KB Event

Across the divide

Richard Smith was interviewed by MT for the rst time in his previous life as ops director of Samworth Bros after the rm won the 2017 Motor Transport Training Award for setting up its driver academy. He had been recruited into the business in 2013 after nearly 10 years with

Wincanton by then MD Richard Burnett, who then became chief executive of the RHA in 2014.

Smith worked with Burnett on five occasions over the past 30 years, joining him again as operations and commercial director of the RHA in 2017, taking the reins as MD in December 2021 when Burnett quit.

Smith completed his MBA at Chester in 2014 and had 20 years’ experience in transport and logistics with firms including TDG and Italian manufacturer Tennax before joining the RHA.

The reasons behind Burnett’s departure have never been spelled out, but it became clear that relations with transport secretary Grant Shapps had become fractious after squabbles over who was to blame for the HGV driver shortage. Eventually Burnett decided enough was enough and returned to the industry as MD of events haulier KB Event.

Our interview with Smith takes place at the RHA’s

Westminster offices in Greencoat Place, just a stone’s throw from Parliament and the DfT’s offices in Horseferry

Road. “I’ve got a working relationship with DfT,” he says.

“And I’m developing a working relationship with the secretary of state. That is progressing in my new position.

When Richard went to live the dream at KB Event he left me a legacy of lots of good things.”

Smith was appointed MD rather than chief executive because the RHA took the opportunity to restructure its management in line with a new five-year plan. That has seen the executive team slimmed down to Smith, director of policy and public affairs Rod McKenzie and HR director Laura Taylor.

“We had evolved over the last five years to the point where it was decided to move from a forward-looking, visionary CEO to a membership-up strategy with board sign off led by an MD,” explains Smith. “The two require The RHA is focusing on its role as a trade association to further the interests of members... and that means being more conciliatory. New MD Richard Smith talked through the fresh approach with Steve Hobson

very different people and where Richard was the face of the RHA, under my tenure the RHA will be represented by people like Moreton Cullimore [RHA chair], Rhys Williams [regional operations manager] and Rod McKenzie [a former editor at the BBC].

“We are starting to see in the last six months, certainly in our social media, that we are a membership-led organisation.” There is also a breath of fresh air on the board with more younger members joining. Moreton Cullimore is the youngest ever chair of the organisation and Emma Barber-Collins, of WH Barley Transport & Storage, the youngest vice chair.

“The board’s job is to make sure the exec is challenged by the membership. It was actually the exec that put the proposal on the new structure to the board to make sure the membership is really feeding into the governance of this organisation. The chairman leads the board, the MD leads the exec and I report to the chairman.”

Changing tack

The new strategy also means a shift away from the RHA being seen as a very public critic of government to a more collaborative approach of working with policy makers.

“I think we had become something of a one-trick pony,” says Smith. “We worked from the outside, and we will carry on doing that, but we need to become more public affairs focused. We have to consider the broader base of stakeholders not just keep banging on at Big Ben. We represent four nations – over 8,000 hauliers, 84 coach operators, van operators and 300 professional members.”

Another key shift is to give as much attention to regional and local government as devolved administrations gain more power and budgetary responsibility. ➜ 26

“It is important to engage with the regional metro mayors as well as Westminster,” he says. “A good example is that just before Christmas I met with Dr Nik Johnson, mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined authority, and on the back of that he is now funding 60 drivers to be trained through our newly established licence acquisition academy. They will be provided to local members in the Peterborough and Cambridge area who need drivers.

“Is that not what a trade association should do?” Another reason to focus on regional rather than central government is the need to make sure freight is not forgotten when local clean air zones are developed.

A clean fight

Manchester’s CAZ has been postponed amid warnings it would severely damage the logistics sector and while the RHA’s third campaign strand is on the environment and helping operators move to cleaner vehicles it is staunchly opposed to the current scheme.

Chris Ashley, RHA head of policy for environment and regulation, lobbied the Manchester mayor’s office hard to get the CAZ delayed. “We are confident that we will be able to influence what it looks like when it comes back,” says Smith. “It was delayed because they realised the catastrophic impact it was about to have. An operator going into Manchester three times a day would have been bankrupt by the end of the week.”

At a meeting with Dan Norris, mayor of the West of England, the Bath low emission zone was high on the agenda. “From a haulier’s perspective that is a total shambles,” says Smith. “If you drive around the outskirts of Bath you will get charged – how is that fair? We are speaking to the right people at all levels and it will be on the list when I speak to Ben [Houchen, mayor of Tees Valley] and Steve [Rotheram, Liverpool City mayor] and all the other metro mayors.”

