Transport & Logistics Issue 152

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ISSUE 152

TRANSPORT &LOGISTICS T H E

I N D U S T R Y

F O R WA R D

ISSUE 152

D R I V I N G

GB RAILFREIGHT HIGH PERFORMING, FAST GROWING TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS MAGAZINE

one of the leading rail freight service providers in the uk Page 30

: e d i s lso in

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london ambulance service Page 56

colas rail Page 18

easyjet Page 38

PLUS: EAST YORKSHIRE MOTOR SERVICES PAGE 42

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ECONOMY ON THE UP

PUBLISHER: Noah Quirke GROUP EDITOR: Daniel Stephens EDITOR: Ciaran Jarosz MAGAZINE MANAGER: Shane Kelly FEATURE MANAGERS: Stefan Drakes Eddie Hunt Dale Bain ART DIRECTOR: Steve Williams ART EDITOR: Stacey Brewer DESIGNER: Carla Taylor CONTRIBUTORS: Jeff Senior

INDUSTRIAL AND LOGISTICS PROPERTY SECTOR THRIVES IN MIDLANDS ll hail the Midlands! The industrial and logistics property sector has seen a

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resurgence in the last few months as the economy shows further signs of growth following recession. It’s great news for the market as CBRE’s latest

research shows that 4.4m sq ft of new and 2.4m sq ft of second-hand space was transacted across the region from January to September. That’s an increase of 1.6m sq ft compared with the same period in 2013.

It’s a bumper year for the sector with 6.8m sq ft of space taken up by the end of the third quarter. 13 deals were completed in the third quarter alone including 152,500 sq ft pre-let to UPS, 226,720 sq ft let at Prologis Park in Coventry and a huge 995,957 sq ft at Goodman’s Bigfoot in Daventry.

That means the availability of space is dwindling with just 800,000 sq ft of existing new space available in the region. That’s great news for property owners who

PRODUCTION: Vicki Lindsay Lisa Pollinger

have seen rents surpass £6.15 per sq ft in some places

ADMINISTRAT0R: Lisa Barrans

surpassing even last year’s excellent figures. The key to the sector’s ongoing success

ACCOUNTS: Nick Charalambous Transport & Logistics Magazine is published by: NQ Publishing, 6th Floor, Crown House Southgate, Huddersfield HD1 1DE Tel: +44 (0)1484 437300 E-mail: noah.quirke@nqpublishing.com www.tandlonline.com Transport & Logistics Magazine is published by NQ Publishing.

Company registered in England & Wales. All material is the copyright of NQ Publishing. All rights reserved. Transport & Logistics Magazine is the property of NQ Publishing. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form whole or part without the written permission of a director of NQ Publishing.

Liability: while every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information herein, or any consequence arising from it. In the case of company or product reviews or comments, these have been based upon the true and honest opinion of the Editor at the time of going to press.

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The Midlands is yet again leading the way in the sector with a strong performance is occupier demand which is of course driven by the third-party logistics, retail, manufacturing and distribution sectors.

In other news this month, I have to welcome David Cameron’s plan to improve Britain’s roads which he announced at the Confederation of British Industry. Between now and 2020, the government plans to put £15bn into road spending which could lead to an extra 100 schemes being undertaken on British roads. The focus is on “pinch points”, those problem areas that will lead to improved economic growth and a better overall transport network.

DANIEL STEPHENS GROUP EDITOR

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CONTENTS

INSIDE SECTIONS NEWS

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FREIGHT AND CARGO

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COMPANY PROFILE

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RAIL

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NATIONAL ROAD HAULAGE REVIEW

34

AWARDS

36

BAR

40

BUS AND COACH

42

PUBLIC SECTOR

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LOOKING BACK AT...

72

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GB RAILFREIGHT

FEATURES News The latest top stories

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Air Canada Cargo Adapt Evolve Advance

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Pets at Home Efficient distribution

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TEF Transport Story of success

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Colas Rail Creating tomorrows railway

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GB Railfreight Persuit of Excellence

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Williams Haulage Logistics on demand

34

Heathrow Airport Award winning success

36

Easyjet Airline of the year

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David Dale Removals First rate storage and removal

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East Yorkshire Motor Services The great success of EYMS

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D&G Bus Friendly, realiable, personal service

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anglianbus Your friendly local service

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London Ambulance Service High quality care

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Luton Borough Council Award winning dedication

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East of England Ambulance Service Investing in the future

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Scottish Ambulance Service Driving forward

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West Midlands Ambulance Service A mark of excellence

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Looking Back At...

