When you're a senior manager for one of the UK's
Page 44
Page 46
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
largest haulage outfits the pressure's high, and so are the rewards. But one such high-flyer walked out of the corporate jungle and into the cab of his own truck.
Paul Newman finds out why...
1 n the financial climate of today's transport industry it takes a lot of nerve to give up a secure, well-paid management position with a major distribution company to start up on your own as an owner.operator. But for Darrin Sherwood it was a case of
now or never. On i July he left his job as oper
ations manager at the Exel Logistics/Bass dis tribution site at Sutton Coldfield; two days pi later he got married. "I went away on my honeymoon, which is likely to be the only holiday I will have for the next few years, and
•
came back three weeks later and started my EE own business," says Sherwood, 33, who trades as Forest Hire, E It was a brave choice, considering what he's
given up. With Exel he had all the trimmings of
middle management including the company I BMW, pension, paid phone bills and private g health care. "The easiest thing for me to do ig would be to stay there," he says. "But I had E reached depot manager level, which is one below regional director. You move from one depot to another and whether it's Tesco or Somerfield it's all very much the same. I wasn't going to get any higher, because I haven't got a university degree and I felt that I would be in the same thing for the next 20 years."
In fact Sherwood is getting back to his roots. At at he started out as a driver with Heron Distribution, which was later to become Merlin, and worked his way up to operations manager. Five years ago he took a deliberate backward step to become a shift manager with Christian Salvesen. He explains: "With Merlin it was T00% transport and I wanted to get some warehouse experience because once you get to a certain level you need both.'
But his new business is firmly based on his early experience as a driver: "Previous to working in retail I worked on bulk tippers and I believe in sticking to what you know," says Sherwood. So with the money he managed to save while at Exel, Sherwood went in 0 search of a second-hand bulk tipper. For a trailer he picked a 57yd3 triaxle Crane Fruehauf running on air.
"I decided to go for 41 tonnes even though there are pros and cons," he says. Time will tell what the Government will do regarding weight limits, etc."
It wasn't so easy to find the right tractor, and Sherwood was not impressed by the treatment he received at the hands of the main dealerships: "I found most of them unhelpful when I went to them and said that I was starting up in business," he explains. "I had to chase them...I think it was appalling." Because of that experience, and to avoid the sort of deprecation and insurance premiums you get with new vehicles, Sherwood decided to go for a good quality second-hand unit.
He found what he wanted at Chris Hodge's Greenwich site, in the guise of a 1995 lveco 400 E38. To suit its new owner Hodge had it converted to a 6x4 and added a PTO to drive the hydraulics on the tipping trailer. "1 decided to go for it because it's fairly light and middle of the range power-wise so it will cope with 41 tonnes," says Sherwood.
His experience in distribution has taught him the value of careful checking, so when he went in search of his first contract he made sure exactly what he was getting involved with. "I spent time looking around at various companies that you can work for as a subcontractor," Sherwood explains. "I want to progress and build my own contracts but at the moment I am working for Walter Carefoot of Preston."
Rock salt
The contract involves taking rock salt from the mine at Winsford, Cheshire to council road maintenance depots around the country. Backloads, mainly crushed glass from recycling transfer stations for reprocessing plants, are organised by Carefoot, so Sherwood rarely has to run empty.
"With Carefoot it wasn't so much them interviewing me as me interviewing them," he says. "They are a family company which has been going a long time. They could give me trade references from other subcontractors working for them, which other companies were not prepared to do. Through contacting those I found out that there was plentiful work. They are regular payers and pay when they say they are going to pay."
He currently has five drivers on his books and is determined to address the problem of agency
driver quality: "I interviewed 73 drivers and took on three. If everybody imposed those kind of standards then there is only one way for the industry to go. When I worked at Exel we had the supervisors at oz:oohrs try ing to explain to agency drivers how to use a tail-lift or how to hitch a trailer."
Sherwood believes that the transport industry needs to change its image and make itself more attractive to young people if it is to avoid a manpower crisis as its workforce ages. "The distribution industry is being very shortsighted," he says. "The two most expensive elements in distribution are fuel and labour. Everyone is arguing about fuel but who is doing anything about labour?"
Driving school
There are plans to integrate training into the agency. "What I want to do is offer to people who want to become drivers training, either by setting up my own driving school or by working with an existing school," says Sherwood.
He plans to offer a scheme where people get a complete driving course in return for an agreement to work for him for a certain amount of time, during which he will make weekly deductions from their wages to pay for the training.
"1 believe that I can make a difference in what 1 can offer to my customers," he says. "At the moment it's all doom and gloom in the transport industry but I don't believe that it's going to be like that forever. At the end of the day, I like a challenge."
FACTFILE Forest Hire
BASED: Worcester.
FOUNDED: July 1999, Worcester.
CONTACT: DarrIn Sherwood, proprietor.
FLEET: 1995 Nem 400 Ea 6x4 with a 57yd3 Crane Fruehauf bulk tipper triaxle trailer, bought second
hand in July 1999.
SPECIALITIES: Bulk tipping; driver 3.11-1GV