In the hard-bitten world of haulage, it's encouraging to see
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a young man with such a zest for the industry. As Paul Newman discovered, this Essex-based owner-driver is not content with running a 7.5 tanner he is already raring to get into the world of Ms
• For Ben Sheldrake, BJS International started as a college project. As part of his business studies course he had to produce a business plan as an exercise and decided to make it a transport company as his father runs a . Business Post franchise. "When I handed it in I got quite a good mark for it, so I thought 'if it's so good I'll give it to the bank and see what they think of it'," says Sheldrake. The bank was so impressed that it gave him a 115,000 overdraft. "Which was exceed. ingly generous for a small business I thought," he remarks.
When he left college in July 1997 the overdraft paid for the deposit and VAT on a new 7.5-tonne Leyland Daf 45 curtainsider and that November, at the age of 2,1, Sheldrake became one of the youngest owner-drivers in the country. Through a contact of his father's he started regular distribution work with parcel company DFDS, then at Coggeshall, Essex, near his Coggeshall base. But after the theory, the reality of running a business came as a bit of a shock.
"The first day was a nightmare," Sheldrake admits. "One of those days you never forget. The reality of working. At college it was all just sitting round and going up the pub and doing your homework. The first day in the real world is a bit scary." The DFDS work took up most of Sheldrake's time for the first year. But then the company moved its hub to Purfleet and the unpaid So-mile round trip each day to drop and pick up from the depot would have taken most of Sheldrake's profit margin. However, he had also begun to work for other local companies so he decided to try to make a go of it doing general haulage. Since then he has built up a list of about zo regular clients, most of which are based around the industrial estates of Braintree. "It's been a case of knocking on people's doors and handing out cards," says Sheldrake.
Clean vehicle
He believes that image is important for a haulage company and makes sure that his vehicle is well turned out and he is dressed smartly: "If you turn up in a rusty old bucket, you don't give as good an impression as if you turn up in a clean vehicle. If your turn-out is right, people think that the vehicle is well looked after and the goods will be OK and that there's a bit of care taken in the job."
It's his willingness to do that bit extra when the job demands that keeps his clients corning back. An example of this is sunbed importer Cyrano Leisure which regularly uses Sheldrake to deliver its goods throughout the country. "They asked me if I would do installations as well rather than just delivering them," explains Sheldrake. "You have to take them apart on the back of the lorry, take them into the salon and put them back together again. Being an owner-driver and with nothing else to worry about it's all part of the service."
Sheldrake extends this service to his other clients, including computer company Compel. "They especially like it," he says. "They have customers who ask for me to come down because I don't mind mucking in. It gets you known. Rather than just turning up at the door and dropping off the boxes and running off again, I will spend the extra half hour. As long as I'm covering my costs that's all I'm bothered about, really. If it takes a bit more time to do this or do that I'm not really too bothered."
Being willing to muck in has also helped him find work from Braintree-based, Sharon Lee. The company imports baseball caps from Japan and they are packed in small boxes which have to be individually handled. Last year this job led to a visit to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. "That was good fun because I went into the inside of the circuit and was directed all the way into the paddock and parked my lorry next to all these multi-million-pound trucks," he recalls. "It was the night before the race and they were all in very jolly spirits. It comes about by being helpful. I don't mind saying, `I'll take these boxes down there for you'. It only takes a bit of effort and it saves me going to the gym!"
In March this year he traded in his trusty 45, which had clocked about 280,000km, for a MAN 1.2000 8.163 curtainsider with Space Cab. His local dealer is MAN Eastern in Colchester. "They have looked after me well and have been very helpful," says Sheldrake. "They were willing to pay off the remaining lease on the Leyland. The MAN has two years' free servicing on it which is one hell of a saving—a couple of hundred quid every six weeks. It pays
to buy new. Although the cost is about £30,000 as against fro,000 for a second-hand vehicle, you know what you're getting and you know the background of it."
Loaded artic
Although he's doing well and there's plenty of work for his 7.5-tonner, Sheldrake has a longing to take his HGV test and get into artics. "I think it's a great sight when you see a fully loaded artic come flying past," he says. "They have definitely got character. Eventually I'd like to have about five attics running down to Spain and Italy." When he gets his HGV, MAN Eastern has promised him the loan of a demonstrator for a week. "It's all down to boyhood dreams," Sheldrake admits. "As a small boy you always want to drive a big truck."
Despite his company's name the international side has not quite taken off yet: "It's called BJS International but it's more in hope than anything else." So far he has made trips to France, Holland and Belgium, all for DFDS, and has found his RHA membership useful in this respect. The trips tend to be last-minute affairs and the RHA has been helpful in arranging insurance.
Single and living with his parents, Sheldrake has no problems coping with the nights out and relishes the challenges of running his own transport business: "It's a hard world and, although I'm quite young, I do feel it and it's not every weekend that I want to go out partying. But I'm willing to put a bit extra in. For me it's a lifelong career."