Bimson

Reproduced with the kind permission of: Transport News Photographs: Karl Hopkinson

BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS

In 2008 Richard Bimson moved to London even though he was, and still is, the joint Managing Director with brother John of the family-firm Bimson Haulage, which is based in Carlisle, Cumbria. The two brothers are the third generation of the Bimson family to run the business.

The firm was renowned for delivering goods to the construction sector across the north of England and Scotland. Signs that the ‘great recession’, born from a global credit crunch that led to a prolonged period of low and negative growth, had already started. “The work was seasonal,” Richard recalls. “You’d get to October, the clocks would change, and work took a downturn because there was less activity on the building sites. Back in 2007 we got to the second week in October and the phone just did not ring.”

Packing his bags for the capital as the UK construction sector ground to a halt was not a sign he’d given up. “At that point John and I agreed I’d move to London to try and expand the business. In a recession a lot of companies would re-evaluate their transport requirements, so there could be opportunities,” he explains.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS

The gamble paid off. Bimson Haulage set up in London and picked up work as other hauliers downsized. From being regional, Bimson Haulage was now recognised as a national operator. “We took an increasing share in a diminishing market. It allowed us to spread our wings and it created a lot of new opportunities,” explains John, who remained in Cumbria. He oversees pricing and new business, looks after training, recruitment, and the flatbed and curtainsided trailer side of the business.

When the pandemic struck back in March 2020, John called on the success achieved in the recession to find a route out of the national lockdown. Most house-building sites were closed for several weeks and reopened with social distancing protocols and new hygiene procedures in place. That meant fewer people on site at any one time but longer site opening hours.

Bimson Haulage furloughed 80% of its drivers. “My initiative was to get all the drivers back and working in May,” he explains, “So we could tell customers that when the demand was there, we were ready to go, even though it was only a share of a diminishing market. “Government is pumping money into construction, there are new housing “HE ASKED WHAT THEY developments and people have been

NEEDED AND THEY moving to new homes, spending their money and savings on property enhancement, as well as buying REPLIED, ‘DRAWBARS’.” additional properties.”

We couldn’t wait, with furloughed drivers for a full week’s work and then bring them back, we had to be ready.”

Again, it was the right call. Some customers were asked by hauliers to decide when to bring back drivers. Richard says: “Customers didn’t want that responsibility. Instead, we were saying to customers ‘we are ready to work’.” That drive for growth means additional investment in the fleet. To cope, the firm has increased its operator licence capacity to 91 vehicles across 10 sites, with two more applications in for nine vehicles in two more locations. All that will take the overall operator’s licence to 100 vehicles.

“Growth has been both organic from our customer base and through new contracts, and to stay one step ahead we have had to expand the fleet. This year five new brick and block drawbar combinations have joined the fleet in March and the same again in September, taking the number to 21. There were five more on order to arrive before Christmas, 10 between January and June and a further 20 to follow thereafter. These are DAF XF 530 Super Space drawbars with rear steer axles and airhorns. Bramptonbased Jimbars supplying the top light bar, visor bar and rear working bar. That growth in drawbars started in 2015. “That was down to a conversation between John and our biggest customer at the time; he asked what they needed, and they replied ‘drawbars’,” says Richard, who has the responsibility of looking after the fleet, so, he specified the first drawbar. “Drawbars are what the delivery sites continually specify because the designs on new housing estates are such that access is getting tighter.”

Above: Richard Bimson Top left: Atlas is the crane supplier of choice Top right: Personal touches show Bimosn’s commitment to its drivers Bottom left: Brigade electronics provides camera systems Bottom right: New DAF XF 530’s carry the new Bimson livery

NEW AND RENEW

New drawbar combinations take around six months to arrive now that Bimson Haulage has its specification finalised. In theory, rolling stock is kept up to six years and the oldest tractor unit dates back to 2015, but no trailer is older than 2017, and not one drawbar on the fleet has made it to a third birthday. The focus is on reliability, something Solway DAF provides with its servicing and repair and maintenance contracts, yet Richard Bimson says it was only in March 2020 that the fleet became exclusively DAF: “We had two MANs, very good product but back-up was an issue. The key thing for us is customer service so if we use a partner or supplier that struggles, it means we have the potential to let our customers down. That is unacceptable.” A shortage of Euro-6 brick and block carriers with a crane and DVS accreditation often leads to enquiries about selling one of their trucks. “Where other hauliers have won a contract but cannot fulfil it because they don’t have a Euro-6 drawbar to do it with, and because we have a continuous reinvestment programme in drawbars, we have sold some in the past when they have been less than three years old. “If we do sell them sooner than planned it locks in our depreciation, so we know exactly what it’s cost us for the period.”

Richard Bimson has also changed the livery to black. He says: “I changed it because I liked it and few out there have a black livery; it’s eye-catching. We retained the Himmel blue in the O of ‘Bimson’ as a nod to the original blue, white and red livery.”

For the prime mover Richard went with a DAF XF FAN with a rearsteer axle. “In brick and block most operators went for double drive mainly because of the site work, but rear steer is lighter and has much better manoeuvrability,” he says.

