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SPEC IAL
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AGENTS
Agencies may be commonplace, but they have a special something when run by HGV drivers, as Tim Maughan finds.
These men are in the process of setting up a driving agency called 5 Star Driver Recruitment. But this agency is different. Their background is not in business— it is in professional truck driving. Between them, they have more than 50 years' experience driving for TDG. Last year. the fleet operator decided to close its Paisley depot.
"We were quite happy in our jobs," says Billy Swan. who spent 19 years driving with the company TDG offered the four an opportunity to drive out of its Mossend base, but the men. all from the Paisley district.were not comfortable with the daily commute:They decided to take TDG's redundancy package.
This is a rare occasion where job titles are impossible to pin down: they do not exist. Leonard Small (10 years at TDG), David Pattison (15 years with the firm), Ian McKellar (eight years) and Swan make it patently clear that there is no hierarchy. No one is officially in charge. although it is Pattison who touches upon the group's strategy.
He says:"We came up with the idea of starting up a driving agency. and our TDG colleagues thought that it was a good idea; we went to the local enterprise people, and they said that our plans were viable.They advised us how to go about setting up the agency; they gave us information us about public and employer's liability and National Insurance."
Renfrewshire Business Gateway awarded them a grant to cover half the cost of buying a computer. Choosing IT hardware can be a confusing business.The four have yet to decicl which model to buy, but when they do it will feature a database holding customers' and drivers' details.
Fifteen strong
The topic of job titles— or lack of them— continues.At first,we assume that the smartlydressed quartet wholly own this agency. But there are 15 of them in total; Pattison, Small, McKellar and Swan are joined by 11 other drivers.All 15 members, we learn, have an equal say in this agency. It is a limited compan and so officially all members are directors. Bu the agency runs along co-operative lines.These are early days and it will take time to carve out the agency's identity. "As things develop we will employ office staff. In the future, anyone joining the company will become employees, not automatically directors,says Pattison.
The men speak highly of TDG's 5 Star Driver Training Programme. It showed them the worth of solid in-house training:there are plans to set up on-going training courses within the agency, confirms Pattison. Such tuition would cover subjects such as economical driving, and it is extras such as these, argues Swan. that attract prestigious customers. He says that the image of agency drivers is poor. "Because they drive for truck operators tem porarily,they, get a hard time," he says.
Pattison believes that he and his colleagues can challenge this bad press.-We won't drop into the pitfalls that many agency drivers do. We're prepared to ask customers questions. we all live in a world where nobody knows everything. It's wee things like this that make the difference."
These men believe that on-going training, and the half a century of HGV experience shared by them, put them in good stead for securing work with the big fleets. Image projection is vital but attention has to be paid to infrastructure too. Andrew MacDuff, project executive. Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce. recognises that fledgling agencies often need a spot of guidance. He has helped Pattison, Small, McKellar and Swan."It's important to look at company structures and to advise people how to negotiate contracts. One of our responsibilities is to give a mentoring programme to companies which are less than 24 months old."
Hefty financial outlay is the big prerequisite when establishing a firm -"We are trying to stay away from the banks," says Swanbut in this case we wonder if you really need a ready pile of cash.There are no trucks to run, at this stage no need for an office, and no speculative buying of stock.
"The main problem is covering our expenses," asserts Pattison."It can take 30 days to receive payment after you have done a job."
It's this potential delay in cashllow which can demolish a going concern, even before it gets off the ground.As time goes on, the men maintain that there is more than enough demand for agency drivers in Scotland's central belt.
McKellar says that they would look to offer their services to operators further afield, perhaps nationally.
This agency's slogan is -Run by drivers for drivers". Attracting the attention of fleet operators is the key, but if growth is to come about. fresh drivers have to join up. "I think that they will feel more at home with fellow drivers." says Swan."They'll feel more relaxed working with them than, say. transport managers.
Strong demand The flexibility altorded by driver agencies will no doubt be in strong demand with the implementation of the Working Time Directive. "There will be a lot more driver changeovers and more trunking," says Swan.
"There has never been so much opportunity for driver agencies," adds Pattison. So we wonder if the four see this merely as a job or a road to riches. Whatever form it takes, all members will be directors or, for want of a better word, co-operatives.
On a day-to-day basis, extra cash can only be generated by working as many hours as possible there is no operator/driver structure here and everyone will be in an HGV cab.
If everything goes according to plan, and 5 Star Driver Recruitment secures business with the fleet giants, the men could be rewarded by substantial dividends.Time will tell. "We're a wee hit nervous, but it's exciting," says Pattison.s