CAPITAL PRIZE
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There's a wind of change blowing through supermarket distribution. But Canterbury-based Chris London Transport has found shelter from the storm with a little help from Commercial Motor's Win-a-Truck Competition.
Wlien supermarkets sneeze, small hauliers catch a cold. And when food retailers decide to change their distribution methods everyone's affected and not always for the good.
Two years ago Kent-based Chris London's small fleet of rigids was busy delivering fresh and chilled produce to supermarkets in the South-east, "topping-up" as a subcontractor for the likes of Francis Davis, R&J Wood and Henleys as well as for local packing houses.
"A lot of the stuff we did for the supermarkets was extra orders and what was left off their artics," explains London. "We'd also do the odd fire engine job like one pallet to Crewe!" The work was steady, even if the rates were nothing out of the ordinary.
Then the supermarkets looked at how they were being supplied with produce. Tesco switched to composite sites while Sainsbury's opted for dedicated hauliers. One of the first casualties was Francis Davis which had previously worked for Sainsbury's and for whom London subbed.
"The tenders for the job went out at the end of 1994. They awarded Henleys the work for West Kent out of Paddock Wood while R&J Wood at Teynham got the work for east Kent," says London.
"That wasn't a problem. We still worked for them but then WRM took them both over. All the local subcontractors were affected—not just us—we were all badly hit. As Henleys and Woods worked together the need for small contractors was greatly reduced."
London remains philosophical of the change. "Sainsbury's wanted artics full to the brim, they didn't want small vehicles—you can see their point of view," he says. However, it forced him to reappraise his business which had previously been concentrated on rigids. The answer seemed to be to put on weight.
Despite having traditionally kept away from artics, London was no stranger to larger wagons. CLT took on its first at the back end of 1993 when a local owner-driver Nigel Daniels joined the firm.
"I le'd been hit hard by a traction company not paying so he asked us if there was anything we could do. We bought his 2033 Merc, while he brought his work, which was mainly Continental. We sold his Tautliner and bought an Insuliner. Then we sold that and got a Gray and Adams reefer which we've since had stretched to 26 pallets," says London.
Ripples
After 18 months the Mercedes was replaced by a 14-litre ERF and last year, as the ripples from the WRM takeover were still being felt, London decided he needed another tractor: "We didn't have the flexibility with just one."
His wife Shirley suggested he bought the ERF's sister truck—a dealer demonstrator. But it didn't happen. "We were badly messed around over it. It was actually out on loan to another customer-1 always find that funny," says London, who then decided to approach his local Iveco Ford dealer, Invicta at Canterbury. Then fate took a hand in the shape of the Commercial Motorfiveco Ford Win-a-Truck Competition. The prize? A new 380hp Iveco EuroTech tractor, free for a year.
London entered and promptly forgot about it until CM pulled his name out the hat. Keeping it a secret until the right moment wasn't easy, especially as lnvicta had got wind of what was about to happen. They rang me up and said 'Do I know anybody at Iveco—because they know an awful lot about you!' So I said well I've entered the competition'."
His wife remained sceptical: "Shirley was pressurising me to get another unit, but she told me to calm down and don't be silly."
A call from CM one late Friday afternoon call early this year put it beyond doubt. But it took a while to sink in: "I thought it was a wind up!" admits London.
Stand-ins
While his prize was going down the assembly line in Madrid, Iveco Ford provided CLT with a brace of stand-ins including a 340hp EuroTech twin-steer which performed very well. "It was a brilliant tool," reckons London. "The fuel consumption was phenomenal, between 9.5-10mpg on traction in the UK. We also had a 420hp 4x2 with SAMT. That again wasn't bad on fuel—in the high eights and low nines."
Finally on 15 July London's own 400E38 turned up although it took a while to settle down—not least as the spec wasn't quite right, as London explains: "It had a Euro-1 engine but a Euro-2 back axle which is meant to run with the Euro-2 engine that's got more bottom-end torque." The result was that it was overgeared and barely in the green at 56mph. Fuel and journey times were suffering. "Iveco took it back and put in the right one, they were very good," says London.
Less than a fortnight back in harness the cab was sideswiped by another artic early one morning while parked up overnight at Crawley Cross. The culprit pushed off exceedingly quickly though London has no doubt that he must have known what he'd done. "We never found out who did it—do you ever? Some bastard's got a big smile on his face."
Happily N142GMJ is now back in service hauling for Dukefast of Dover—CLT's main customer—running to Spain.
According to London it's loosening up nicely and pulling better. "We've just hit 8mpg with it and we should get over nine. You can't expect high returns right away but it's going up all the time. The 4x2 gives us an extra tonne and its tall cab does well for an overnight. Overall Nigel likes it—he was worried about a nine-litre engine going to Spain but he's been surprised." London wasn't, having run Fiat 16-tonners back in his early days. "Their engines went on forever, you only had to re-ring them now and again."
Having a new tractor free for a year is one thing. Would London take it on after his 12 months? "More than likely—I've no qualms about Iveco engines."
But has the new arrival helped? judging by Shirley London's comment it probably has. Like her husband, she's pragmatic about the changes forced on them: "It all made sense. Our turnover was about £600,000 a year and it dropped to around ,E500,000 but we've turned it round. We do anything now with as much fridge work as dry freight. We lost— and gained."
by Brian Weatherley CM will he reporting on how CLT's Euro Tech performs over the coming months.