RICHARDSON TRANSPORT
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• Massive flames spout from chimneys, and oil tankers glide into Teesport. It's a hive of activity that represents opportunities for local hauliers, like RF Richardson Transport, which is based in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough. Director Reg Richardson explains how it all began. The company was founded by his father, also called Reg, in 1969. Back then the firm was a coal merchant relying on a couple of rigids, a Ford and a BMC, to deliver its goods.
In recent years the UK's coal industry has been all but wiped out: even in the late sixties demand was in decline.
Recognising this, Richardson senior bought an ERF artic in 1970 to bid for thirdparty haulage work. He retired in 1977, by which time his decision to diversify had been justified: the ERF was busy transporting steel from British Steel's colossal Redcar plant.
Reg Richardson says: "My brother Stephen joined the company in 1976. That year, we sold the coal business and concentrated on expanding the fleet. The two small coal wag
ons were sold and we bought a Scania artic." That year they bought four more Scania artics.
TURNOVER ,E3m.
In the early eighties the firm transferred its loyalty to Daf after a Daf dealership was set up in Darlington, some 14 miles down the road. For Reg, having a local dealership— with all the day-to-day benefits—is essential. And his support for Daf grew stronger when a Daf dealership came to Billingham, just a couple of miles from the company's depot.
Before long RF Richardson was running 12 Daf artics. Reg recalls: "The business went from strength to strength." Throughout the eighties and nineties the company has increased its fleet by an average of two trucks a year. "We bought four Daf 95s in 1989, and by 1990 we had 25 trucks," he adds.
In the 198os the work was split equally between steel transport and general haulage, which frequently included moving pallets and concrete. These consignments were picked up from factories across Teesside and distributed across the UK. The nineties have not seen a dramatic change in the nature of the work; the firm still shifts steel and deals with general haulage. However, in 1990 RF Richardson also began to transport containers from nearby Teesport to customers all over the UK.
In 1992 the company changed its fleet again. "The Daf dealership became an Iveco Ford dealership," says Reg. Because he wants his dealer on the doorstep, the firm phased out most of its Dafs and moved to Iveco Fords. The Iveco Ford dealer, North East Truck and Van, repairs and maintains the company's 30 Iveco Ford trucks. The remaining five Dafs are used as shunters and are serviced in the firm's own workshop.
When it comes to trailers, RF Richardson repairs its own. Reg's son David is the workshop manager; two fitters are also employed to keep the 90-strong trailer fleet in first-class condition. Alan, Reg's other son, is a driver for the company and Reg's wife Yvonne is company secretary.
Reg's brother Stephen is co-director at the firm and deals with transport management. Like so many members of family firms he grew up in the industry: "It's in your blood," he says. "I was driving trucks around the depot when I was ro...I just grew into it."
Like other haulage professionals, Stephen is all too well aware of the occupational hazards that arise every working day. It could be an awkward security guard making problems for a tired driver at the end of a long run, or the ever present problem of schedule-busting congestion. But despite, or because of, all the pressures of haulage in the nineties, he is fiercely proud of the progress made by the company. "We are working-class people who have built up a business," says Stephen. "We know nothing else."
And what are their plans? Reg replies: "We are quite happy with the size of the business—it is manageable." But, like any good businessman, he's always ready to diversify, "as long as the rates are right".