Sharp ■ Informed ■ Challenging
4.12.23
NEWS INSIDE Clock ticking on net zero
Report calls for ZET finance p3
Sensitive data stolen
Criminals hack Owens Group p4
DHL transitions to HVO
Photo: Craig Eccleston
All on-site fuelling to switch p6
OPERATORS INSIDE Curries Solutions ������������������������������������������� p6 DHL Supply Chain ������������������������������������������ p6 Jaga Brothers ����������������������������������������������� p3 Mark Steward Transport �������������������������������� p6 Noone Transport �������������������������������������������� p6 Owens Group ������������������������������������������������� p4
FRONT-RUNNER: A growing fondness for Volvo trucks has resulted in Nottinghamshire-based Griffins Logistics recently taking delivery of 16 new FMs, FEs and FLs. The Tuxford haulier welcomed its first ever model from the manufacturer just two years ago, but in that short time the marque has impressed both drivers and management. Its latest order from Hartshorne Group comprises three FM 460 Globetrotter 6x2s, 11 FE 320 6x2s and two FL 250 4x2 curtainsider rigids. They join a 40-strong commercial
vehicle fleet, arriving as a mixture of direct replacements for older models and a partial fleet expansion. Griffins commercial director Owen Griffin said: “While we do run a mixed fleet, we’ve become very fond of the Volvo product across the past couple of years. The drivers in particular are big fans and are always noting how comfortable and enjoyable they are to drive and just how spacious the cabs are.” He added: “The fuel returns have been brilliant.”
Multiple factors have caused a significant increase in failing businesses, according to new data
By Carol Millett
A record 463 British haulage businesses have collapsed in the last 12 months, more than double the number two years ago, according to data obtained by accountants Price Bailey. Haulage businesses entering insolvency jumped from 225 in 2020/21 to 363 in 2021/22, and then to 463 in the most recent 12-month period, representing a rise of 173% in just two years (year ending 30 September). Price Bailey also looked at the credit risk score of the UK haulage sector. It revealed that 33% of businesses in the sector are deemed maximum risk, up from 22% 12 months ago. According to Price Bailey, a convergence of adverse factors is squeezing the haulage sector, including soaring overheads, driven by fuel and wage rises, coupled with interest rate hikes, which have made servicing debt increasingly expensive. The Bank of England interest
rate began the year at 3.5% but has been hiked aggressively over the past six months, finishing at 5% by the end of Q2. Many haulage businesses rely on debt to finance their fleets, premises, and even day-to-day operational costs, which has meant that debt payments have risen significantly. The new data comes as supply chain specialist Hemisphere Freight Services (HFS) looks set to purchase the warehousing and freight forwarding divisions of Magnus Group, after the Ipswichbased haulier announced its intention to call in the administrators last month. The acquisition will also see Hemisphere take on Magnus Group’s operational staff at both divisions. As part of the arrangement, HFS will also take over around 200,000sq ft of warehousing space at Magnus Group’s Great Blakenham facility. Magnus Group currently holds an international licence authoris-
Image: Shutterstock
Record number of hauliers fold
ing a total of 87 HGVs and 105 trailers running out of three operating centres in the East of England traffic area. HFS said 25 jobs will be saved, adding that this was a key priority for Hemisphere’s board of directors. Magnus Group employed around 147 staff in total. The purchase of the two Magnus Group divisions comes as HFS prepares to open a new multi-million pound warehouse on the Suffolk Port One Logistics Park development.
JAD Trans Scotland also entered administration last month despite “significant efforts” by the directors to keep the business going. The North Lanarkshire-based haulage firm appointed French Duncan LLP to handle its affairs on 10 November, after it had accrued significant debts that it was no longer able to service. The haulier held an international licence authorising a total of 20 HGVs and 21 trailers running out of two operating centres in Airdrie.
Decarbonisation p10 News Focus p14 Viewpoint p16 Interview p18 DVS roundtable p22 Marketplace p30 Cost tables p42 MT Awards p48
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Residents of an historic market town in Surrey want to install cameras to catch HGV drivers flouting a weight ban. Farnham HGV Watch was set up in 2022 and volunteers have been making surveys since January 2023 in roads around the town. Surrey County Council said that despite regular observations and enforcement letters being sent to haulage firms, the number of HGVs contravening the 7.5-tonne weight restriction has not reduced, although it admitted there had
been very few repeat offenders. The council now wants to use camera enforcement against weight restriction contraventions along four roads in Farnham and it has asked the public, including haulage firms, to have their say on the proposals. The consultation runs until 15 December and the council said it aimed to “receive participation from local stakeholders, HGV operators and Logistics UK, who represent HGV operators nationally”.
Photo: Shutterstock
Council turns cameras on HGV drivers breaching weight restrictions
Automotive hub to smooth logistics
GFI says logistics sector needs government help to free up financing
COP28: Action needed now to clean up HGVs Urgent action is needed to electrify the UK’s half a million HGVs if net zero transport targets are to be met, according to a report from the Green Finance Institute (GFI). The report, Delivering net zero: unlocking public and private capital for zero emission trucks, is published in the same week world leaders meet at COP28 in Dubai to stocktake global progress on reaching net zero targets. It calls for operators to be provided with finance to acquire zero emission trucks (ZETs) and install infrastructure.
Photo: Shutterstock
By Carol Millett
It outlines 10 financial mechanisms needed to decarbonise the freight sector, including using utilisation linked financing (ULF) to de-risk investment in charging
A £10m manufacturing hub, which is expected to take an estimated 14,700 lorry journeys a year off roads across the UK and mainland Europe, has been launched in Merseyside by Peel Ports and logistics firm Suardiaz. The Green Automotive Hub welcomed a Suardiaz vessel from Vigo Port in Spain, to which it will service a twice-weekly route. Located on a 9.5-acre site at Queen Elizabeth II Dock at Eastham, within Peel Ports’ Mersey cluster, the hub will power sustainable vehicle manufacturing and facilitate a greener end-to-end maritime logistics service in the North West. The hub will supply parts for the Stellantis site in Ellesmere Port, which is now the first of the motor giant’s plants to produce solely battery-electric commercial and passenger vehicles.
infrastructure either through a loan or asset finance; shared charging infrastruc ture agreements so operators can pool resources; and using government or third-party-backed residual value (RV) guarantees to reduce operators’ finance costs. Lauren Pamma, Green Finance Institute programme director, said: “There is a £100bn investment opportunity that we can unlock through innovative finance products, providing a massive opportunity to decarbonise the HGV sec tor before the government’s target of phasing out diesel trucks by 2040.”
DATA DRIVEN: Newport haulage firm Jaga Brothers has saved £35,000 in fuel costs across its fleet of 42 trucks and a further £5,600 in tyre replacements on its 130 trailers, after partnering with Michelin Connected Fleet. Analysis of vehicle data over a six-month period further helped the firm improve driver behaviour by lowering the number of harsh driving events, while delivering fuel savings of 0.6mpg per vehicle. Meanwhile, Trailer Premium’s tyre pressure and temperature alerts and insights helped cut the number of tyre replacements by 66%. 4.12.23
One of the largest creditors of Volta Trucks is thought to be in advanced discussions to buy the UK-based company out of administration. Volta’s administrator, Marcel & Alvarez, declined to comment but Sky News reported that New Yorkbased Luxor Capital Group was closing in on a deal to buy the business and potentially salvage hundreds of jobs. In October, Alvarez & Marcel said it was searching for a buyer for the electric truck maker to secure its future. Volta Trucks said it had faced challenges since it started in 2019 and the move by its battery supplier to file for bankruptcy had had a significant impact on its
manufacturing plans. It filed for bankruptcy in Sweden before its English arm entered administration days later. The move placed 850 jobs in danger, of which 600 were in the UK where the group had opened a service hub in North London. Photo: VanderWolf Images / Shutterstock
Photo: Alisdair Cusick
Potential buyer for Volta rumoured
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LockBit attackers claim to have stolen financial data, employee details and customer information
By Carol Millett
Welsh haulier Owens Group has suffered a major cyber attack, according to claims made on the dark web by LockBit ransomware group, which uses malicious software designed to block access to computer systems in exchange for a ransom payment. The cyber attack follows a similar one on KNP Logistics in June this year, which contributed to KNP having to call in the
administrators in September. LockBit posted a notice on its dark web portal, stating that it had gathered 710GB of the Llanellibased company’s data relating to its finances, employees and clients. The post was published on X (formerly Twitter) by FalconFeed, a company that monitors cyber security threats. FalconFeed’s screenshot of LockBit’s dark web page shows a list of data gleaned by LockBit. It
includes f inance-related information including “budget, audit, cashflow, balance sheet, P&L, tax returns, project calculations, YTD reports for all companies, bank statements and many other financial documents”. Also listed is employee tax, salary and personal data. LockBit also claims to have harvested a full customer database with addresses, contracts and work documentation.
Image: Shutterstock
Hackers strike at Owens Group
Poultry farm hit with £233,000 fine after admitting role in worker death An egg company has been fined £233,000 after one of its workers was crushed to death by an HGV attempting “a complex manoeuvre” at its Loughborough premises. Sunrise Poultry Farms was found to have wholly inadequate measures in place for segregating pedestrians and moving vehicles
following the death of 19-year-old Ben Spencer in April 2021. Spencer had only been working at the company for two weeks when the incident occurred. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the lorry was moving towards a narrow thoroughfare as the worker was
SMAR RADA T R FOR DETE SIDE CTION
walking towards it. He was crushed between the vehicle and a wall. Sunrise Poultry Farms pleaded guilty to breaching the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations and as well as the fine, it was ordered to pay costs of £8,841 at a hearing in Leicester Magistrates’ Court.
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Curries warmed by staff loyalty
Move away from diesel for HGVs will save 15,000 tonnes of CO2 annually
DHL accelerates HVO fuel switch
By Chris Tindall
DHL Supply Chain said it would transition its entire on-site fuelling stations from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) by the end of this month in a rapid acceleration of its decarbonisation strategy.
It believed the wholesale move towards HVO fuel would deliver between 80-90% of carbon savings, equating to 15,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (see p10). More than six million litres of HVO fuel will be rolled out within DHL’s on-site fuelling stations this year, replacing diesel in 20 locations across the UK. In 2024, the business plans to install additional fuel bunkers across its network, increasing its use of HVO fuel to over 24 million litres, and with the effect of a full year the carbon savings impact will be even greater. Supply concerns will not have
Noone Transport supports new routes with 50 Krone trailers Noone Transport, based in County Meath, Ireland, is taking delivery of a mixture of 50 Krone curtainsiders and temperaturecontrolled trailers over the coming months, most of which will operate from the company’s new warehouse and distribution facility, 20 minutes from Dublin port. This latest investment in the company’s fleet comes as Noone Transport is expandng its business, opening up new routes throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe.
The new trailer equipment comprises 20 Profi Liners and 30 Cool Liners. The Cool Liners are a mixture of Duplex steel, single and double deckers, some with multi-temperature control. While in transit, each load benefits from KSC ProPlus Cool – the latest telematics system from Krone, which automatically monitors inside temperatures, coupling status, brake condition, door openings, fuel level, trailer location and tyre pressures.
been allayed by the UK’s largest supplier of HVO, Green Biofuels, calling in the administrators in October following cash-flow issues. Asked who DHL would rely on to provide it with the alternative fuel, a spokeswoman said: “We can’t discuss the commercial details of our contracts other than to say we have a stable and secure supply.” n DHL has also won a new UK and Ireland contract with Hilti Ireland, which will see it co-ordinate DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express to provide warehouse and transport services respectively.
