DAVID FOX TRANSPORT
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Many 17-year-olds are faced with a tough dilemma: should they continue their education or thrust themselves into the world of workP For David Fox, chairman of Middlesbrough-based David Fox Transport, back in 1969 the decision was net hard, While studying engineering at college he had the business nous to buy two Austin vans—it was a small but solid start for a firm which now runs 45 tractive units and has its own driver training school. And the work has been a little out of the ordinary: the company has carried musical equipment for a Rolling Stones tour, arid it has transported celebrities including lunar explorer Neil Armstrong and rock band Roxy Music in its executive coach.
When the coach was bought in 1979, David recalls, such a vehicle was far from common. Fox spotted a gap in the market, and for five years legendary names travelled in the coach. But by 1984 things were changing: the executive coach concept had caught on and a host of entrepreneurs were cashing in on the idea. After that, the firm sold the coach: "We bowed out gracefully," says Fox.
The coach was a successful sideline, but the core of the business has always been in haulage. After David put his faith in his two Austins expansion was rapid: the firm moved to three depots in the Teesside area before coming to its current site in Grangetown, Middlesbrough, in 1976.
By 1971 David was running 10 vans and pickups on general light haulage in the Teesside area. The same year he bought five Atkinson Borderer tractors, and five trailers. Some of the customers we were dealing with asked us to carry big loads." he explains. "We were carrying steel plates for shipbuilding and engineering spares for Shell's oil refinery on Teesport. We got into the heavier side of the industry, transporting loads for ICI at Wilton. We were carrying plastics on flatbeds, plus general haulage including castings from local foundries." These loads were carried throughout the UN.
Davis was continually looking at ways of expanding the business—bat where did he find the necessary inspiration? "Alex, my father, was a driver for Rankin and Sons, a haulage company with a depot in Newcastle," he says. "He drove down to Teesside in the early 1950s and he saw the potential for industry in the area—and he saw potential for haulage."
Alex Fox suggested to his boss that Rankin should establish itself on Teesside. The idea was taken up, and Alex was charged with getting Rankin and Sons up and running in the area. The firm thrived on Teesside, and David is proud of his late father's initiative and his instinctive vision in haulage. Thanks to that haulage wisdom, David Fox was blessed with a source of sound advice. "My father always told me to meet as many people as possible." he remarks. "Today we might transport for one company occasionally and for others more frequently; at present we have 120 customers on our books."
As well as the Middlesbrough headquarters the firm has a depot at Immingham, where eight tractors are based. The driver training school has three full-time instructors and uses two rigids and an artic. Fork-lift training is also available.
For driver training, the company works in conjunction with Tees Valley TEC, and demand for courses is high.
The firm's servicing requirements are met in-house; a team of seven fitters provide a 24-hour repair and maintenance service.
David's brother Richard is operations director, and he is under no illusions about the current state of the industry: "There will be a thinning-out of hauliers; it will be a long hard road. It's a case of keeping things going—haulage is an important part of the economy." He has no doubt that family experience has proved invaluable in keeping the firm going.
David's sons, James and David, work in the fitting shed and deal with general day-to-day duties. David senior's wife, Alison, shares the administration, role with his father in law. Ted Veal.
David Fox Transport is proof of the adage "you only get out of life what you put into It". David, who was fortunate enough to receive invaluable advice from his father, learned that to speculate is to accumulate. He has never looked back after buying those two Austin vans when he was just a lad of 17.