LĂŚrdal Tunnel

72

Follow us on

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WILLIAMS HAULAGE @TandLMagazine 2

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS MAGAZINE

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CONTENTS

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COLAS RAIL

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AIR CANADA CARGO

36

HEATHROW AIRPORT

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LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE

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NEWS

REDUCE FORKLIFT TRUCK DAMAGE Like busy roads, plants and warehouses have had to squeeze more traffic into less space as the cost of real estate has risen over the years. With more product and equipment packed tighter, operating with more just-in-time logistics, the risk of lift truck impact is greater than ever today. That puts your people, production, and assets at risk.

OSHA estimates that 68,400 accidents occur annually involving powered industrial trucks. About 95,000 workers suffer some kind of injuries in these accidents, resulting in lost production, facility damage, and workers compensation claims.

“As plant managers try to bring as much rack and material into the warehouse as possible, lift trucks run tighter in the aisles, making impact more likely,” says John Ellis, a regional sales manager at Steel King Industries, a manufacturer of pallet rack and warehouse safety products. “Even the best of plant operations can expect some fork truck impact, so it is important to minimize any damage and production downtime with the proper safety equipment” adds Ellis.

Most of the damage in warehouse pallet rack occurs at the row end, where lift truck operators have to turn into the aisles, according to Ellis. If they miscalculate going around the corner, they will swing into end row pallet rack.

Rack damage is also common along an upright’s first 6” to 12” of column from the floor due to lift truck impact, particularly at tunnels, drive thrus and intersections, where maneuvering is tight. Additional damage can occur when lift truck operators push pallets, empty or with product, against end row uprights, which can bend their diagonal or horizontal bracing.

A safe, efficient answer in recent years has been preengineered, prefabricated industrial guard railing systems like Steel King Steel Guard®, which can protect a whole range of plant and warehouse applications. These applications can range from worker, production, inventory, and loading areas to walkways, aisles, mezzanines, and in-plant offices.

Standard construction of the pre-engineered railing systems consists of corrugated steel rails that bolt to square tubular columns. The columns are pre-welded to heavy steel base plates, which are anchored to the concrete floor. Anchor bolts, steel post caps and rail hardware are usually included in the package. The rails and posts are usually painted a bright safety color for easy visibility.

The pre-engineered, pre-fabricated guard railing systems are safer than in-house made since they are specifically designed for lift truck impact. They are also modular, expandable, and relocatable, and individual parts can be replaced if damaged. Nearly any rail length is available, which reduces installation time, and common lengths are stocked for quick order shipment.

Considerations include post size and gauge, base plate size and gauge, anchor size and quality, and type of finish. These considerations will also contribute to the structural strength, appearance and maintenance of the railing system.

“What you are trying to achieve is a balance between heavy construction, purchase price, value, and ease of installation,” concludes Ellis.

For more info: www.steelking.com

FEES TO RISE AS FERRIES CLEAN UP Hauliers have been warned that the ferry industry’s equivalent of a Low Emission Zone, due to start within months, will result in increased charges for crossings.

The Sulphur Directive, aimed at cleaning up the emissions of ferries operating within the North Sea and English Channel, has already led to DFDS announcing it will cancel the only direct link to Scandinavia, which carried 16,500 containers

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and trailers of freight from Harwich last year. DFDS has also launched a consultation into the closure of its Portsmouth to Le Havre route.

Stena Line said the regulations, enforced from 1 January, have forced it to increase its prices for freight customers by 15% and described the legislation as “one of the largest negative political decisions taken since tax-free shopping was discontinued”.

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS MAGAZINE

A NEW FORCE IN HEAVY HAULAGE: Specialist abnormal load hauliers Cadzow Heavy Haulage Ltd has recently taken delivery of a new flagship – a mammoth MercedesBenz Arocs SLT 4163 which is plated for Special Types operation at 155 tonnes gvw.

Built by Mercedes-Benz at Wörth plant, the world’s largest truck production facility, as a specially prepared long wheelbase 6x4, the

Arocs is powered by a 460 kW (625 hp) 15.6 litre Euro VI engine, which is capable of delivering 3000 Nm of torque from 1100 rpm. It was then transported to Mercedes–Benz Custom Tailored Trucks (CTT) at Molsheim, North Eastern France, where it was completed to 8x4 specification and the exacting needs of the customer.

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NEWS

ENHANCING SCOTTISH PRODUCTIVITY

Minister for Transport, Keith Brown MSP, has said that he values freight transport as a key enabler for delivering sustainable growth. Speaking at the FTA Transport Manager Conference, Mr Brown stated he recognised the commercial nature of freight transport operations adding: “I want to talk about how we work in partnership with the FTA and others to ensure Scotland and our freight sector is ready and able to not only meet, but benefit from whatever challenges and changes arise.”