Dumfries-based transport firm Curries Solutions has recognised more than 100 of its employees for a collective 2,000 years of dedicated service to the business. The 107 staff members at Curries Solutions received awards for their long service, which ranges between 10 and 45 years, and and a financial contribution. The Palletways member, which was founded in 1977, provides a range of transport and storage solutions. The company has strategic locations in the UK, France and the Netherlands, and through its partners in Germany and Italy. Shaun Greig, Curries Solutions commercial director, said: “Our long service awards represent more than 2,000 years of industry experience. Our people are at the forefront of our business and they enable us to provide the service, expertise and logistics solutions for the benefit of our customers.”
Mark Steward adds COOL kit Shropshire-based Mark Steward Transport has taken delivery of a Schmitz Cargobull S.KO COOL semi-trailer with S.CU V2.0 cooling unit to improve the efficiency of the business. The refrigerated transport specialist has paired the semitrailer with a DAF XG+ tractor unit as part of its temperaturecontrolled operations. The new arrival will be used to transport frozen foods to supermarkets nationwide and will join a small fleet at the Oswestrybased firm, including another S.KO COOL and a Schmitz
Cargobull box trailer. The trailer will cover around 130,000km per year. The new generation S.CU V2.0 cooling units lower fuel consumption due to the improved combination of diesel engine and generator.
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Failure to provide drivers with protection from thefts could result in legal action, says tech firm
Duty of care owed to drivers Courier firms are “sleepwalking” into a legal nightmare if they’re sending drivers out without protection as thefts and vehicle attacks surge, according to tech firm HH Driveright. It said failing to fulfil their duty of care requirements in relation to their contracted drivers and employees could leave them exposed to repercussions in the courts. HH Driveright described the
run-up to Christmas from Black Friday as a “danger zone” in which goods and vehicles are most at threat of theft, but for as little as £10 per van per month, they could cover themselves. Rebecca Hall, HH Driveright MD, said: “Courier firms simply cannot ignore the fact that drivers are now often operating in highly dangerous, high-crime areas in which their vans and goods are
defined targets. “Employers – and those using contracted workers – have a legal duty of care to keep those who are performing services for them as safe as possible. “We feel it is only a matter of time before we start seeing legal cases in which drivers feel they were not sent out with the right level of protection, particularly when the cost of such protection is so low.”
Hall added: “If a driver’s health and well-being is not worth £10 per month, we have to question why.” Last month, Warwickshire police urged couriers operating around Nuneaton and Bedworth to take care following two instances of masked males targeting a driver of an unnamed company and unloading parcels from a van into their car after pushing the driver out of the way.
Diageo partners with Zeus to launch HVO trial Sustainable freight management specialist Zeus has teamed up with beverage company Diageo to launch hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel trials in the UK. The partnership sees Zeus handle over a third of Diageo’s UK bottle-to-recycling plant distributions, with the trial estimated to save
Diageo approximately 1,800,000kg of CO2e per year, equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 2,147 acres of US forests in one year. Zeus will initially handle 50 HVO-fuelled trucks per week across 14 major UK transport routes, with plans to expand operations into Europe in early 2024.
In 2022, Zeus launched Freight Connect, a fully managed, lowcarbon multimodal solution, combining its proprietary technology with clean HGVs fuelled with HVO, electric powered rail freight and emission reporting, backed by the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC).
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Decarbonisation Summit
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Delegates hear of latest moves in industry-wide efforts to hit freight’s ambitious green targets
Charging towards zero The DfT has given the strongest hint yet that it is likely to introduce a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate for trucks in the run up to the bans on new sales of nonzero emission HGVs coming into effect in 2035 (vehicles up to 26 tonnes) and 2040 (all trucks). Speaking at the Motor Transport Decarbonisation Summit in Birmingham on November 23, DfT deputy director for decarbonisation strategy Bob Moran said the DfT was “looking closely at whether a ZEV mandate was appropriate” for HGVs, similar to that in place for cars and vans. Former PM Boris Johnson delayed the ban on sales of fossil fuelled cars and vans from 2030 to 2035 but left the ZEV mandate for these vehicles in place. This requires that 10% of all new vans sold in Great Britain in 2024 must
OUT OF DARKNESS: the DfT’s Bob Moran said the UK is likely to diverge from the EU’s Vecto regulations
Building capacity
be zero emission, rising to 24% by 2026, 70% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. While there is currently no equivalent phasing-in of zeroemission trucks, Moran said the end of sale dates for trucks were “locked in” and the government
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since Brexit the UK was able to take a different approach. “Don’t assume we will set sixmonthly ticking-up targets,” he said. “I wouldn’t look too closely at what the EU is doing because we won’t align with that. We think we should push on to zero emissions as quickly as possible. I don’t understand Vecto and I hope we can get a better system for the UK.”
was “committed” to passing legislation implementing the bans. The European Commission’s Vecto regulations require truck makers to cut average emissions from their products 15% by 2025, and 30% by 2030, compared to a 2019 baseline. But Moran said that
The big barrier to adoption of battery electric trucks remains the lack of charging infrastructure and, in the absence of any promise of additional public funding on top of the £1bn Rapid Charging Fund, which is focused on expanding public charging for cars, Moran urged delegates to “impress on ChargeUK [the trade association for vehicle charge ➜ 12
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Decarbonisation Summit point installers and operators] the need to consider commercial vehicle charging”. Moran commended the recently announced zero emission HGV and infrastructure demonstration (ZEHID) programme. It is being funded with £200m of public money and will see 400 battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks, hundreds of charge points and an additional seven hydrogen fuelling stations put into real-life operations. The programme was originally to have been called the zero emission road freight trial (ZERFT) and the announcement of the four demonstrator programmes was severely delayed. “This is the biggest kickstart we could have achieved with that money,” he said. “We changed the name because it will now cover infrastructure not just trucks. I’m sorry it took so long but this is a tough time for public finance. “It will be a game-changer. “I am confident we will decarbonise the freight sector. But it has to be in a fair and pragmatic way that lowers cost.” While the government’s plug-in truck grant will remain in place until at least March 2025, Moran stressed that the government saw
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funding for ZEHID as a better use of public funds than direct subsidies. “The government approach is to fund demonstrations and introduce smart regulation to give companies the confidence to invest,” he said. “The Connections Action Plan launched yesterday will change the way we connect charging.” The plan sets out a strategy for government, energy regulator Ofgem and industry to accelerate connections. Moran reminded delegates to respond to the government’s call for evidence on an infrastructure strategy for battery-electric and hydrogen trucks and buses, which closes on December 14.
On the front foot
Responding on behalf of the transport industry, Olly Craughan, head of sustainability at DPD UK, said that despite challenges with charging infrastructure, the parcels giant was progressing well with the roll-out of battery electric vans but that “the big kit is not there with electric yet”. Craughan, named the top Decarbonisation Power Player in Motor Transport’s 2023 top 50,
LEADING MAN: DPD head of sustainability Olly Craughan
told delegates everyone had to play their part in cutting emissions and heading off catastrophic global warming. “Don’t say ‘if America and China don’t do something, there is no point’,” he urged. “Take the lead.” DPD has set itself the goal of being net zero by 2040 and is on track to achieve a 46% cut in emissions by 2024 compared with 2020. By the end of this year the company will have invested £120m in putting 3,645 electric
delivery vehicles on the road. These represent almost a third of the delivery fleet and will deliver 65m parcels, or 17% of DPD’s total UK volumes. By next year, 40% of vans will be battery electric and will deliver 100m parcels, over a quarter of DPD’s UK volumes. The plan to is to be 100% electric by 2030, despite charging infrastructure remaining a major challenge. “We don’t want to take up public charging points,” said Craughan. “We want depot charging that we will make available to other fleets when we are not using it.” At DPD’s sortation centre in Docklands, there are 20 75kW chargers for a van fleet which will deliver 80,000 parcels a day to London without the need to trunk them to the Midlands hubs. He went on to say that for the HGV fleet, electrification was not yet an option – so the company has invested in HVO, a renewable drop-in replacement for diesel, as an intermediate measure. Despite the increased cost, the plan is to switch to 100% HVO by the end of 2023. “This is the easiest transition as there are no changes required to the vehicles,” Craughan said. n
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4.12.23
Focus: regulation
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Operators are great at identifying the causes of non-compliance, but often fail to put things right
Photo: Jarek Kilian / Shutterstock
Act on the warning signs
You know those overhead gantry signs on the motorway warning of congestion ahead? By the time you see them it’s too late. You skipped that last service station and now wish you hadn’t, so, you grin and bear it and hope you don’t get stuck for too long. It’s a bit like non-compliance – we just don’t see it coming. When alerted to it, we have to hope the road back isn’t too bumpy! If only we had made better plans and anticipated problems instead of thinking that no one (especially the DVSA or our friendly TC) would notice. Of course, they do and before you know it you have your friendly transport solicitor on the phone and are nervously driving down the road to the PI wondering if you will come back with an O-licence.
Thinking ahead
So how can we spot the warning signs? What causes non-compliance? And, having identified it, how can we avert it? We consider this in our two-day transport manager CPC refresher 14 MotorTransport
courses and delegates are very competitive when identifying the main reasons. Lack of knowledge, qualifications and training are always easy to pick. Incompetence is a perennial favourite too. Your transport manager might be great at booking safety inspections, but not so good at properly managing drivers when they have transgressed. Lack of time and money are always up there. I often hear: “I’m too busy to cross refer the safety inspection records to the driver defect reports to check the drivers are doing an effective walk round check. And anyway, I don’t get the PMI records back until I have paid the invoice or the girl on reception is fed up with me nagging her for them.” Put another way – others let you down by not doing what they are contracted to do. Being too nice is not always one that springs to mind but it’s up there in my top 10. Most people don’t enjoy disciplining a driver for not doing their job properly and so when they do it’s often
worthless as they don’t really mean it – “I’m sorry I have to do this and it won’t be on your record for long but would you mind remembering to put your tacho card in when you drive. Sorry, but ‘the boss’ has asked me to have a word.” As a reprimand it’s meaningless and a waste of time. Failing to deal with medical issues and a person’s ability (or otherwise) is another favourite. Not asking the right questions, either in the first place or when there is a problem, or putting things off to a ‘tomorrow’ that never comes is a big problem. On our courses we look at the Glasgow bin lorry crash as a case study and delegates always make a note to get our up-to-date medical questionnaires and policies – and then go on to train their staff on physical and mental health awareness and how they can and do prevent fatalities on the roads. So, what’s my top excuse and how many causes and warning signs do our delegates usually find? I think the most we managed
was 28! My favourite is complacency – “We’ve always done it like that, and we haven’t killed anyone yet – we don’t want any newfangled fancy ways here luv, thanks very much.”
