T o describe Brian Harris's management style as "hands on" would
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be an understatement: apart from actually driving all of the 30 trucks that specialise in distribution to Scotland, he seems to do it all himself, answering all the phone calls, booking in loads, routeing the vehicles.
He does get help with accounts from his mother but C114's interview is interrupted by a constant stream of phonecalls, with the office phone amplified so that it can be heard anywhere in the yard. Quotes fly in the cramped office: "What size is it? That will be about L400." When asked why he came into haulage he simply replies: "I never knew anything else: I was brought up in it." And it shows. There is a robust air about the operation, with much colourful bantering between drivers and their boss. One has the legend "Fat Knackers", on his windscreen. We decide not to ask why. Up to 20 loads a week go to Scotland, mostly on flats because of the mixed nature of the loads.
So what does he actually deliver? "There's one for Scotland tomorrow carrying a scrummaging machine, concrete and steel fittings for the building trade." It's that class of thing, related to the building industry and to factory and farm machinery.
One of his major local customers is Candy Tiles at Newton Abbott and he will take othe • building and agricultural materials and machinery produc in the South West to his Scottish customers.
Backloads include paper, steel, and
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machinery for drops from Bristol down through the SouthWest.
How did he develop the Scottish niche? "It began in 1948," explains Harris, "when my father was asked by Candy Tiles to supply a large customer near Glasgow." Niche operation or not there are an increasing number of competitors: "The biggest problem that faces us is goods coming from the North where manufacturers have built their own depots around Bristol and developed their own transport."
The long-distance nature of Harris's work has proved attractive to tyre manufacturer Dunlop which uses his fleet to test new products up to two years before they go into production. It is one of a handful of key fleets throughout the UK singled out in this way. Dunlop may now be owned by a Japanese firm but the lorries are unmistakably British—all ERFs.
The firm doesn't go in for airs and graces; drivers' canteen facilities are basic and there is no flash reception area, but a certain employee loyalty has been inspired over the past half-century of trading: "Three drivers retired last year with 30 years service each," says Harris.
That kind of loyalty has been returned. When two drivers lost their HGV licences because of heart trouble Harris added a pair of 7.5-tonners to the fleet so they could continue to work.