The event heard from key speakers including Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, on the latest developments, legislation and priorities that will impact the freight industry.

Within his presentation the Minister added that ‘Scotland could not pro-

vide a supportive business environment without an efficient, effective and modern transport infrastructure.’

Margaret Simpson, FTA Country Manager for Scotland said: “FTA was delighted to see so many of our Scottish members taking the opportunity to hear first-hand from the Keith Brown and the Traffic commissioner, Joan Aitken. We look forward to working closely with their Departments to ensure our members views and requirements are represented at all levels and stages where we can help the industry. We were also very encouraged by the emphasise that the Minister gave on continued investment in the transport infrastructure and the importance of our joint partnership in helping our members face the challenges in our industry.”

HAULIERS FEAR TRACTOR RULES REVISION The Department for Transport (DfT) has given the go-ahead to increase the maximum combination weight for agricultural tractors and trailers from 24.9 tonnes to 31 tonnes, while simultaneously raising the speed limit for conventional tractors from 20mph to 25mph, despite opposition from hauliers.

The changes to the rules reflect improvements in tractor technology and are needed as UK farmers are currently at a commercial disadvantage compared with their European rivals, said the DfT. The changes will be introduced by March 2015, with

a second round of revisions to weights and speeds, that will potentially allow heavier, faster machinery on the roads, planned before harvest 2016.

A Road Haulage Association spokeswoman said that following the rise in gross weights to 44 tonnes for HGVs, it made sense that agricultural vehicles could also operate at increased capacity. “However, if limits for agricultural tractors are to be increased, farmers’ vehicles must be subject to the same legislative and maintenance standards as HGVs,” she said.

DREWRY: AIRFREIGHT RATES TO CONTINUE RISING Airfreight rates from Asia to North America and Europe are expected to rise through to the end of the year following four months of stable pricing, according to the recently expanded Sea & Air Shipper Insight report published by shipping consultancy Drewry. Drewry’s EastWest Air Freight Price Index, a

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weighted average of airfreight rates across 21 East-West trades, rose 0.7 points in September to 103.7 points. The increase in pricing brought the index up to within just 0.1 points of April’s high and 3.8 points above last year’s level, indicative of the recovery in airfreight over the past 12 months.

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NEWS

ROYAL MAIL INVESTS IN HAND-HELD TECHNOLOGY PIC FAST-CASUAL DINING MARKET SHARE GROWS Royal Mail has announced an investment of around £130 million over five years in hand-held technology to provide more flexible delivery for customers and better tracking capability.Through its Field Force Automation services, BT will work with Royal Mail to decide which hand-held device to deploy. Royal Mail will roll out the new hand-held scanners to postmen and women in 2015.The contract with BT also covers the day-to-day management of the current and new devices and

operating platform for a five-year period. Royal Mail’s mobile connectivity is provided by BT under an existing, separate contract. Within the investment, Royal Mail expects to finalise a contract in the coming weeks for the supply of software applications for the devices.

The five-year investment is part of Royal Mail’s IT transformation programme, a key objective of which is to support the delivery of our parcels strategy. This includes enabling Royal Mail to be more flexi-

ble and customer responsive.

Luis Alvarez, Chief Executive Officer of BT Global Services, said: “We’re passionate about helping leading organisations like Royal Mail blend the latest technologies with their people's skills and experience to get the best business results - something we call the art of connecting.

The new hand-held devices, provided and managed by BT, will transform parcel tracking, helping Royal Mail create an even better connection with its customers.”

UK HAULIERS ‘PAY £12K MILITARY DEPLOYED MORE IN FUEL DUTY’ AFTER CARGO PLANE

Political parties are being urged to lower fuel duty rates by the nation’s hauliers.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) says lower duty rates “are a winner for investment, growth and jobs”.

Fuel represents nearly 40% of operating costs - for every litre of diesel that goes into an HGV tank, the fuel duty element accounts for nearly 58p.

“Road haulage is a key service industry to the economy and relies almost entirely on diesel, yet diesel duty

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remains by far the highest in the EU,” said RHA chief executive Richard Burnett. “If we are to gain an edge over our European counterparts we have to see a 3ppl fuel duty cut.

“UK hauliers pay £12,000 a year or more duty per truck than most of their continental competitors. That damages the competitiveness of UK businesses and pushes up prices, it means increased pressure on cashflow and makes it more difficult to fund investment.”