Good intentions
Maybe reading this has made you feel a bit uncomfortable when thinking about your operation? If so, then my job is done – 95% of operators don’t get up in the morning with the intention of showing contempt for the system. They want to do their best, to please their customers, the boss and anyone else who will listen. They want their families to be proud of them. So next time you read an article about some operator who did transgress, don’t automatically think they were rogues. They are probably just like you – but instead they didn’t see the warning signs and so didn’t take a different route to avoid the trouble that lies ahead. n Beverley Bell CBE, director, Beverley Bell Consulting 4.12.23
Viewpoint
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Gazing into the crystal ball A
s this is the last issue of MT in 2023, it is worth taking a glance back at the year just gone and a peek into the crystal ball for 2024. This year has been a tough one by any measure, with the economy still suffering a post-Covid-19 hangover. Symptoms include high interest Steve Hobson rates, zero growth or even falls in volumes Editor and high inflation in most vehicle Motor operating costs – with the exception of fuel. Transport A look at the 2023 operating cost tables in this issue (p42) shows that a 5% increase in standing costs of a 44-tonner was more than wiped out by a 22% drop in fuel costs. Most hauliers simply pass on fuel cost changes to customers in surcharges, and work trucks harder to offset higher fixed costs and maintain profit margins. There are limits to this strategy, however, as the
record 463 hauliers who went bust last year proves. Life isn’t easy at the sharp end and it won’t get any easier in 2024. The recent MT Decarbonisation Summit also highlighted the mountain the industry still has to climb on the long and winding road to net zero. Our costs expert’s first stab at calculating the running costs of an electric 18-tonner showed they are 50% higher than an equivalent diesel, and while purchase prices will come down as volumes ramp up, operating cost parity remains a long way off. Especially when the lack of recharging infrastructure means productivity of electric trucks won’t match diesel vehicles. All of us at MT wish you a successful Christmas peak – if you have one – and a safe and more prosperous 2024.
The road to zero is still uncertain T
Andy Salter Publisher, Freight Carbon Zero
he Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, released by the UK government back in October, is set to become the key piece of legislation for the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035. This is being debated in the UK parliament, as well as the Scottish Assembly and Welsh Senned, before passing into law. From January 2024, car and van manufacturers will be allowed to sell only a certain quota of fossil-fuelled vehicles each year. The release of the mandate comes after a lengthy consultation into the proposal which started in 2021. The final consultation round kicked off in March 2023 and closed in May and last week’s release is the formal – and, we expect, final – response from government. Apart from a bit of tinkering here and there, the key timelines and quotas remain unchanged, which is why we were a bit bemused by the fanfare surrounding the prime minister’s big announcement on the delay to the so-called “end of sale” dates for petrol and diesel cars a couple of days earlier. The mandate always had 2035 as the end of sale date for cars and vans – 2030 being just a staging post on the journey to zero. It was as if somebody in Downing Street finally got round to looking at the mandate and saw a political spin opportunity – now there’s a thing… Where 2030 came from is a puzzle – and equally puzzling is the rabid response to the “delay that wasn’t a delay” from some of the automotive suppliers and opposition parties. The ZEV mandate requires 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in the UK to be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. There is a graduated plan for cars and vans, with the regulation mandating that 10% of all new vans sold in 2024 must be zero emission, rising to 24% by 2026 and 70% by 2030.
16 MotorTransport
It is important to note this legislation covers only cars and vans up to the N1 class – commercial vehicles up to a gross vehicle weight of 3.5 tonnes (under a derogation N1, zero emission vehicles can run at up to 4,250kg GVW, by the way). There is no equivalent consultation or proposal for trucks, save for the 2035 end of sale date for non-zero emission goods vehicles up to 26 tonnes GVW and 2040 for all trucks, and we await further announcements for heavy duty commercial vehicles. We know the truck manufacturers are pushing back against a similar mandate for heavy commercial vehicles in the UK, though there will have to be some legislation for the gradual introduction of zero emission trucks, if we are going to avoid a cliff edge. From what we can make out, opinion is divided within the corridors of power – some want to see a similar mandate set up for trucks; others are pushing for limits or quotas on CO2 emissions from heavy trucks. The latter would seem the most sensible solution, as it would mean the industry could get on with some serious sector decarbonisation through the use of low-carbon renewable fuels, while some of the big challenges around battery electric and hydrogen-powered solutions are sorted out. The EU has already taken this approach through its CO2 emissions performance standards regulation. This stipulates CO2 emissions from trucks must be reduced by 15% by 2025 and imposes hefty fines on manufacturers who don’t start driving the change. Keep watching, there’s plenty more to come…
The newspaper for transport operators
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Got something to say?
If you would like to contribute to MT ’s Viewpoint, email steve.hobson@roadtransport.com 4.12.23
Interview
motortransport.co.uk
Driving us forward RHA leader Richard Smith has been lobbying politicians about HGV fuel, training, road safety and regulations over longer semi-trailers, writes Steve Hobson
including policy makers, manufacturers, and our members, where the industry sees its position and to ask for further guidance. “The RHA position is that we still see a role for diesel by 2050 – as well as intermediate fuels, electric and hydrogen. We have doubts over whether the current milestones [ending the sale of new diesel trucks under 26 tonnes by 2035 and above that weight by 2040] are achievable.” One of the intermediate fuels the RHA wants to see promoted by government is hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a drop-in replacement for diesel that can cut carbon emissions by up to 90% today. Perversely, while fossil-derived natural gas attracts a 40% duty discount on diesel there is no such incentive to adopt the more expensive HVO. “That is one of our key asks for the Budget,” Smith says. “Other countries have given this incentive and we have not. Whether it is adoption of HVO or electric vehicles, the government must support the transition. “But we have to accept that whoever is in power in two or three years’ time, they will have no money. Transport Secretary Mark Harper has been very open and honest about this and has told us he will support the industry as much as he can.”
Money talks
18 MotorTransport
RICHARD SMITH: “We have to accept that whoever is in power in two or three years’ time, they will have no money”
STILL PUMPING: The RHA expects diesel will remain in use until 2050 at least
Photo: Federico Rostagno / Shutterstock
S
ince becoming MD of the RHA in January 2022, Richard Smith has been quietly getting on with reforming the organisation and working on its six key priority issues: driver facilities; infrastructure; skills; costs and regulation; international; and net zero. Talking privately to politicians – including local authorities and the UK’s metro mayors – to educate them on the problems facing commercial vehicle operators has been high on his agenda. Even before the main party annual conferences Smith had a meeting with Labour shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh MP. Although the next General Election could be a year away – and Labour is still working on the detail of its policies, should it get into government – Smith is keen for the RHA to shape its thinking. “Over the next four to five months we hope to see some clarity,” he says, “particularly around decarbonisation, skills and the other issues facing the industry.” The surprise Conservative win in the Uxbridge by-election, which was partly attributed to the unpopular decision by Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone out to the M25, has got politicians wondering if net-zero carbon emissions are a vote winner or a vote loser. “The new MP for Uxbridge [Steven Tuckwell] used to work for Royal Mail, so he understands the transport industry,” Smith points out. “I am meeting him next week to talk about transport and logistics. “We have launched our Net Zero Forum to develop a road map to net zero to communicate to all stakeholders,
When it comes to skills, the driver shortage has arguably been resolved by simple market economics – in that a substantial increase in wages forced on the industry and its customers saw thousands of drivers get back behind the wheel. But there remain long-term structural problems in the way the transport industry recruits, trains and retains HGV drivers, with a lack of national structures to fund training and career development for drivers, the low esteem in which they are held by their managers and the wider public, and poor roadside facilities. “There has been a driver shortage during the 30 years I have been in the industry in terms of the 50,000 or so vacancies there may be at any one time,” Smith says. “One of the reasons we brought down the shortage, in all fairness to the government, was the boot camp – which has had an impact. There has been an increase in the licences acquired and more people are coming into the industry. “At the same time, there has been a slowing down in the industry as the recession has kicked in. In some parts of the country, such as the North East, some of our members have waiting lists of drivers wanting jobs but in other areas there is still a shortage.” The RHA has set up two driver training schools, one in Scotland and another in the North East of England. “They have been phenomenally successful and that is now a £2.5m-a-year business,” Smith says. “We put 500 people through their LGV licence every year and 80% of those come through a commercial route, where the operator pays us to train their drivers. “The rest are done through apprenticeships, but our perspective is that in four or five years they will be irrelevant. It is difficult to train someone through an apprenticeship scheme and the Apprenticeship Levy is just not fair. We feel there is something of a stigma about an apprentice-trained driver and that is unfair to the people who go through an apprenticeship programme. It isn’t about a person’s background; it’s about who they are and what they can do. ➜ 20 4.12.23
Interview
motortransport.co.uk
“The levy should be about ‘if it costs £4,000 to train a driver, here’s £4,000 and off you go’, not the way it is at the moment. “As long as it is done in a safe and controlled way, it works. When I was at Samworth we opened a driver academy and found that some drivers who had been driving for four weeks had fewer incidents than some who had been driving for 10 years.” The RHA was instrumental in backing Sir Mike Penning MP in relaunching the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on road freight in 2019 and it is still in regular contact with its current chair, Greg Smith MP.
20 MotorTransport
actions to improve road safety, such as improved policing and education campaigns aimed at pedestrians and cyclists.” While Sir Mike may not be able to take credit for s olving the driver shortage – one of his goals when setting up the APPG – one of his successes as transport minister was to push through the 10-year trial of longer semitrailers (LSTs). This came to an end earlier this year and any operator is now free to run these 2.05m longer trailers without applying for a special ops licence. But the DfT, for reasons known only to itself, has hamstrung the use of LSTs by requiring every route they run on to be preplanned and risk-assessed and the driver to carry a copy of the assessment.
LEARNING THE ROADS: The RHA has set up two successful schools – in the North East of England and in Scotland
Efficiency counts
SUPPLY CHAIN: London has a population of 8.5 million people and will always need trucks
Photo: Joe Dunckley / Shutterstock
“Greg Smith is very passionate about transport and is a big supporter of what we and Logistics UK do,” Smith says. “The big focus for the APPG at the moment is around crime and freight and protection for drivers and the industry. The APPG adds value by allowing our members to engage directly and give evidence. What happens after that is a long process. “Some people say all the RHA does is talk from a policy perspective. My answer to that is ‘if we are not talking, we are not representing’. Ultimately, if you look at the boot camps, which we were a big supporter of, and funding of driver facilities, which is starting to come through – albeit still too little – it has an impact. It is a slow process but we have to go through it.” The issue of driver recruitment and roadside facilities go hand in hand, Smith believes, and the days of expecting drivers to overnight in their cabs in motorway service areas may be coming to an end. “What will the logistics industry look like in 15 years?” he asks. “Will people sleep in a space smaller than a prison cell? Or will we have to put them in a hotel, as we do with coach drivers? Will we therefore re-engineer the supply chain? There is already a shortage of 11,000 secure vehicle spaces every night in the UK – but will that no longer be an issue in 10 years’ time because we will be making shorter, more frequent trips? “That will mean more vehicles on the road and higher costs. Like decarbonisation, we must consider this in the round.” Another group of politicians the RHA is talking to is the London Councils, which have the final say over TfL’s proposals to tighten the Direct Vision Standard in 2024. After a campaign from the RHA, among others, TfL must provide a market readiness report to London Councils, with practical proposals to require trucks over 12 tonnes GVW to either achieve a three-star rating or be fitted with a complex and costly Progressive Safe System. “The key decision makers here are the 33 London councils, not TfL,” Smith says. “The RHA, along with Logistics UK and six other trade associations, explored the statutory basis of the regulations and the message that came back was that TfL is not the key decision maker. “So, between us we are now lobbying and campaigning directly with the 33 councils to ensure there is proper scrutiny. We don’t disagree with the standard because we all want to eliminate deaths where we can. But is this the real root cause of the issue? “The figure that is always quoted is that, unfortunately, there have been 11 deaths involving an HGV in the past 12 months. Five of those were suicides. “However, it’s important that, whenever tragic incidents occur, causation is established and appropriate actions are then taken based on the evidence. We know this is a very sensitive issue but it’s also important that due process is followed. “The truck will always be there. There are 8.5 million people in London and they all need to eat and drink. They can do that only because of the big trucks that come in. We support regulation but it has to be practical and it has to be reasonable. We will press TfL to pursue other
Photo: Juice Flair / Shutterstock
Tackling crime
“We have spoken to the [former] transport minister, Richard Holden, about this,” Smith says. “I bought 200 of them when I was at Wincanton and now they have changed what operators have to do. This is going to make them inefficient and the reason we welcomed them is that they can carry more pallets, which is good for the environment. “The administrative burden they have put around them has made them inoperable and while there are certain point-to-point routes they can go on, like a pallet network, we have examples of a number of major hauliers who are parking up their LST fleets. These are large organisations who have data to show these are as a safe as a normal trailer. Thanks to our lobbying, the DfT has now extended the trial until 29 February – some of our members are still unsure how they will comply. “These restrictions appear to be nonsensical and no one can give us a clear answer as to why they were introduced. However, we are optimistic we will get it sorted.” The RHA is spearheading a campaign with a number of trade associations to work with police on ensuring abnormal load regulations are applied consistently. Many operators across sectors have encountered officers enforcing blanket movement embargoes on abnormal loads, which they say are increasing bureaucracy and cost. Smith says ongoing collaboration with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has seen some forces making concessions – including in Merseyside, where officers are now allowing operators more flexibility on what vehicles they can register for notified movements. “There are a lot of different issues we are trying to resolve across a number of force areas, which is taking some time,” he adds. “But we are getting some progress through NPCC, who are also keen to continue working with us in the longer term.” ■ 4.12.23
DVS roundtable 2
motortransport.co.uk
Preparing for PSS Following on from a lively debate held earlier this year about phase 2 of TfL’s DVS, MT brought operators back to the table to discuss the implications further
T
fL is due to introduce phase 2 of its Direct Vision Standard in October 2024 and it recently published the specifications for the Progressive Safe System (PSS), which will be needed for trucks over 12 tonnes GVW that are rated below three stars for direct vision before entering London. MT in association with Brigade Electronics held a roundtable debate with a group of leading operators to discuss phase 2 and its expected impact. Steve Hobson, editor, MT: Welcome to this roundtable in association with Brigade Electronics. Unfortunately TfL was unable to join us but we have experts here from Brigade and DAF Trucks who will be able to explain what a PSS will look like. Before we get going please introduce yourselves and say a few words about your fleet’s approach to phase 2.
