PROFILE BARRY JACKSON
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• How long should a firm hang on to its trucks? Its a perennial question and depends on all sorts of factors. But one answer you would not expect for a truck that is working hard every day, is at least 11 years and 1,6 million miles.
That's how long Barry Jackson has been driving his Volvo F7 and, as far as the truck and its driver are concerned, there is no reason to change. They work out of Raston, north of Peterborough, delivering to sites in the Midlands and the South. The F7 had its purchase costs written-off years ago: it is cheap to run and looks as good, if not better, than when it was new.
Good enough, in fact, to win the Commercial Motor Best Kept Working Truck Award at Thuckfest for the second year running. If there was any dissent, it was only from those who could not believe that the truck still does serious work — an understandable view', but unjustified.
Jackson spends about an hour at the end of each shift with ARC cleaning and polishing the vehicle, inside and out, winter and summer.
Outside his F7 looks better than it did when it came off the production line. Inside the cab there is a deep shine which only comes from years of polishing. Jackson is a real professional, a driver who is quick but unhurried, meticulous without fussing. There is 110 quicker way of ageing a truck than charging along the straight, but uneven roads which straddle the Fens, north of Peterborough. For the sake of a few extra minutes Jackson believes in reducing wear and tear on himself and the vehicle.
His driving technique was helped by starting off with the F7 on the right track — top marks to Volvo and ARC for the way in which the F7s were introduced, says Jackson. The drivers were taken off to a seminar at Northampton on how to get the best from their trucks, especially in terms of pulling power and fuel economy.
The idea of keeping revs down in the green band was all new to drivers coming off Leyland Bisons and used to thrashing the engines to get any sort of pull out them. "With modern engines, you can sit hack with ease and let the motor do its job. That's a lesson that a surprisingly large number of HGV drivers still have not learned," he says.
He keeps a close eye out for any trouble developing on the truck, which has benefited from having not only the same driver, but also the same mechanic for its 11 years: Bob Wass is a good all-rounder who takes the trouble to pick up on faults when they are noted, and puts them right.
The truck was still on its first clutch, when the engine was replaced after 1,000,000km. That engine, which had an oil change every 10,000km, was virtually trouble-free, needing only two new bearings. Sadly, the new unit has not been so good.
It is now 18 years since Jackson got the first-ever lorry-mounted crane lift at ARC. He still uses the original grab, but the Atlas crane was up-dated with a more powerful version 12 years ago. They both still look immaculate. "ARC said to me: The way you look after the truck, we think you'll handle the crane properly.' I think I've proved the point, haven't I?" he says with a grin.
Jackson's caring attitude stretches beyond the truck to the way he deals with ARC's customers. As he off-loaded in the narrow, difficult drive of a house which was having an extension built, the boss of the small building firm doing the job made a point of saying: "I'm glad we got this driver, he puts the blocks just where you want them. A lot of drivers would just have dumped them on the pavement."
Jackson has been driving for ARC for more than 20 years, and first started winning truck competitions in the 1970s. The company ran an in-house contest for the best kept truck, judged over a 12-month period.
"It started to give the drivers a bit more interest in their trucks and it was the best truck trophy in the whole industry," says Jackson. He won repeatedly with a six-wheeled Leyland Bison — not the most pleasant of vehicles — and has won cash awards totalling £2,500 with his trucks, along with two Isringhausen air suspension seats, which he swears by.
Much of the money has been ploughed back into the F7, including chrome wheeltrims. But he does not believe in customising trucks too much; the vehicle should look much the same as it did when it was delivered, he says.
His F7 has always been a little bit spe cial: "I think it must have been a show truck. It was the first of a batch of 14, but the cab roof lining is thicker than the others, its got wash-wipe on the headlamps, unlike the others, and the door handles are chrome, not the usual matt black."
ARC axed its best-kept truck competition at about the same time that it started encouraging drivers to buy their own vehicles and become owner-drivers. It is a temptation which Jackson, and most of the other drivers at Baston, has resisted. "ARC works in a cyclical business, and while it may look good one year, you could end up quiet the next."
Jackson and his F7 part com pany next year, as ARC wants to replace the six-legger with a more productive 8x4. "I'm hoping I've still got this one when Truckfest comes around next year," he says, "I am aiming for three wins in a row." He is grateful to ARC for allowing him to take the truck to shows: "I meet some drivers whose bosses won't even chip in the price of a tin of paint."
Jackson is a man who is proud of what he has achieved with his truck, but he is not big-headed. After taking many years of stick from his workmates, he's proved to be thickskinned too. "Hey Barry, your new truck is coming the week before Truckfestl" is a typical comment. The other drivers regard him as one of life's eccentrics. "At least his missus knows what he's up to!" they chant. He's also a credit to the company he works for and the industry he works in. One driver added: ""l'he way he's looked after the lorry, they ought to give him it!"
He and his F7 seem to have found the secret of a long and happy life. With manufacturers putting so much emphasis on whole-life costs these days, perhaps Volvo could do worse than line up Jackson's truck beside its brightest and best from the current model range.