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS MAGAZINE

DIVERTED TO STANSTED

Military jets were deployed on a precautionary basis, after a Latvian registered cargo was diverted to Stansted airport.

The diversion was due to a loss of communication with the aircraft, which landed safely at Stansted.

The police have spoken to all

three people on board, and it was established that the short loss of communication was due to a change in airspace jurisduction.

Essex Police are not investigating the incident, and the aircraft will be able to continue its journey to Birmingham when it is ready.

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LEGAL LOGISTICS

OVERTIME SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CALCULATING HOLIDAY PAY

mployers will no doubt have seen the headlines in respect of a decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Bear and others v Fulton and others (and conjoined cases). The EAT concluded that the non-guaranteed overtime payments in question in these appeals were intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks required under the workers’ contracts of employment and therefore must be taken into account when calculating holiday pay.

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WHAT DOES THIS DECISION MEAN? Employees are entitled to “normal remuneration” when taking leave, so both voluntary and compulsory overtime should be taken into account in calculations for the four weeks of holiday pay that employees are entitled to. Note that the decision does not apply to the additional 1.6 weeks of statutory leave that employees are entitled to in the UK.

WHAT ABOUT BACKDATED PAYMENTS? This is the important part for employers. Previous concerns that claims under the Working Time Directive could be potentially backdated to 1998 when the UK adopted the directive, have been dispelled.

Instead, the judgment significantly limits the scope for retrospective holiday pay claims under domestic law. The EAT has held that as the law provides for a three month period in which to bring an unlawful deduction from wages claim, any gap in a series of deductions of longer than three months would extinguish the claims for deductions concerning holiday pay that was paid beyond that three month period. Effectively, in practice this is likely to mean employees can only claim for leave during the past year in the Employment Tribunal.

WHAT DO YOU DO NOW? It is very likely that the EAT decision will be appealed at the Court of Appeal and therefore it is arguable that it may still be premature for employers to be amending their holiday pay arrangements or entering into negotiations to settle backdated compensation for employees.

Employers do of course have the option of calculating holiday pay going forward to include non-guaranteed overtime and other payments which are intrinsically and directly linked to work, in order to stave off any future claims.

Arguably, any payment made to a worker for a period of holiday that includes non-guaranteed overtime will break a series of deductions so the sooner an employer pays holiday pay which is calculated to include nonguaranteed overtime pay the sooner it will prevent workers from being able to bring a claim based on a series of deductions including holiday going back potentially many months - depending on the frequency of the employee's holidays If an employer is approached by a worker regarding the underpayment of holidays there are a number of ways in which the matter can be dealt with, however employers should seek legal advice on a case by case basis before taking any definitive action.

If you do need any legal advice on either regulatory compliance, employment, commercial or property matters please speak to Rafia Ahmad Tel: 08450 575 111 or email rafia.ahmad@backhouses.co.uk www.tandlonline.com

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FREIGHT AND CARGO: AIR CANADA CARGO

ADAPT EVOLVE ADVANCE www.aircanada.com/cargo Telephone: 001 5144222290

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FREIGHT AND CARGO: AIR CANADA CARGO

Air Canada Cargo implements innovative techniques to deliver a first rate service and ensure high customer satisfaction reputation for being first with initiatives is reinforced by Air Canada Cargo’s push to go electronic and eliminate paper. That’s combined with an insistence on completeness and dependability that, as Director of Operational Strategy Mike Morey confirms, can delay release: “We don’t want to come out with our e-booking solution until it offers everything. “We can do general commodity airfreight but want to offer special commodities. A benefit to customers is the ability to do specialised freight; there’s a lot involved in that so we want to automate the process.”

Typical of the emphasis on high standards is Cargo 2000 (C2K), which aims to implement quality air cargo standards worldwide, and where Air Canada has been involved from day one. That will introduce more rigour in operations through a formal measurement process of performance quality.

“One challenge is to determine how we evolve,” remarks Mike. “We have to adapt to changes in the regulatory environment. From a whole supply chain perspective, air mode not only has to maintain and enhance its relevance, we have to quantify and demonstrate to shippers and consignees the value to them.”

The intention is to make the process transparent to shippers so they can see where their goods are and how they’re moving. A main feature is a Master Operating Plan that is accepted as an IATA recommended practice.

That provides a clear mapping of each step and interaction between them, identifying potential bottlenecks and problems so they can be overcome, enabling customs and security data to be provided in advance and gener-

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ally delivering cost and time saving benefits.

Involvement with C2K is part of the process of continuous improvement that involves several internal developments. These include the creation of a customer experience department and a push for automation.