22 MotorTransport
Jacqui O’Donovan, MD, O’Donovan Waste Disposal: There is massive confusion in the industry, which seems to think that if they fit a PSS it changes the star rating – it doesn’t. Nigel Ponton, engineering manager, Cemex: We have recently taken on some new three-star-rated vehicles and we have everything from zero to five star. In an ideal world my goal is to procure vehicles with a minimum of three stars but that is proving difficult at the moment. Carl Milton, cement logistics manager – UK, Cemex: We have been on this journey since the early days with FORS and are concerned it is now going a little off-piste. There is a lot of confusion and lots of misconceptions out there in the industry. Peter Cox, head of transport, CLEAN Linen Services: We are currently one star on all our vehicles but will have to fit PSS to all vehicles based at our two sites that service London, including the new generation XB DAFs we have on order that only have two stars. We will still have onestar-rated trucks across the business so need to understand fully what the best approach would be. The workhorses in our fleet are a mix of 12- and 18-tonners and one option is to stop using 18-tonners and run 12-tonners only in London. That option may make us less efficient on some routes because of volume constraints but it avoids all the problems with DVS… for now. Karl Wilshaw, fleet director, Travis Perkins: We too have different star ratings across our UK fleet and, where we can, we will invest in higher spec vehicles and phase zero, one and two stars out. As we stand today the zero, one and two stars in our legacy fleet will need a retrofit to achieve the PSS requirements. Chris Cooling, senior transport manager, Day Aggregates: Our current fleet is a mix of zero to three star but the three-star element is only 5%. We have one eye on what we retrofit and are working with Brigade on that, but we are very conscious of the timelines to fit the PSS. Chris Yarsley, senior policy manager on road freight regulation, Logistics UK: I’ve been dealing with DVS a lot this year and it’s been tough. I will explain ➜ 24 4.12.23
DVS roundtable 2
motortransport.co.uk
today the success we’ve had eking out concessions from TfL and also the concerns we are putting to them about the status of the current kit fitted for the Safe System. A lot of fleets with two-star vehicles have fitted a Safe System either for a FORS requirement or because they thought it was a good thing to do. We have one large fleet member that did this and are now thinking it was a wasted investment because they might have to rip it out and fit a PSS next year. We have also been talking to London Councils, which is the umbrella body that links the London boroughs and owns the traffic regulation on which the DVS is based. Mike Bennett, legislation engineer, DAF Trucks: The General Safety Regulations (GSR) are a UN worldwide standard, while DVS is a local law. It is difficult for TfL to argue that their local laws outstrip UN regulations. GSR 1 was first introduced in 2014 and we are now in phase 2. The base regulation is a UN regulation that is being introduced by the EU. At the moment the UK hasn’t adopted it, so non-GSR 2 compliant vehicles can operate in the UK, though Northern Ireland is expected to adopt it when devolved government is restored. GSR is on the list of EU laws to be brought into effect in the UK but there is a high volume of laws on the waiting list. It will get there eventually. There are three stages to GSR 2 – one comes into force next year and then there are two further stages, one in 2026 and another in 2029. The Moving Off Information System (MOIS) comes in 2024 and DAF uses several bits of information, including from a camera and a radar. Preparing to move off is triggered by the handbrake release, gear selection and throttle position. It looks at all three of those and determines if the driver is preparing to move off. That is why it is very difficult for an aftermarket system to meet the MOIS regulation and that is why TfL has said if you have an OEM system they will accept it. If the driver moves off and there is a pedestrian there, the system will apply the brakes and stop the truck. The Blind Spot Information System (BSIS) is far more advanced. It must now work at any speed, not just up to 10kph, and is much more intuitive, using AI as well as radar to warn of potential collisions. The XG cab has two stars and because of its size it will never get three stars. It will be GSR 2 compliant from week one next year so will then meet the requirements of the PSS, with the exception of the left turn audible warning. That is something we will offer as a factory fitment option. The LF range is being replaced with the new XB and that can achieve three stars at 14 and 16 tonnes. The standard 18-tonne XB is two star but with GSR compliance will meet the PSS specification, or you can have a three-star 18-tonner though there will be compromises on front-axle loading. James Ashford, head of UK connected services, Brigade Electronics: I can confirm that fitting a PSS will not change a vehicle’s star rating. A lot of people are confused and some suppliers have misinterpreted the specification. It looks like you will need to replace some of your existing technology on the vehicle to meet the requirements of the PSS. If your vehicles are GSR compliant they will meet most of these requirements but there are subtle differences between GSR and DVS, so there is some confusion here too. Looking at the wording of the PSS it has changed from the Safe System. A BSIS monitoring system must now be fitted to the nearside of the vehicle to completely eliminate remaining blind spots. But who deems if the blind spots are completely eliminated? Is that down to the fitter, TfL or a body like Logistics UK or the RHA? Or can suppliers just self-certify? The BSIS must warn the driver if a collision is imminent – for instance if the vehicle turns towards a vulnerable road user (VRU) – by a different and more urgent 24 MotorTransport
Jacqui O’Donovan, O’Donovan Waste Disposal
Nigel Ponton, Cemex
Carl Milton, Cemex
TALKING PSS: MT Editor Steve Hobson chaired the discussion
warning signal. If a VRU such as a cyclist is travelling parallel to the vehicle that does not present a risk of collision even though they are in close proximity. So it isn’t just about detecting VRUs, it is warning of potential collision. You need a system that can monitor the direction of the vehicle and the VRU, predict when a collision is likely and give the driver adequate warning. But it must not pick up street furniture, which a lot of the passive side detection systems still do. The system also needs to be active regardless of whether the driver is indicating. There will need to be a lot of re-education of the drivers as they have got used to these systems going off when there isn’t a danger, but now they should only bleep when there is a real risk of collision. Regulation 151 of GSR 2 also specifies a BSIS but there are differences between that and DVS. DVS starts from the side of the vehicle, while GSR allows a 0.9m gap before the detection zone starts. DVS also requires a MOIS that isn’t just about detecting VRUs, it must give a collision warning. Here too there are differences between the GSR and DVS specifications. DVS starts from the front of the vehicle and goes out 2m, whereas the GSR says it must cover the vehicle front blind spot from a minimum of 1m to a maximum of 3.7 m from the front of the vehicle. We are currently having our MOIS solution independently tested. The BSIS is no problem but the front sensor system was not mandatory in the current spec so many suppliers are still finalising their solutions for MOIS. The requirement for MOIS is quite prescriptive but we are hoping to have something by the end of the year. People are asking us what they should do if they have a Safe System fitted. We say replace the side detection system with a predictive system and look at a MOIS further down the line. We, along with Logistics UK, have lobbied for a phased approach because trying to fit everything all at once will be a mistake. TfL will consider an extension for existing members until January 2025 but this is not set in stone and they will look at it in June 2024. Bennett: There were 211,000 vehicles in scope as at last December, so if you extrapolate that over the last 10 months we are probably talking nearer 330,000 that will need equipment fitting. Yarsley: That is at a cost of at least £1,500 each, which is minimum cost of £300m. We made the point when this came in that systems that are fitted to the vehicle for the PSS should be additive and not rip out and replace. The thinking now from DVS phase 1 to phase 2 is just rip it out, but they need to think about the £300m and the implications for society at large. That is why we are happy that we got them to agree to do the market readiness report from April to ➜ 26
4.12.23
DVS roundtable 2
motortransport.co.uk
June next year. The goal would be to have such a convincing report showing the market is not ready that London Councils will put a pause on it. We are trying to make London Councils aware that they need to act and ask the questions. London Councils own the DVS and that is where we need to concentrate all our efforts to prove that this is not implementable in the timeframes TfL wants. We do a lot of surveys and there has been a 30% drop in the number of vehicle technicians between Q3 2019 and Q3 2022. A lot have switched to driving because driver wages have gone up. TfL has not acknowledged this and all they require are photos of the installation and a statement from a fitter, which are completely pointless. Where are the checks and balances behind that statement to give the operator confidence that it is good quality equipment properly fitted? TfL has already touted a 2028 revision to come in in 2030 so we don’t want them to say ‘actually, we got it wrong again’. The mayor has ‘Vision Zero’ of no one being killed or seriously injured on London’s roads and that includes road junction improvements, education campaigns and other things. But it feels like we are being disproportionately asked to contribute to this Vision Zero. Where are the other efforts such as educating cyclists not to go down the side of HGVs? O’Donovan: That has been spoken about endlessly and the message is ‘we don’t want to put people off cycling by making them do cycling proficiency training’. When all these bleepers first came out driver overload was discussed and it was dismissed. But it is now back on the agenda with FORS. It’s a farce – we have Class V and VI mirrors and now we have to have more technology. We have spoken to the guy who fits our side scan systems and he hasn’t got a clue. Everything has 10-page technical specifications – you need to be Einstein. We are putting people off joining the industry because there is so much bad press about fatalities. Emily Hardy, UK marketing manager, Brigade Electronics: If you go back 10 or 15 years, when the likes of Crossrail were coming out with their own specifications, there were 10-plus different versions and we had customers coming to us asking ‘what do we need to fit to meet all these?’ We said ‘you can’t’ because there were so many of them. The idea of FORS and CLOCs was that there 26 MotorTransport
would be one standard and we seem to be moving away from that and now we have different specifications again. Hobson: Thank you all for your time and contributions. We will put some of the questions raised today to TfL on your behalf.