The RHA wants Euro-5 trucks to be allowed free access to CAZs as many smaller operators are still struggling to upgrade to Euro-6 let alone the zero-emissions vehicles now required in Oxford and other cities in the future.

“Our argument is that Euro-5 is good enough at this point,” says Smith. “Just going for Euro-6 is too restrictive

SUBTLE SHIFT: Smith is leading a change in the RHA’s campaigning approach. “We want to be more considered and come up with solutions to problems,” he says and unfair. Look at the cost pressure everyone is under and now there is the risk of stranded assets with the impending arrival of electric vehicles. Who is going to buy a diesel coach now – and it will be exactly the same for the hauliers.

“There is very little difference between Euro-5 and Euro-6 and our position is that they are both less harmful than the rest of the traffic in city centres. The cost of change will be the key point going forward to 2030. We need to know what the alternative fuel is going to be now so our members can start to invest for the next 10 years.”

One problem with CAZs is that they are designed locally to address local problems with air quality, leading to a lack of consistency that causes huge headaches for national operators.

“If I’m driving a truck from Manchester to Oxford what does that look like?” asks Smith. “Ultimately it will damage the economy because we are going to drive people away from this industry. We talk about attracting drivers but it is also about attracting hauliers.”

The RHA, like the rest of the transport industry, was blindsided by the government announcement at COP26 in Glasgow in November last year that it was phasing out diesel 26-tonners by 2035 and all diesel trucks by 2040. And, like many others, the RHA says the timescale to achieve these deadlines looks unachievable.

“We support the need to head towards net zero but we need to see the road map to get there,” says Smith. “What is the alternative fuel? Because we are such a broad church we have members of all sizes and everyone wants to know where to invest.

“We suspect it might be hydrogen or a hybrid of fuels depending on the type and use of each vehicle. In cities it might be electric but that won’t work in every city so where is the roadmap for the next seven or eight years?

“It is possible we will get some easement on the deadlines but we shouldn’t rely on that.”

This is another area that Smith wants to see closer collaboration among trade associations representing the transport and logistics sector.

“We need to talk with one voice and go to government to say ‘this is what we need’,” he says. “If we don’t collaborate we are letting this industry down.”n

STRATEGY FOR GROWTH TARGETS MEMBERSHIP OF 14,000

After almost 80 years, the original name – the Road Haulage Association – has been dropped and it is now just the RHA, allowing it to bring other vehicle operators such as coaches, vans and own account into the fold. Smith does not rule out a move away from the RHA moniker at some point, but not just yet. “It is about respecting tradition while moving into a changing world for the RHA,” he says. “We are not on an attack to grow membership because I don’t need to and it would be damaging to the industry. The quality of what we deliver and the support we give the industry will ultimately bring in members. We are not multimodal – we are very much Tarmac and wheels.”

The RHA is on a firm financial footing and more than able to fund its extensive campaigning and lobbying efforts, with membership growing by 1,000 last year to 8,500 firms running 200,000 trucks.

“We have £3m in the bank, three properties worth £2.1m and we made a £770,000 surplus on £13m turnover last year,” says Smith. “All that goes back in to the investments we are making.”

However, the five-year plan does include an ambitious target to grow the membership to 14,000 by 2026 which – along with increasing income from training and other commercial activities – would see revenue grow to £17m and the surplus rise to £1m. With around 38,000 businesses holding a UK O-licence that would see the RHA representing over a third of the road transport industry.

Arguably small own account operators need guidance and legal support more than hauliers as running trucks is not their primary business. With 35,500 of the 70,000 O-licences in use in 2020/21 being restricted, that is a big market to go after.

“We recognise that in this area there are a lot of operators that need our support,” says Smith.

“During Covid-19 we had to support members to maintain and develop their businesses so we have the Business Bureau, which includes legal advice for any of our members whether they run trucks, coaches or vans. Around 80% of the issues they face are common, which is where we derived the three campaigns on skills, facilities and environment.”

Just over 40% of RHA members currently pay the extra fee to access legal services and a third of members say the main reason they joined the association was to use the RHA conditions of carriage.

“We get 1,400 calls a month to the helpdesk,” says Smith. “That’s important because we are here for the muck and bullets as well as the public affairs side.”

When it comes to campaigning and lobbying the RHA will be a constructive partner to government when necessary but under Smith there will be a less confrontational approach.

“We want to be more considered and come up with solutions to problems,” he says. “We are there to help and support as well influence on behalf of our members.

“In the last year we have been in the headlines for all kinds of reasons but from a policy perspective we have achieved a huge amount, such as the skills bootcamps, apprenticeships and the night-out allowance. Our membership see that and we bring a real relevance to the day-to-day direction of the industry.”