the Gulf war broke out by buying half of her bulk supplies just before the fighting began.
Hukins maintains that if you stick to basic rules you stand a better chance of surviving: always run legal; don't cut rates to keep wagons on the road; and give the standard of service you would like to receive. But above all else keep a sharp eye on the bottom line: "It easy to think you're making money when in fact you're not," she says.