TfL responds to questions raised
TfL was unable to attend the roundtable but has responded in writing to some of the key questions raised.
Peter Cox, CLEAN Linen Services
Karl Wilshaw, Travis Perkins
Chris Yarsley, Logistics UK
Why are the DVS requirements for the BSIS and MOIS different from those in the GSR? The mayor, through his Vision Zero action plan and transport strategy, has committed to ensuring that no one is killed or seriously injured on London’s road network by 2041. DVS and the HGV Safety Permit Scheme are instrumental to this, by reducing fatal collisions where vision is a contributing factor by three quarters between 2018 and 2023. We will continue to take every possible measure to eradicate deaths and serious injuries from our roads and enhancing the safe systems for HGVs will help us do so. This is why we have decided to implement BSIS and MOIS sooner than GSR requirements to reduce road deaths. The technical specifications for both MOIS and BSIS are based upon UNECE R151 and R159 and were developed by Loughborough University after conducting extensive in-house and on-street tests. They are more advanced than requirements under GSR. We set out clear technical specifications for both MOIS and BSIS, which were tested with our industry partners and trade bodies at the DVS working group on 24 May and were subsequently approved by London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee (TEC). The final technical specifications were published on 4 September. Will TfL issue permits to vehicles that are built to comply with GSR without the need to either achieve 3 stars or install a PSS? The objective of the PSS is to reduce the risks that HGVs with the lowest levels of direct vision present to VRUs. We have been clear that to obtain a permit to operate in Greater London, any HGV over 12 tonnes rated zero, one or two stars must fully comply with the requirements of the PSS. This applies irrespective of whether the vehicle complies with the GSR requirements as the PSS includes additional safety features. ➜ 28 4.12.23
DVS roundtable 2
motortransport.co.uk
Will trucks being fitted with a Safe System in the next 12 months be granted any derogation from the October 2024 deadline or will they be required to replace a nearly new SS with a PSS? Operators fitting safety equipment to vehicles now do not need to wait until October 2024 to fit the PSS equipment and we recommend that if you need to fit the PSS, you do so at the earliest opportunity. The PSS is based on the equipment used in the existing Safe System but with additional equipment needed, such as the MOIS. The PSS therefore meets (and goes beyond) the requirements of the current safe system. As set out in our DVS Operator’s Guidance, for zero-, one- and two-star-rated vehicles the Safe System permit remains valid until midnight on 27 October 2024. If operators choose to fit the PSS to vehicles now, they can apply for a safety permit now that will cover their vehicles up until October 2024. We are working towards ensuring operators can apply for new safety permits from June 2024. The equipment will be sufficient for that permit, provided it complies with the PSS requirements as set out in the DVS operator’s guidance and detailed specifications. In consultation with the industry, we have also offered a three-month grace period for operators to fit PSS equipment. Operators may only take this up if they can prove that a vehicle has been booked into a fitter for equipment to be attached to an HGV, and that the fitter is unable to complete the job prior to the 27 October 2024. A booking conformation e-mail is sufficient proof. We will announce further details about the grace period in due course.
Mike Bennett, DAF Trucks
James Ashford, Brigade Electronics
Emily Hardy, Brigade Electronics
Will police and DVSA be checking if vehicles’ PSS are actually performing as per the DVS in roadside checks, or will it simply be a case of ANPR checking a database that a vehicle either has three stars or has been declared by the operator to have a PSS? Enforcement is currently and will continue to be carried out in three ways: ■ Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system – checking the vehicle registration mark of each HGV entering and operating in Greater London against the DVS permit database; ■ TfL compliance officers conducting checks on vehicles entering TfL sites; ■ Met Police Commercial Vehicle Unit conducting roadside checks on HGVs entering and operating in Greater London. The focus of this activity is on checking whether vehicles have a permit and that (Progressive) Safe System equipment is properly fitted. You can find out more about TfL’s enforcement policy for DVS on our website. Will there be any standardisation of the displays and audible warnings in the cab so drivers who routinely switch vehicles know what each system is telling them? No. We do not consider it appropriate for TfL to suggest a product or brand of equipment that should be installed as part of the PSS, as this would increase our role to that of the licensing authority without having the relevant powers to do so. It would also add further costs to manufacturers and suppliers for demonstrating compliance, and increase complexity, making the scheme more burdensome for operators and fitters to navigate. TfL has instead standardised the system detecting vulnerable road users through its technical specifications for BSIS and MOIS. This includes the standardisation of where in-cab monitors should be placed within the cab and the types of information they must display, regardless of supplier. ■
Photo: Alexandre Rotenberg / Shutterstock
Who will prepare the market readiness report for London Councils and when will it be ready? Operators are concerned that the clock is already ticking to install the PSS to perhaps 300,000 vehicles and if the report is not done until July that will just add to delays. The mayor announced in the Vision Zero action plan in 2019 that the DVS standard would be raised from one to three stars from October 2024. We consulted on the form and content of the PSS in the spring, and the enhanced threshold requirements and PSS were then approved by London Councils on 8 June and will be enforced from 28 October 2024. We estimate that at least 300,000 vehicles operating in London are rated as zero, one and two stars as of September 2023. Early conversations with our partners in industry suggest that operators
are starting to work towards fitting equipment needed to meet the PSS requirements. We have already committed to providing an assessment of the industry’s readiness for the enhanced requirements. This will be undertaken by TfL in consultation with the industry and will form part of our recommended approach to the grace period for London Councils’ TEC to decide on in June 2024.
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4.12.23
Marketplace news Investment to transform former bingo hall embraces industry’s move to alternative fuel vehicles
Guest aims for full house with green site opening
Universal Parts Group moves for Imexpart Imexpart (IMEX) has been acquired by the Universal Parts Group (UPG). South African-based UPG distributes automotive, agricultural and heavy-duty parts from leading manufacturers into OE and aftermarkets in South Africa, Ukraine, Poland and now the UK. This aligns with IMEX’s operation as an automotive parts distributor. Its range of products covers parts for Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Scania, DAF, Renault, MAN and Iveco vehicles as well as several engine component providers, including Mahle, TRW and King Bearings. The company reshuffle also includes the acquisition of Driveshaft Parts in Swindon, where IMEX will now operate from. This expands IMEX’s reach across the country and its range to include driveline parts. 30 MotorTransport
vehicles. By embracing emerging technologies like electric and alternative fuels, we’re ensuring our services are in lockstep with the industry’s trajectory.” Alongside Guest Truck and Van, the site houses group company Vehicle Lining Services (VLS). This part of the business offers specialised fit-outs for vans and trucks, as well as compliance equipment for FORS-accredited operators. Spittle added: “This Guest Truck and Van location is more than just a branch; it is a symbol of our commitment to customer service, a beacon for sustainable alternatives, and a statement of our intention to stay at the forefront of commercial vehicle trends.” The location was once a railway maintenance yard, so parts of the railway platforms and tracks that were uncovered during excavation
works have been preserved. These have been integrated into two commercial vehicle inspection pits. Bringing Guest Truck and Van to Bushbury has created 12 local job opportunities. The facility will
work with Guest Truck and Van’s existing site in Wolverhampton to support customers looking for Iveco trucks and Fiat Professional vehicles. The Willenhall Road facility will continue to stock a range of pre-owned units.
VTBC South & East grabs Volvo dealer prize Volvo’s annual dealer awards saw Volvo Truck and Bus Centre South & East earn the prestigious dealer of the year award. Based across 17 locations in London, the south east, the Midlands and the east, the dealer group also won the new vehicle sales award. Christian Coolsaet, MD of Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland, said: “Winning this award is the ultimate recognition of a good job well done. The South & East team have been focused on introducing a wealth of upgrades across their business, while at the same time continuing to deliver the best possible customer experience. This really shows when you consider the volume of business they’ve been signing, both with new and repeat customers.” Its flagship London South dealership had a £2m refurbishment over the last year to make the Croydon site Volvo Trucks’ first net-zero dealership in the UK. The facility is also the first zero waste to landfill
operation in the dealer network. South & East had the highest volume of electric retail sales of any dealership in the country and introduced the first all-electric Volvo action service van. The sales team recorded one of the lowest average VECTO scores, too. Stuart Potter, operations director of Volvo Truck and Bus Centre
South & East, said: “This award is for every single one of our team, who work so hard to keep our customers moving as safely, efficiently and profitably as possible. Winning the title is a huge motivation to continue the journey we are on, looking for continuous improvement at every possible step.”
Photo: Craig Eccleston
The Guest Motor Group has opened a new 28,000sq ft Guest Truck and Van site in Bushbury, Wolverhampton, following a £4m investment to rejuvenate an abandoned site. The group’s 14th location has been designed with sustainability in mind, with solar panel installation under way to supply the site with green energy. Guest Truck and Van will also support customers in their switch to alternative fuels, with staff fully trained in the repair and maintenance of eco-friendly vehicles. Robert Spittle (pictured), MD of Guest Motor Group, said: “Our objective in reviving this former bingo hall site was to demonstrate our commitment to the local community, as well as the progressive trends in commercial
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Manchetts Peterborough triumphs in MAN dealer award great desire and willingness to strive for better business practices as well as constantly focusing on putting the customer and their needs at the heart of everything they do.” Thyssen added: “Consistent high achievers and eager to please their customers, the team at Manchetts Peterborough were singled out for their unwavering determination and enthusiastic approach to improving all facets of their business. “Over the last 12 months Manchetts Peterborough has shown true dedication in delivering outstanding levels of both customer service and support.
Photo: Professional Images
The annual MAN Truck & Bus Dealer of the Year awards has crowned Manchetts Peterborough the winner. WG Davies in Swansea, DSV Commercials in Immingham, MAN Truck & Bus Gateshead, PCL in North London and Elgin in Inverness all made the shortlist. The awards recognise the achievements of the entire MAN dealer network. Stefan Thyssen, MD, MAN Truck & Bus UK Ltd, said: “I’d like to congratulate the shortlisted businesses and the overall winner of this year’s MAN Truck & Bus UK’s annual dealer of the year awards. “All the businesses involved have shown a
Scottish operation upgrades facilities and takes on staff in preparation for ‘next level’ signing
Alltruck joins Mercedes team The Alltruck Group is the newest member of Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ authorised repairer network. Based between Falkirk and Grangemouth, just off the M9 motorway, the workshop supports heavy vehicle operators in the central belt of Scotland. The site was appointed as an authorised repairer in July and, following a period of staff training and recruitment, is now open to the public. Its facilities have been extended and upgraded as part of the process. Martin Shaw, Alltruck Group MD, said: “Joining the MercedesBenz network as an official Authorised Repairer has taken us to the next level. We’ve effectively created an entire parts department from scratch. Previously most of our parts were delivered as needed, now we hold an extensive stock with a team of seven specialists to manage it.” Shaw added: “We’ve also taken on extra administration, reception
and warranty staff, as well as increasing our roster of technicians. The result of all this is that while we were previously looking after around 200 operators, that number has now risen to close to 500. Crucially, though, our commitment to those original customers remains unwavering. “We understand the needs of those in the road transport industry and are fully committed to providing the very highest standards of service – so it’s very gratifying to report that the feedback we’ve received from longstanding customers, and those who are new to us, has been very positive.” The Alltruck workshop is on a 15-acre site and has eight fulllength bays with two inspection pits. A dedicated ATF lane is planned for next year. The team stands at 22 technicians, including three apprentices, who work on shifts around the clock from Monday to Friday and all day Saturday.
