1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
DOWN IN THE WOODS
Page 40
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Mick Philliskirk takes great pride in the appearance of his truck even though most of its time is spent deep in the forest hauling timber for the building and paper trades.
• Mick Philliskirk is a firm believer in posing. His philosophy is simple: the more people notice him the more work he will get. It seems to work: the 42-year-old owner-driver and his truck are kept busy hauling timber.
The current tool of his trade is an eyecatching top-of-the-range 4000 Series Foden 6x2 with a host of extras, some of which might at first seem superfluous. For example, he rarely stays away overnight so the Globetrotter-style sleeper-cab might seem redundant. But he says: "It is always there if I need it and the resale value of trucks this size is always greater if there's a shed on the back."
The aluminium nudge bar and roofmounted spotlights look good but they are functional too. Most dark winter days find him slipping and sliding in and out of forests. That is where a nudge bar comes in handy and spotlights too. The loads come from as far apart as the Scottish border region and South Wales.
Usually, high-quality timber for floor boards and other building uses comes from the North, while the return loads are lesser-quality pulp wood for paper. Phillisldrk's base is in Moore, just outside Warrington, so apart from the M6, the normal north/south route is largely on A-roads through the valleys and over the mountains of Wales. That is when the 317kW (425hp) Caterpillar engine comes into its own. The aerodynamic properties of a load of logs are akin to a house brick, but a fibreglass spoiler kit makes the diesel go that much further.
HIRE PURCHASE
Philliskirk buys all his equipment on hirepurchase. The advantages of leasing leave him cold: "The only things I ever leased were four mobile telephones when I used to operate four trucks," he says. "When I decided that one truck would be just as lucrative and a quarter the hassle, the lease on the phones could not be renounced. I am still paying for them and you can buy them outright for a fraction of what they used to cost. I still have one in the Foden though, and a CB just in case of accidents while in the forests. Sometimes I have to drive five miles off road to reach a load."
The Foden cost 249,000 on the road complete with paint job and signwriting. It is Philliskirk's seventh truck but his first Foden. Nearby Sandbach Trucks supplied the vehicle: "I did shop around extensively," says Mick, "but the one thing which stood out at Sandbach was the facility to specify exactly what you wanted. For example, I wanted the tried and tested Fuller 13-speed gearbox (95013) and Rockwell axles. The 425 Cat engine was preferable to the Cummins 400 because I have heard that Cummins injectors need to be constantly adjusted to maintain optimum performance and economy.
"Double-drive on a demonstrator was not very impressive, mainly because of the extra weight involved. A 6x2 configuration with an air-suspended lift axle is sufficient. When loaded, the axle will not lift right up off the ground, but it will raise enough to put most of the weight on the drive axle, which is where you need it in a sticky forest situation.
"Mercedes are too heavy and anyway I once had a 1644 which was, unusually, very troublesome — the Ecosplit gearbox used to disengage itself in the most awkward circumstances. Leyland Dafs are too heavy as well and, while I am sure Renaults are fine machines, their residual value is far too low. At the end of the day a Scania 143 was the only other serious contender; but a 143 equipped as this Foden is costs a whopping £9,000 more," he explains.
Philliskirk has been in business as a sole trader for 10 years. He is a fitter by trade, but at the end of his first day as a driver the thought of being cooped up in a workshop all day suddenly lost its appeal. However, his employed driving career did not last long. In 1979 the recession began to bite and Philliskirk was put on a one-week-on, one-week-off basis. This 50% cut in income soon persuaded him that he should try to make a go of it on his own.
"I borrowed a thousand quid off a mate and bought an old ex-Dutch-registered Scania 110. A first I got work from my old employer's main customer. A period with Ferrymasters tipping and loading their trailers followed, but soon 1 realised that to get better rates in this business you must specialise. Through my father I made a contact in a saw mill and have been there ever since. We have no written contract as such: everything is done on a gentleman's agreement." This might sound like alarming way to do business, but writ) contracts for owner-drivers are rare. Philliskirk does not have to price each d. The timber buyer at the mill will one him and say, for example: There 2,000 tonnes to be transported from int A back to point B. The rate we can y per tonne is this. Can you do it at price?" Philliskirk's reply means he her works or he doesn't.
There are five trailers in the Philliskirk ible: two flatbeds, two skeletals and one idem-axle timber trailer complete with a anstred hydraulic crane. He sees no vantage in operating on six axles — yload is a vital factor, and a tri-axle tiler would scrub tyres out in no time on ugh forestry roads. The variety of trail s is an insurance against his timber )rk becoming thin on the ground. Another insurance is the crane. At two anes it cuts down on payload but enles Philliskirk to operate independently. ; in all areas of haulage, competition for aber work is fierce. But when work comes less plentiful it is the operators to can load and unload for themselves m get that work.
"The crane cost £14,000 plus £1,500 r the trailer plus another £3,000 to have converted," says Philliskirk. "That is a
t of capital investment but, although I cre the truck to stand out, customers can T that I have the right equipment to do le job.
"Anyway, there is a certain pride to be tined in doing the job with style." I by Laurence Kiely