He ordered the first triaxle drawbar from SDC Trailers with a front lift axle. It reduced tyre scrub but ate into the tare weight. With no offset for that weight penalty, despite the economic and environmental benefits of a trailer with better rolling resistance, it would be the only trailer he ordered with a front lift axle.

Crane of choice is supplied by Atlas, with either the 125.2 or the 135.2 fitted to the prime mover on drawbars and 92.2 on roller brick cranes. Drivers are trained to the Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers and Importers (ALLMI) standard, the one favoured by the construction industry. That leaves approximately 26.7 tonnes payload for cargo on both the drawbar and articulated combinations. Like the prime movers, tractor units are also mostly XF Super Space, with Bimson Haulage utilising the FTP with its 4,400kg small mid-lift axle, and the 12.9 litre Euro 6 MX-13 engine working with the automated TraXon 12-speed transmission.

The power output has traditionally been the 510hp from the previous engine line-up that was replaced in 2018; now it’s either the 480 or the 530hp from the new line-up. Usually favouring the 530hp version with fuel consumption between 8 and 8.5mpg. Switching down to the 480hp on some of the new drawbars and tractor units has brought a saving of around 1mpg between the old and new MX13 engines, reveals Richard.

As drivers spend the week away in their truck, they get the Super Space Cab fitted with the luxury air driver’s seat, inverters for the TV and other creature comforts, a fridge, and microwave, with light bars fitted to the front and rear exterior of the cab. The semi-trailer fleet consists of urban extendable brick and block carriers, and flatbeds and curtainsided trailers from SDC Trailers. “With the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) in place, some hauliers have stopped delivering in London, so our customers have turned to us.

“We have been buying more urban rear-steer flatbeds for concrete panel deliveries.” Much of the fleet will find itself in London, which means Bimson Haulage is FORS Silver accredited so it can compete for work, and there is also the watchful eye of Transport for London. So, the fleet is fitted with a comprehensive camera system that meets the DVS.

“We use Brigade Electronics,” he says. “On the drawbar we have eight cameras that record; five fitted around the cab, one at the back of the prime mover, another at the back of the trailer and one on the crane. Articulated vehicles are fitted with six cameras.”

HISTORY…

Growing up, both John and Richard Bimson spent time helping the business but were encouraged to pursue other careers by their father, John Bimson senior. “There were two valid reasons; one, we could find something easier and more lucrative than transport; and two, if we remained in the business from school, it would be the only thing we’d know,” says Richard. Their grandfather, William ‘Billy’ Bimson, started out as a farm labourer and with his wife Ellen had six children. He moved into agricultural contracting and then construction. Living on a small holding with animals and a milk round, everyone in the family worked. Siblings took roles in different parts of the burgeoning empire, with John senior and his brother David getting involved with construction. With surplus cash, the firm’s accountant suggested investing ‘in some tippers’ to offset hiring in tippers to clear sites and then potentially offering them to other people. “They showed up at Solway DAF in the mid-1970s and said, ‘we are here to buy a tipper’. They left with a second hand Leyland six-wheeler,” he says. Complementing their own work, they picked up a contract to shift sand out of Faugh Sand Quarry, near Corby Hill, to Esk Brickworks. They were then approached to haul Esk’s bricks to building sites. “That was 1979, and my father started to buy new tractor units from Solway DAF, first a DAF 2800 and then three years later two DAF 2500s.” Based on the Kingstown Industrial Estate, Carlisle he sold the site to Eddie Stobart in 1994, and moved across town to Durranhill Industrial Estate. Richard joined the business in 2002, with the company running 12 tractor units, 33 trailers and four tippers. The tippers were sold in 2005 as John junior joined the business and their father began to take a step back. “At that point, we were largely brick and block but did general haulage as well and had satellite depots in Boroughbridge, Glasgow and Warrington,” says Richard. A shortage of quality work out of Scotland heralded change. The brothers began to focus on what their brick and block customers needed and based decisions around that; general haulage with its network of regional trailer parks ended.

Bimson’s Peter Lightfoot, David Burns, the two Johns, Adam Bauld and longest serving driver, Paul Martin

While meeting customers’ requirements for site deliveries, the cameras also settle road traffic incident disputes, which also reduce any insurance payouts. “We defended a claim in court last year following a blowout, the tyre landed in the outside lane and was sat there for some time before it was struck by a motorist, who then took the company to court,” Richard recounts.

“The judge, based on the video evidence, ruled in our favour saying that the motorist failed to take the appropriate action and hit the stationary tyre. If the tyre had left our vehicle and hit the vehicle, we’d have been in the wrong.” John agrees: “If you’ve got the evidence, it can be boxed off; we are here to deliver brick and blocks for the customer and anything that causes a distraction to that focus does not help.”

For the record, Richard still lives in London, if only at the weekends.

Bimson’s Super Space cab is fitted with home comforts for the drivers who spend nights away

Top left: John Bimson snr with Peter Kania from Solway DAF Top right: John Bimson, John Bimson snr and John’s son Jacob Second left: John Bimson shows Jacob around one of the new DAF XFs Second right: Bimson’s Adam Bauld shows son Tommy the DAF cab