Alongside its workshop, Alltruck runs a truck rental business with a fleet of more than 300 vehicles. The company is also a main agent for Fassi cranes in Scotland. Head of network development at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK Leonhard Niemann added: “We’re delighted to be working with
Alltruck to bring even better service coverage to our customers in Scotland, and to expand our representation across the UK. The appointment of this trusted partner helps us to provide a full parts and service offering to operators in this important part of the country.”
HVS makes hydrogen accessible with ‘truck as a service’ Operators can now access hydrogen HGVs through HVS’ new ‘Truck as a Service’ offering. The programme has been launched in partnership with Zeti and Gravis Capital Management. This pay-per-mile financing scheme minimises the risk for operators looking to transition to sustainable fuels, such as the hydrogen fuel cell trucks HVS produces. By working with Zeti its existing partnerships 4.12.23
will free up multi-million pounds-worth of capital funds to support operators in accessing the Truck as a Service programme. Jawad Khursheed, CEO of HVS, said: “The Transport as a Service offering from Zeti provides customers with complete certainty of costs for the duration of a vehicle contract. “The pay-per-mile financing helps operators to optimise their cash flow and protect margins.
We see this as a real value-add for those fleet operators looking to decarbonise their fleets to achieve challenging net zero targets.” Unlike contract hire agreements, the Truck as a Service offering covers upfront vehicle costs, fuel, infrastructure and after-sales support. HVS is now taking orders for its zeroemission hydrogen trucks, which have a range of up to 600km on a single tank. MotorTransport 31
Marketplace feature
Positive outlook There have been some tough times for the used truck and trailer sector in recent years, but Dawsongroup’s James Hunter tells Peter Rawlings why things are looking up
O
ne man who has had a front-row seat for the used truck and trailer market roller coaster over recent years is James Hunter, head of sales at Dawsondirect. Part of Dawsongroup, the business handles trade, export and direct retail sales of around 2,500 used trucks and trailers every year. Hunter joined Dawsongroup in 2019, initially to manage used operations. He had come to the UK after a successful career as a transport operator in South Africa, looking to find a role in the UK transport sector. He smiles, albeit a little ruefully, as he recalls: “It all seemed such a great idea at the time. Dawsongroup, a highly successful independent business in the asset management sector of the road transport scene, wanted someone 32 MotorTransport
NEW CHALLENGE: James Hunter moved to the UK to join Dawsongroup just before the start of the Covid pandemic
to re-energise its Dawsondirect used sales. I liked the people I met and when offered the role I took it very happily.” Hunter was not to know that he, along with the transport industry worldwide, was about to plunge into the stormy waters of the Covid pandemic. “That was a difficult moment,” he admits. “I joined in late 2019 and by early 2020 was facing a totally transformed business landscape. It was distressing to see good operators struggling and many – too many – going under. Of course, we had no idea then that it was simply the start of a perfect storm, for the economy in general and transport in particular. With Brexit impacting the economy and labour availability, Covid happened. And while we all focused on those impacts, later semi-conductor shortages then blew huge holes in new vehicle manufacture.” For suppliers such as Dawsondirect however, with a strong pipeline of relatively young vehicles coming off Dawsongroup’s core fleet, an opportunity was about to open up. As operators and their customers gradually adapted to the new normal, it became clear that life had to go on, and the transport sector, ever resilient, was bouncing back a little faster than most. So, with new vehicle production figures in free fall, the used vehicle route was a welcome option. Larger operators wanted quality vehicles, both trucks and trailers. Smaller operators inevitably had a sharp cost focus. For both, availability was key.
Maintaining stock levels
Hunter and Dawsondirect found themselves in an enviable position. Dawsongroup had always focused on quality in its core fleet and, with large forward orders already lodged with key manufacturers, was able to continue refreshing an almost 13,000-strong fleet throughout the pandemic and beyond. It meant stock levels in the used operation were good. 4.12.23
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Hunter recalls: “The rental fleet moves trucks on at three years and trailers at around six years, so suddenly, in an otherwise bleak landscape, we found ourselves with decent stock levels and growing numbers of operators looking for it. I was told very clearly, however, that Dawsongroup had a long-established policy of looking after regular customers first – and that’s what happened again. In truth, we could have made higher margins taking some of the offers from operators coming to us anew, but policy is policy and I was happy to accept that.”
Looking forward
As new trucks and trailers become more readily available, the growth in used sales will hinge inevitably on improvements in freight volumes. The market overall is projected to grow, albeit slowly, in the current uncertain economic environment. The used truck market is expected to rise with it, thanks to higher prices for new trucks and more operators prepared to consider adding lower cost used vehicles to their fleets. Increasingly, factors such as emissions control areas, such as London’s recently enlarged ULEZ, will drive distribution operators and final-mile companies to refresh fleets. Hunter notes: “This won’t necessarily happen because of fleet age or vehicle tiredness, but out of a need simply to survive in the punishing new urban environments. With new vehicle prices as high as they have been in living memory, that is likely to push the focus onto quality used. Indeed, it is already happening.” There have been other contributing factors impacting the state of the used market. The withdrawal of Ryder put a large fleet of used rental vehicles onto the market, though Hunter is happy that it was done in an orderly manner. “Ryder was very good in that it didn’t just dump its entire fleet onto the market,” he notes. “There was a 12-month plan and that helped everyone. The size of that fleet did drive prices down for a while, however, and I suppose the last impacts are only just washing through now. “That said, at the start of this year, overall stock levels were as low as anyone remembers, a direct result of manufacturers facing Covid-engendered shortages of semi-conductors for new vehicles. On top of that, the Ukraine war heavily impacted supplies of noble gases, required in quantity and a high level of purity for semiconductor manufacture. That simply wasn’t there: the perfect storm just rumbled on.”
Sector recovery
Hunter is happy to say that UK used vehicle stock levels are now getting back to a realistic level with a growing demand. He reports that, in part due to standardisation across manufacturers to meet basic UK spec require-
4.12.23
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM We couldn’t finish an article about used trucks in 2023 without considering the 2035 zero-emissions impacts on operators and suppliers. The profile of transport changes constantly to match shifts in supply chain and distribution patterns. We must assume trucks will continue to play a major role in the transportation needs of UK plc and, with the boom in e-commerce, hardpressed logistics companies and last-mile delivery operators might now look for quality used trucks, rather than face the capital costs of new trucks. According to market analysts and current manufacturer projections, those acquisition costs are likely to treble for electric vehicles, with the added current burden of poorly compensated weight restrictions. James Hunter has a view of this ‘elephant in the room’. He says: “For a start, I think we are likely to see a weakening of government resolve about 2035 and later dates; if for no better reason than the low levels of infrastructure and no clearly defined route for progressing on this key aspect. “My guess is we have to echo the car profile and initially look to ease our way toward zero emissions with hybrid vehicles. Protect the environment with battery power first, but don’t damage supply chains by not having ICE back-up once that runs out. I don’t know, but that would make sense to me, especially for rigids in more localised distribution work. “On the other hand, assuming no change in the government demands, you have the strong possibility that the haulage sector will opt in huge numbers to try and buy diesel trucks with a view, within the bounds of legislation, to running them for a longer term than usual – maybe eight to 10 years. That said, I recognise the probable restrictions on manufacturers delivering diesel trucks in the UK in the build-up to 2035 and beyond. If that happens, we can expect a boost both to used diesel truck stocks and sales, with an emphasis on low-mileage and later-registration models. Our Smarter Asset Strategy approach will help operators meet the challenge.” So, the used business has survived some very tough years, but, if Dawsondirect is a fair example, the survivors have come out of it stronger and sharper. There seems little doubt, listening to Hunter, that quality used vehicles are set to play a bigger and bigger role, even in major big-name fleets, helping to boost performance and profitability for operators.
STOCK AVAILABILITY: The large Dawsongroup rental fleet ensures a steady flow of used trucks and trailers for Dawsondirect to sell
ments, tractor deals remain largely transactional: the tractor is almost a commodity item now in the current UK transport industry. Rigids, on the other hand, are more complex, given variations in length, GVWs, bodies and cabs. They are also among the first to be impacted by the legislationdriven demands for zero-tailpipe emissions. The 2035 date is for rigids up to 26 tonnes, and manufacturers are understandably seeing this as low-hanging fruit in terms of development of electric and other options – but more of that later. For Hunter and his UK team – he has 24 sites, among which five have in-house used vehicle specialists – business is such that traders and retail customers alike are even chasing vehicles still working on Dawsongroup’s main fleet. He says: “The used sector has several very good traders, and we consider them close working associates. Together with regular retail customers of many years’ standing, these are the two main prongs of our business; Dawsongroup’s mainstream fleet of nearly 13,000 trucks and trailers gives us a constant flow of quality vehicles coming into the Dawsondirect arena. Even then, though, we have customers looking at what we have on the main fleet and ‘earmarking’ vehicles with us for later availability. We’re obviously happy with that. It gives us added confidence in new vehicle fleet orders, and, if numbers allow, we can pull vehicles forward onto the Dawsondirect fleet for operators and traders looking to buy them. It’s a classic win-win for both parties.” It’s not just confidence in fleet orders that Hunter derives from current market performance levels. Alongside his already busy mainstream Stoke branch, he has recently taken on over half an acre of paved yard space, complete with offices and workshops, purely for Dawsondirect. This specialised focus, he says, is the future for Dawsondirect operations and he will seek to replicate it at other branches. ■ MotorTransport 33
Cost tables
You win some...
