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to the job
For a husband-and-wife to set up in business as a partnership takes plenty of stamina if you're going to stay the course. Nigel and Debbie Deacon know this only too well, as Nicky Clarke reports.
re expression "not knowing where your next meal will come from" could have been coined for Nigel and Debbie Deacon, because this husband-and-wife team came frighteningly close to that situation soon after they set up Evesham-based driver agency Westbourne Services in 1995.
As with many new businesses, money was tight—Nigel Deacon recalls: "One night we had to drive to a customer's office to collect the cheque so we could go food shopping."
If anything the Deacons were galvanised by the difficult start, and the agency, which initially had Nigel Deacon as its only driver, now has 36 regulars working for big names including Salvesen Logistics, British Gas and Blakes Chilled Distribution. Westbourne Services must be doing something right it has a number of long-term contracts to supply drivers and enjoys preferred-agency status among its clients.
The company was set up in Debbie's name because of restrictions resulting from Deacon's former employment with other staff agencies and the divorce from his first wife, which left him bankrupt. However, Deacon now manages the day-to-day running of Westbourne with Debbie handling payroll and other administration, After allocating drivers to jobs on the agency side, Deacon spends the rest of his time running Caragen, a haulage operation based at the same site. He took over the business last August from his stepmother Pauline, who continues to do some of the administration, and his father, Bob, who drives for the domestic and international business.
"It needed somebody to restructure the business and concentrate on work that is profitable," says Deacon. He describes last year as a funny time for Caragen—despite a turnover of £450,000, its profits were negligible because of heavy investment and restructuring programmes.
Big deposits
"We sold three old trucks and went over to contract hire on two new ones which required big deposits," he says. Deacon also bought three 13.6m tilt trailers and pulled four trucks off some local subcontracting work after the haulier concerned tried to alter the payment terms. "We weren't prepared to accept 90 days," he says.
Caragen was established by Bob Deacon in 1985 after he bought a 7.5-tonne beavertail Iveco to move plant. The previous owner had used the vehicle to tow caravans from manufacturers to holiday sites and Bob inherited this work. As demand grew he invested in several more vehicles. But the caravan trade is intensely seasonal work so he branched out into general haulage to use excess vehicle capacity, taking the name Caragen from "caravan and general".
Early this year Deacon finally pulled out of caravan haulage. "The rates went silly," he explains. "Pence per mile dropped to general haulage rates, fuel prices went up and in the end it got to the stage where I said 'enough'." Now most of the company's international work is carrying dry goods to Italy for freight forwarder Merzario and gmupage machinery for intermodal operator Ashworth Priest.
Two vehicles carry swap bodies on 44-tonners to and from railheads in the UK for the intermodal work. One of these is an E-reg 22.362 MAN which has now travelled more than a million miles "We bought it secondhand two years ago," says Deacon. "It's a superb truck and the driver loves it. He goes off on a Monday morning and covers the length and breadth of the country on 44-tonne work."
The other truck carrying swap bodies is a 13-year-old Leyland Daf 3600 Space Cab which, much to his despair, is his father's pride and joy. "He won't let me sell it," he says. "Until June this year it went to Italy on a weekly basis but we've had frequent set-tos about the maintenance costs. I even bought him an R-reg 18A63 MAN Roadhaus. He loves it but says the old Daf is just as good. I can't see the fascination of the Daf myself."
Loads to Italy go on an R-reg MAN 22.403, which was acquired in February on an operating lease, and a K-reg 22372 MAN plated at 44 tonnes which is owned outright.
At the beginning of December Westbourne Services took over Caragen, although the haulage operation will continue to trade under its own name. "We did it to simplify the administration and give us more buying power," says Deacon. Joint turnover is now £1.2m.
The takeover should not affect either Nigel's or Debbie's role in the business. Debbie continues to do the invoicing and payroll for both companies and works at Westbourne, while Nigel looks after all the transport movements at Caragen. Ile is convinced that the move will save time in chasing paper through one system rather than two, which should help his efforts to achieve the 1S09002 international organisation standard. "More and more customers expect you to have quality procedures," he points out. It will give us more credibility and it will save us work in the long run."
Future growth
Future growth with the Caragen business is likely to come from the Continental work, says Deacon, largely because of lower -fuel costs. "It's cheaper to run to Europe," he points out, though "it's nonsense that we have to think that way." He is hoping for a sensible solution to fuel taxation and actively supports the Road Haulage Association's Fair Play on Fuel campaign.
Deacon is good at keeping his wheels moving. "It's the only way you can guarantee to earn any money," he says. "I give the vehicle to the first of my regular customers that comes up with a profitable load. I don't care who drives them. Each of the five vehicles has a designated driver but he may lose that vehicle for a week because it has gone straight back to Italy." Running a driver agency alongside a haulage outfit puts Deacon in an enviable position. He makes full use of this luxury by pulling his Caragen drivers into agency work and vice-versa, so minimising the effects of the continuing driver shortage. He describes his agency rates of pay as "better than some and as good as others". His rate of more than £5 an hour is certainly more than many employed drivers are earning.
For carrying hazardous goods the hourly rate is more than £6, which must be attractive because he has one driver on his books who has moved from Cornwall to the Evesham area for the sake of the work. Westbourne also has two drivers who have been with the firm for nearly three years and seven who have been there for more than 12 months.
Other benefits for agency drivers include holiday pay and, after three months' service, they will be paid for a 40-hour week regardless of whether they do the hours. They simply have to be available for work five days out of seven. After six months' service payment is given for bank holidays.
Before would-be agency drivers reach for the phone to contact Deacon, they need to be sure they can convince him that they are adaptable and have the right attitude. Offering years of experience is not enough. As he says: "I can spot a genuine driver. I have been hoodwinked only twice in the time I've been doing it, but I'm prepared to give anyone the benefit of the doubt—once."
FACTFILE: CARAGEN BASED: Evesham, Glos. FOUNDED: 1985. CONTACT: Nigel Deacon, managing director. FLEET: All MANs except for one 13-year-old Daf 3600. MOST RECENT PURCHASE: An MAN 18.463 Roadhaus, acquired on an operating lease and destined to replace the ageing Def. SPECIALITY CONTRACT: Dry goods and groupage machinery, mostly to Italy, with some intermodal work in the UK. TURNOVER: £450,000.