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Millers' crossi
Page 24
Page 25
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Millers of Longton was born out of anger.
Andy Salter taks to the man who sowed
the seeds of a
successful fleet when the price of lettuces
left him fuming.
John Miller's entry into the full-time world of road transport recovery is a story worth retelling in his own words: "We'd been running a few trucks and servicing those of others in the local area and, like many around here, we had a large glasshouse and were growing local produce." he says gesturing out of the window at his yard,situated near Preston in countryside once renowned for market gardening.
"In the late sixties the fruit and vegetable business was extremely tough and we'd been thinking of getting out for a number of years," he adds. But each year we'd plant some more lettuces and on it went.
Farewell to lettuces
"Then in 1970 we sent a load of lettuces to Manchester and the price was so poor it cost us more money to transport the lettuce to market than the money we got for the lettuce. I was so angry I came back home, put a winch rope around the glasshouses and pulled the lot down and then bulldozed the whole thing!"
It's a decision he doesn't appear to have regretted. "While the glasshouses were there we always felt we should use them," he says. "Knocking them down was the best thing lever did. It meant I could turn my back on that business and walk away."
It also meant he could turn his attention to developing the roadside recovery business, an enterprise which has proved a good deal more lucrative than growing lettuces.
While Miller's company might not be as well-known as some of the other players in the roadside recovery sector, operators who use him swear by him and he's built a strong reputation among the people who matter. His list of clients numbers more than 600 and reads like a who's who of the road transport industry.
The company has built up links with reliable recovery firms throughout the country Sc) once you're signed up with a Miller account you can tap into the expertise of a network of specialist commercial vehicle recoverers.
The first account the company had was with Caledonian, servicing and recovering its vehicles in the event of breakdown. When Caledonian was swallowed up by BRS in the late '70s Miller started working for BRS covering the north-west of England, first for the state-owned company; then in its denationalised guise as Exel. "We did such a good job covering the region that we then got the nationwide contract," says Miller. "We then had to work out how we were going to do it."
Signing up to a Miller account is a simple affair and that simplicity underpins everything the company does. Miller believes it's best to keep things that way. "Opening an account with us costs nothing; my belief is that if you don't break down you don't pay," he says. "In the event of a breakdown we'll handle the call, arrange recovery if required and, hopefully, get the vehicle, and more importantly the load, back moving as soon as possible. For some of the bigger companies we're able to make decisions on their behalf.
"For instance, if a truck rolls over in the middle of the night for a big fleet we'll make the decision on what action's required. If you're dealing with one of the big companies the decision-making process can be very slow, particularly if people aren't in their offices. Providing we know what's important to the customer and most times it's to ensure the goods are delivered on time we can work in their best interests. It's one of the advantages of me being the boss and not another manager. I can take the risk on a job and then deal with the paper trail afterwards.
As you'd expect after dealing with so many breakdowns, Miller is a mine of information on recurring vehicle faults and can save operators time and money, in many cases simply by offering advice to the driver over the phone.
"We had one driver ring up, apparently broken down because a yellow warning light had come up on the dashboard in the shape of a snow flake." Miller recalls with a grin. "He didn't know what it was. had parked up and wanted us to come out.
"I told him to make sure he put his coat on when he jumped out of the cab! The warning light was telling him it was cold outside, that's all. Sometimes you have to wonder..."
Miller has countless other tales of similarly unbelievable call-outs; he's also been involved in educating the police. Highways Agency and the Fire Service. Again, he highlights an alarming level of ignorance.
A terminal move "If there's a smash with a truck, one of the first things the Fire Brigade does is cut the battery leads to isolate electric power for fear of creating a spark," he says. "On 6x2 tractors this can be disastrous if the axle is lifted and there's someone stuck underneath the chassis.
"To demonstrate what can happen. I put a cardboard box under the mid-lift and cut the battery leads. The axle drops and crushes the box. Imagine if that was a young child who'd come off their bike, or a fireman trying to rescue someone? I've now shown them how to isolate the battery properly."
The hour's interview I'd planned with John Miller soon turned into a couple of hours of fascinating chat about trucks and the commercial vehicle industry. I've seldom come across anyone with such a depth of information on this business or the fascinating tales of transport madness. A nd don't be fooled by the overalls and laid back appearance this is a seriously smart operation run by a man. and wife, who know the business inside out. In fact,just the sort of person you'd want batting for you in an emergency.