While fuel has come down in price during 2023, many other costs have risen for buyers and operators of commercial vehicles, writes David Batty
W
CHANGE IN ANNUAL OPERATING COSTS
(CHARGE PER MILE) POWERING UP: Electric trucks are starting to appear on our roads but in small numbers, so the figures for EV operating costs should be taken as indicative
44-tonne tractor (100,000 miles/year) 18-tonne rigid (60,000 miles/year) 3.5-tonne van (30,000 miles/year)
2022
2023
CHANGE
217
210
-3%
222
224
+1%
205
213
+4%
Photo: DCI Media
hen comparing this year’s operating costs with last year’s figures, it becomes apparent that there are some significant changes to be aware of. These include a much higher purchase price, which also increases finance and insurance costs, and a reduction in fuel prices. The higher the mileage a vehicle travels, the greater the potential to recover the increase in capital costs through the lower fuel costs. However, the cost of fuel is influenced by global issues and so operators need to be wary of price fluctuations. Other price pressures on operators come from such issues as increasingly expensive parts and tyres and the shortage in skilled technicians, which results in higher maintenance costs. Looking ahead, fixed-cost tyre pressure management systems (TPMS) are becoming mandatory. To be fully compliant, all newly registered trailers must be installed with TPMS from 7 July 2024, at an estimated cost of £700 per triaxle trailer. Other unavoidable costs coming down the road are those associated with the General
Safety Regulations, which are estimated to add a further £2,500 to the cost of a vehicle. Going green is a major consideration for operators, with some switching from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). While being more environmentally friendly, this fuel does carry a price premium. Some operators are choosing to run gas-powered trucks – mainly compressed natural gas (CNG) – and if the distance travelled is high enough this can more than compensate for the increase in capital cost. Electric vehicles (EVs) are starting to make an appearance in small numbers, mostly on trials with operators. In the absence of a large pool of data from which to draw conclusions, the figures for EVs in the cost tables should be taken as indicative. The residual value of an EV is assumed to be 10% of the capital cost. With batteries making up half the cost of an EV and having an anticipated lifespan of 10 years, the residual value could be impacted by the replacement battery costs. However, it should be noted that the data is young and very limited. As with internal combustion engined vehicles, a higher capital cost means increased finance and insurance expenditure. Consideration should also be given to the purchase of battery chargers and any other infrastructure costs, while bearing in mind that the heavier weight of EVs could reduce tyre life. With a range of options available to power vehicles, operators need to collect, check and analyse their costs to make the best decisions. ■
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32-tonne 4x2 unit, taxed for tandem-axle trailer
38-tonne 4x2 unit, taxed for triaxle trailer
44-tonne 6x2 unit, taxed for triaxle trailer
Tandem-axle trailer (curtainsided)
Triaxle trailer (curtainsided)
100,689 130 10.4 48.0 7 9,062
103,583 130 9.2 48.0 7 9,322
114,744 130 8.5 48.0 7 10,327
22,226
28,805
12 2,223
12 2,881
56,251 4,187 27,895 920 13,090 6,207 108,549 5,427 113,977
56,251 4,187 27,895 920 13,466 6,407 109,126 5,456 114,582
56,251 4,187 27,895 1,136 14,917 7,380 111,766 5,588 117,354
1,667 1,682 3,349 167 3,516
2,160 1,852 4,012 201 4,213
2,478 496 45.05
2,491 498 45.29
2,551 510 46.39
76 15 1.39
92 18 1.67
56.8 1.26 2.63 12.70 73.41 3.7 77.08
64.2 1.42 3.00 12.70 81.36 4.1 85.43
69.5 1.54 3.65 13.10 87.82 4.4 92.21
1.90 4.10 6.00 0.3 6.30
2.94 4.80 7.74 0.4 8.13
60,000 miles/year 80,000 miles/year 100,000 miles/year
267 220 191
276 229 200
288 239 210
12 11 10
15 13 12
RIGIDS
7.5-tonne GVW (curtainsided)
13-tonne GVW (curtainsided)
18-tonne GVW (curtainsided)
26-tonne GVW 6x2 (curtainsided)
32-tonne GVW 8x4 (tipper)
69,141 130 17 48.0 5 10,371
82,961 130 15 48.0 5 12,444
90,258 130 13 48.0 5 13,539
130,286 130 10.5 48.0 5 19,543
141,683 130 7.5 48.0 7 24,795
45,137 2,476 9,035 165 11,754 2,108 70,675 3,534 74,208
49,230 2,830 13,244 245 14,103 2,445 82,097 4,105 86,201
50,989 3,141 17,612 450 15,344 3,151 90,687 4,534 95,221
52,873 3,841 18,499 450 22,149 4,099 101,910 5,095 107,005
52,873 3,841 23,864 920 16,698 5,289 103,486 5,174 108,660
1,613 323 29.33
1,874 375 34.07
2,070 414 37.64
2,326 465 42.29
2,362 472 42.95
34.8 0.77 3.00 10.20 48.74 2.44 51.2
39.4 0.87 3.41 11.30 54.98 2.75 57.7
45.5 1.01 3.56 11.90 61.93 3.10 65.0
56.3 1.25 4.75 13.10 75.38 3.77 79.1
78.8 1.75 10.40 17.90 108.84 5.44 114.3
237 175 144
273 201 165
303 224 184
347 257 213
386 295 250
ARTICS Vehicle cost (£) Fuel cost (p/litre): ex VAT, average monthly MPG AdBlue cost (p/litre) Depreciation period (years) Residual value (£)
ANNUAL STANDING COSTS (£)
Driver wages and NI Vehicle insurance Establishment/overheads Vehicle tax (VED) based on no RPC but with Levy Depreciation Finance cost Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total annual standing costs (£)
STANDING COSTS ALLOCATION
Per week (£) based on 46 weeks Per day (£) based on a 5-day week Per hour (£) based on an 11-hour day
RUNNING COSTS (P/MILE, 80,000 MILES/YEAR)
Fuel AdBlue (at 6% of fuel consumption) Tyres Maintenance & repairs Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total (p/mile)
CHARGE PER MILE (P)
Vehicle cost (£) Fuel cost (p/litre): ex VAT MPG AdBlue cost (p/litre) Depreciation period (years) Residual value (£)
ANNUAL STANDING COSTS (£)
Driver wages and NI Vehicle insurance Establishment/overheads Vehicle tax (VED) based on E6 & Levy without RPC Depreciation Finance cost Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total annual standing costs (£)
STANDING COSTS ALLOCATION
Per week (£) based on 46 weeks Per day (£) based on a 5-day week Per hour (£) based on an 11-hour day
RUNNING COSTS (P/MILE, 60,000 MILES/YEAR)
Fuel AdBlue (at 6% of fuel consumption) Tyres Maintenance & repairs Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total (p/mile)
CHARGE PER MILE (P)
40,000 miles/year 60,000 miles/year 80,000 miles/year 4.12.23
MotorTransport 43
Cost tables
VANS
motortransport.co.uk
1.6-tonne GVW (550kg payload)
2.1-tonne GVW (750kg payload)
2.8-tonne GVW (1-tonne payload)
3.5-tonne GVW (1.4-tonne payload)
22,616 130 43 5 4,523
23,675 130 40 5 4,735
31,483 130 33 5 6,297
38,265 130 28 5 7,653
35,832 1,553 6,656 140 3,619 638 48,437 2,422 50,859
35,832 1,653 6,656 140 3,788 751 48,820 2,441 51,261
35,832 1,962 6,656 140 5,037 933 50,560 2,528 53,088
35,832 2,181 6,656 140 6,122 1,157 52,088 2,604 54,693
1,106 221 20.10
1,114 223 20.26
1,154 231 20.98
1,189 238 21.62
13.7 0.09 0.80 4.36 19.00 0.9 19.95
14.8 0.08 0.92 5.15 20.93 1.0 22.0
17.9 0.07 1.40 5.67 25.05 1.3 26.3
21.1 0.06 1.86 6.21 29.23 1.5 30.7
274 189 147
278 193 150
292 203 159
304 213 167
3.5-tonne panel van electric
18-tonne 4x2 rigid electric
64,780 0.58 0.29 5 6,478
246,500 0.69 0.29 7 24,650
56,251 4,187 27,895 920 17,337 8,348 114,938 5,747 120,685
35,832 2,181 6,656 0 11,660 4,211 60,540 3,027 63,567
50,989 5,654 17,612 150 31,693 16,023 122,120 6,106 128,226
2,624 525 47.70
1,382 276 25.13
2,788 558 50.68
RUNNING COSTS (P/MILE)
80,000 MILES/YEAR
30,000 MILES/YEAR
30,000 MILES/YEAR
Fuel Tyres Maintenance & repairs Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total (p/mile)
38.39 3.00 11.43 52.82 2.6 55.46
9.1 1.86 5.59 16.54 0.8 17.36
20.0 3.56 10.71 34.28 1.7 35.99
123
463
Vehicle cost (£) Fuel cost (p/litre): ex VAT MPG Depreciation period (years) Residual value (£)
ANNUAL STANDING COSTS (£) Driver wages and NI Vehicle insurance Establishment/overheads Vehicle tax (VED) based on E5 Depreciation Finance cost (5-year term) Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total annual standing costs (£)
STANDING COSTS ALLOCATION Per week (£) based on 46 weeks Per day (£) based on a 5-day week Per hour (£) based on an 11-hour day
RUNNING COSTS (P/MILE, 30,000 MILES/YEAR) Fuel AdBlue (at 6% of fuel consumption) Tyres Maintenance & repairs Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total (p/mile)
CHARGE PER MILE (P) 20,000 miles/year 30,000 miles/year 40,000 miles/year
ALTERNATIVE FUEL Vehicle cost (£) Fuel cost (p/kg): ex VAT MPKG Depreciation period (years) Residual value (£)
40-tonne 4x2 unit CNG 134,860 0.81 2.11 7 13,500
Kw/Hr mile Charging Cost Kw/hr
ANNUAL STANDING COSTS (£) Driver wages and NI Vehicle insurance Establishment/overheads Vehicle tax (VED) including Levy at E6 Depreciation Finance cost (£) Subtotal Profit allowance (5%) Total annual standing costs (£)
STANDING COSTS ALLOCATION Per week (£) based on 46 weeks Per day (£) based on a 5-day week Per hour (£) based on an 11-hour day
CHARGE PER MILE (P) 30,000 miles/year 80,000 miles/year
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206 4.12.23
MT Awards 2023 winner profile Safety in Operation Award
Collision courses CLEAN Linen & Workwear decided to outsource the process of investigating accidents and incidents – and then it introduced targeted training to address problem areas
WINNING FEELING: Peter Cox (front) and colleagues step up to collect their award
48 MotorTransport
P
eter Cox, head of transport at CLEAN Linen & Workwear, admits he can be a hard taskmaster. After celebrating with his team after their win in the Safety in Operation category at the Grosvenor House Hotel in September, he reminded them they had to be back hard at work the following day. “Our laundries are pretty much 24/7/365 operations,” he says. With ROSPA Fleet Safety Gold and as an Earned Recognition member, the company already has many of the industry’s highest safety credentials. It has 975 employees – 204 of which are drivers – across seven sites serving 5,500 clients in the hotel, restaurant, automotive, engineering and food manufacturing sectors and is one of the UK’s leading privately owned laundry companies, providing professional linen and workwear rental services. Most of the 100-strong fleet are 12- and 18-tonne rigids – the “workhorses”, according to Cox – but CLEAN also runs four artics on its trunking operation as well as a growing fleet of 3.5-tonne vans. CLEAN’s winning entry focused on a “radical change” to its health and safety processes, prompted by the fact that its vehicle collision rates were not falling fast enough, it did not have enough trained staff to investigate incidents and there was lack of consistency across its sites. While as an Earned Recognition operator its compliance with drivers’ hours rules was first rate, it needed to get a grip on vehicle collisions. “When you find some drivers were on seven collisions and nothing was being done about it, we had to address the issue,” Cox says. The first step was to review the incident investigation process to clearly identify the root cause of all collisions and near misses to build up a clear vision of areas for improvement and training.
One of these root causes might have been that, after losing experienced drivers in the pandemic, CLEAN had to recruit 33 new people as the business recovered – but ultimately this turned out not to the case. “We have our own training academy and are heavily involved in the Skills Bootcamps, which helped fund it,” Cox says. “We employ drivers with Cat B licences from day one and I prefer to go after those who are already driving vans commercially. “But we also need to employ young people and we have to get into the schools and colleges. If we can get the message across that they can earn a very good wage and it only takes 13 or 14 weeks to get your licence, that changes people’s perceptions. “I am not too concerned about age or experience; for us, it is all about the person. In our business it isn’t just about driving – the biggest part of the job is customer service. You only get experience by doing the job and if we can mould our culture into new drivers it can only be a benefit.”
Expert help
After a thorough review of all the options, CLEAN decided to outsource collision investigation to Road Safety Smart, run by road safety expert Andrew Drewary, which interviewed drivers at the end of their shifts and produced an incident report within seven days. As a result, all vehicle collisions and incidents are now monitored centrally with monthly reviews of trends across the different sites. This allowed a pro-active approach to introducing specific targeted training to address particular problem areas. “We quickly learned that one of the significant issues was slow-speed manoeuvring, mostly under 5mph, so we ran a ‘get out and look’ (GOAL) campaign, which was really helpful,” Cox says. “We found that 25% of incidents were at our own sites and we have reduced that to just under 18% and falling. That is through things like better signage and no reversing without a banksman.” Cox pledged to the CLEAN senior leadership team that the transport division would cut accidents by 25%, which has already been achieved. “In the last three months we have had one collision in a yard,” he says. “We were having one a week.” The next focus was collisions at customer sites, many of which are difficult to access. “We don’t go to distribution centres,” Cox says. “We operate in busy cities and remote rural areas of the country. Onsite customer deliveries can be very challenging for our drivers where hotel guests do not always follow the appropriate parking rules. “When this is happening as frequently as it does we are exposed to greater risks of collisions. We have empowered our drivers to make safer decisions and not take risks for the sake of a perfect delivery. All customers’ site delivery locations have been risk assessed and we have updated our processes to reflect this, which fully supports driver decision making at customer locations. 4.12.23
Partnered with
“Those incidents were at about 49% of total collisions. We have reduced that to 36% in a very short space of time.” With a lot of its work focused on CLEAN’s two London sites, compliance with the Direct Vision Standard has been part of the business model for many years. “Most of our vehicles are DAF LFs, so have a one-star rating,” Cox says. “The 12-tonners don’t come into the scope of DVS but we have 360° cameras fitted anyway. We have just signed up with Samsara, so we have driverfacing AI cameras as well as the forward-facing cameras. “They have already highlighted some poor standards of driving but have also been of great use to recognise good behaviours too. “This has been the biggest project we have undertaken this year. It is all about changing the culture, looking after our drivers and making sure they have a safe place to work. They are front and centre of everything we do and have been heavily involved in the roll-out.”
Incentives
CLEAN pays drivers and transport office teams a quarterly bonus based on their incident rates, infringements and driving style, and switching to Samsara will enable Cox to rate drivers using more sophisticated measures. “It’s an opportunity to go to an A to G score for each driver,” Cox says. “It will bring in live metrics such as seat belt wearing, mobile phone use and gives us more detailed information on eco-driving as well. “It will enable us to foster a much better culture within the business. The site teams will be able to look at the alerts and delegate the coaching required at the appropriate time.” Despite having a high percentage of newly qualified drivers, Cox says most incidents weren’t down to them. “It wasn’t just the newly qualified drivers,” he says. “Our collision rates weren’t great and we had to understand why. Andrew and his team at Road Safety Smart interview every single driver who has a collision, a nearmiss or a notice of intended prosecution. Then we spend a lot of time gathering data to build the business case. “Three months in, it became clear that every investigation was highlighting the need for much more than just driver assessment. We needed to have a much bigger toolbox to work with.” 4.12.23
With so many drivers on the books, outsourcing driver assessment and training would have been too costly. “I have great belief in the Skills Bootcamps as a great way of getting new drivers their vocational qualifications quickly. But how do we train up all these drivers to be really road-ready – and what happens then? It becomes more risky than before,” Cox says. “We needed a distinct assessment process, so we approached PDT Training and PRIM Fleet Standards, who now have a DVSAaccredited assessors’ course which fits nicely with our DVSA Earned Recognition accreditation. “We now have 13 assessors in the business across the seven sites. Yeovil, for example, has three, while Camberley and Slough share four. As well as keeping costs down, it also means we keep control.” Cox hasn’t yet added up all the costs and benefits of the collision reduction initiative, but he is convinced that it has saved the business money. The cost of incidents isn’t just in lost time and vehicle repairs – there is a lot of management time and effort put in behind the scenes to deal with every incident. The company is also now a far lower risk proposition, which will reflect positively in insurance premiums.
SPARKLING LINE-UP: CLEAN's fleet includes 3.5-tonne vans, 12- and 18-tonne rigids and four artics
Award success
Our judges said: “An excellent submission, meeting all criteria. It followed a very structured approach, demonstrating results with benefits to the company and employees. “Great to see the engagement with drivers to ensure their well-being is taken into consideration. “This company has gone to a third party for assistance in reducing collisions and accidents and has run with it.” Cox said winning the MT Award – CLEAN’s first – was very unexpected. “We were shortlisted last year but it means a lot to win an award,” he says. “When you are up against some of the big operators it isn’t expected. We do it because it underpins what we are trying to achieve in the business and gives it credibility. “We were up against people with much more resource than us but I have always believed that with the right entry anyone can win. “I knew quite a few people from the industry there on the night and they were just as pleased as we were.” ■ MotorTransport 49
MT Awards 2023 winner profile Training Award
Carry on learning Explore Plant and Transport Solutions has to carry some challenging loads, so in the middle of an acute staff shortage it launched its own training programme to help its flatbed drivers deal with almost every situation
E
xplore Plant and Transport Solutions’ Operational Training programme is a progressive learning journey developed to mitigate the impact of an industry-wide HGV driver shortage. It was launched with the ambition to increase the number of specialist flatbed trailer drivers in the business, which proved particularly challenging in Covid-19-hit 2020/21. Recruitment of new talent into the business during 2020 tumbled by 51.9% compared with 2019. The total number of flatbed drivers in 2020 subsequently dropped by 15%. Faced with this challenging data, management acknowledged that the usual business model was no longer optimal. Historically, new driver recruits were expected to have two years’ minimum HGV experience and an understanding of the company’s load types, in addition to standard qualifications – further limiting the number of potential candidates in an already finite applicant pool.
STRAPPING IN: Explore’s progressive learning programme can upskill employees, from loading precast concrete flat on the trailer to vertically on a frame, then on to plant machinery and Special Types General Orders (STGO) categories
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A different approach
Explore researched the market and discovered that most operators were using short-term and potentially unsustainable monetary incentives to attract new drivers. However, with the company’s specialist nature, it decided a new training structure would be a better fit for the business and provide a robust, long-term solution. “We had exhausted the pool of external drivers that we would consider as being the standard that we would want,” explained Explore operational driver training
manager Aaron Head. “So, our idea was to pull back a bit and see if we could recruit [non-specialist or less experienced] drivers and train them to our standard. “We would provide them with the knowledge, training and experience, while instilling in them the standards and expectations we have at Explore until they are confident and equipped to go out and do the job as we expect.” Explore knew it had the experience to manage the scheme internally, so it launched its award-winning training journey, using well-defined objectives to act as a measure of its success (see box top right). The programme has now become established as a core element in Explore’s recruitment strategy, exceeding expectations as a proven, sustainable method of onboarding new drivers. During 2022, the scheme achieved a pass rate of 85% and a learning satisfaction rate of 100%. It increased the number of flatbeds in the business by 24%, with 18.5% of the company’s current flatbed drivers employed through the progressive learning initiative. Explore has also seen a 90% retention rate for drivers that have joined via the new scheme, with an 11% reduction in flatbed driver turnover between 2019 and 2022.
How does it work?
All new driving recruits receive a five-day induction, regardless of their experience and expertise, which includes both classroom and driving assessments. This then helps Head and his team decide on the most 4.12.23
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effective training approach for each driver, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. “We start to build a picture of that individual right from the point they come for interview, which then progresses into their induction and eventually to an individual learning plan,” Head says. “We learn what that driver needs and what sort of personality they are to match with a mentor to make sure we get the absolute best out of them and give them the biggest opportunity to progress and learn.” Following induction, Explore’s training structure uses a three-step bronze, silver and gold modular approach to ensure employees are competent and confident in all aspects of the role by completion. By operating a skill level assessment, dedicated in-house mentors can adapt the training and approach to best suit the individuals’ learning needs. Gold standard must be achieved in all units before the trainee progresses from the programme.
Clear career progression
As well as providing clear evidence of a drivers’ learning journey, the three-step advancement has proved an aspirational tool for the business, says Explore MD David Cox. For example, a driver working with a flatbed trailer may have varied levels of competence, which is where the progressive learning can upskill employees. Cox explains: “You can get one driver loading precast concrete flat on the trailer, which is probably the easiest to strap correctly. “Then there’s precast concrete loaded vertically on a frame, which is a little riskier, so they have to achieve a second level of training for that. And then they can move on to plant machinery, where they must learn how to operate, load and secure it safely. Finally, they can move right through the Special Types General Orders (STGO) categories that go up to 250 tonnes.” He adds: “So there are many different steps of training and the drivers love seeing their progression; they are always hungry for the next step.” To ensure the quality of the training meets high standards – which are robustly audited by third parties – the company employed a dedicated training team, led by Head. It also created a team of mentors, selected from Explore’s experienced drivers, to ensure the standard of training mirrored the company’s processes while also providing career development opportunities for the mentors. The mentoring scheme has proved extremely popular with drivers and Explore receives a lot of applications from employees wanting to take a step up into this role. “It takes a certain type of person to be a mentor,” Head explains, “because when you become a mentor you will have somebody in the cab with you constantly for weeks, so you have to be able to gel with that person and learn each other’s ways.”
Training resource
To co-ordinate the new approach to recruitment, an internal Accredited Training Centre was established, which is managed by the in-house learning and development team who deliver courses and allocate resources. This includes advice materials and guidance, such as specialist manuals, regular driver bulletins and supported driver rep forums to discuss any issues. Load security has been a key focus for the training 4.12.23
team, owing to the nature of the large, bulky machinery drivers must safely strap down and transport. Because Explore couldn’t find existing literature or training courses to suit its load types, it took the novel step eight years ago of creating a bespoke picture-led manual as an invaluable tool for its drivers, who are given both an electronic and a paper copy. “We brought together some very experienced senior drivers, a couple of cameramen and graphic designers,” Cox says. “And we went out with them for weeks on end and documented every single type of load that we carry, and the perfect way to strap and shape it, into a picture book.” Revision three of the manual will be published in January, as the company ensures it is keeping pace with the changing nature of machinery loads, which are often seeing an increase in size and weight.
CLEAR GOALS
Personal touch
LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Achieve a minimum of a 60% pass rate. ■ Achieve a minimum learning satisfaction of 4/5 stars. ■ A regretted turnover rate below 10%.
The company also employs a dedicated load-securing expert who the drivers can call upon for guidance at any time when out on a job. “At any point, he is available if drivers run into an issue,” explains Chris Gatheridge, Explore operations director. “He’s on the phone, he can FaceTime or WhatsApp and do whatever they need to guide them, such as ‘I would put the strap there’ or ‘move that over there’ and so on. “The level of support they are getting is second to none and the drivers love it.” He adds: “Every month, I have a call to review the issues that we have had and there will probably be around 30 issues where he has had to be called upon and coached drivers through a job. “It’s my best meeting of the month because it shows so much progress where people have had to stop and think and do something differently rather than just carrying on. This is perfect for us: they are learning and we are learning.” The new training centre has been so successful that Explore is now looking to grow the resource and share its expertise with the wider industry, providing courses, training and even mentoring for other operators. ■
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES ■ Increase the number of vehicles in the flatbed division by 10% within the first 12 months. ■ Raise standards across the fleet by recruiting an additional 5% of drivers though the mentor scheme to help manage poor performance.
THE COMPANY Explore Plant and Transport Solutions was founded in 2015 by MD David Cox. “We set up this company dedicated to do everything safer than it has ever been done before,” says Cox. “We initially handled Laing O’Rourke’s precast contract from here and then moved on to transporting plant, machinery and modular buildings for the business all around the country.” As Explore’s reputation for safety became known, the business picked up more and more work from large companies. “There are so many companies that want that safety record and want it almost guaranteed that things are going to turn up on time, undamaged and without any incidents with cyclists,” Cox explains. “Our drivers turn up in full head-to-toe PPE with all the right training, the right paperwork, the right equipment on site and make it run like clockwork.” Explore’s FORS Gold, Logistics UK, CLOCS and Allmi-accredited business has now grown to more than 200 trucks, 600 flatbed trailers, 6,000 plant hire assets, seven depots nationwide and a turnover in excess of £70m per year. Safety remains at the heart of Explore, which aims to be the “leader in haulage and workplace safety, raising standards within the industry”. Its three core mantras are safety, service and efficiency. “And that’s pretty much everything that we draw across every meeting that we have in the business,” Cox adds. MotorTransport 51