“We’re always looking for more efficient ways of dealing with operational challenges,” says Mike.

Examples are a smart phone app to update warehouse transactions, the imminent implementation of RFID technology and a ramp tracking system that minimises exposure of special commodities to the elements when transferring at the airline’s hubs. That’s important when specialised freight is part of the wide range of commodities carried on Air Canada’s scheduled passenger services to 158 worldwide destinations.

At the main Toronto hub, there’s an automated import prioritising system enabling operatives to identify which pallets need to broken down first and moved to the correct pick-up location. Mike says: “Technical and procedural advancements are starting to come together.

We’re taking aircraft acquisitions almost every month that have a better and more consistent capacity so we’re not constantly dealing with variations in lift, giving us the best possible handling and consistency.”

They enable the cargo operation to provide dependability and consistency that are measurable and provable.

And, believes Mike, they give Air Canada Cargo the edge: “We don’t promise what we can’t deliver and we help to streamline the process. If we can guarantee a consignment will be there at a particular time, it gives the predictability of pick-ups and deliveries, enabling customers to manage costs.”

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COMPANY PROFILE: PETS AT HOME

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COMPANY PROFILE: PETS AT HOME

EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION Pressure on the distribution network drives operational efficiency within Pets at Home

plan to open a further 150 stores over the next three years is likely to put additional pressure on the distribution network of Pets at Home. However, it’s part of an ongoing expansion programme to which Head of Distribution Terry Siddle is fully accustomed and there’s a tried and tested system to handle the increasing load. He says: “My job is to get the product from the supplier to the store and to do that we have two distribution centres, one in Stoke and another in Northampton. We have our own in-house dedicated fleet and we use a network of third party hauliers.”

Pets at Home started 22 years ago and now has more than 6,000 employees and 363 stores across the UK. It is the UK’s largest pet shop chain, selling a wide variety of pets and all the

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accessories and food they’re likely to need as well as a range of services.

To cover the growing demands of an expanding store network, the distribution operation has had to adapt. That’s included the opening of a second distribution centre in Northampton to add to the existing one in Stoke. It’s also, as Terry recounts, led to an alteration to the way distribution is run: “The last big change was that we took the dedicated operations in Stoke and Northampton in-house. Previously, that was managed by CM Downton and we’ve taken that in-house in the last twelve months.

“We originally only had one distribution centre in Stoke but the store growth got such that we got the second distribution centre in Northampton, which is now two years old. We also have a procurement office in Hong Kong that does a lot of consolidation of the contain-

ers into the distribution centre that is run directly from the factory in the Far East, which has reduced our import bills significantly.”

The outcome of that is the company has a fleet of 35 tractor units and about seventy trailers, which are mainly used to deliver to stores that are within two to three hours drive of the two distribution centres. Beyond that, the company trunks products to third party bases, from where they’re delivered onwards to the stores.

“We pick and load the trailer, then it goes to the out-base, they swap the tractor units and the haulage company’s tractor units takes it on to store,” explains Terry.

The arrangement results in an efficient distribution operation that’s currently limited to moving products to stores. The main priority when transporting pets is the welfare of the animals and so that’s currently left to the breeders

“WE HAVE OUR OWN IN-HOUSE DEDICATED FLEET AND WE USE A NETWORK OF THIRD PARTY HAULIERS”

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RECOVERY:PROFILE: COMPANY RAC PETS AT HOME who can provide the specialist conditions they need.

However, there is a trial underway with a Scottish breeder where vehicles from the Pets at Home fleet are being used to test the practicability of delivering the animals. Terry says: “We are driven by animal welfare more than any other consideration. For the rest of the products that we handle through our network, we’re more concerned with efficiency generally and, if we can get efficiency by consolidating supplier loads or store deliveries, that’s what we do.”

Part of the reason for the trial is to make the most effective use of the fleet. And although the bulk of the work is distributing products out to the stores, the vehicles are also employed in other ways to avoid empty running, such as transporting goods form suppliers into the distribution centres. “About half the products are imported so they come in on containers, mainly from the Far East but also from Eastern Europe or America,” remarks Terry. “We also have to balance stock availability between the two distribution centres so we do some inter-depot trunking and move back loads around. We will move products in the South East that need to be delivered to the Stoke distribution centre and distribution into the North of England and Scotland. That gives us trunking close to towns as well as store deliveries.”

Overall efficiency is helped by the use of technology that is currently being upgraded. The company presently uses Pendragon to generate and manage schedules, a warehousing system from JDA Software

and is going through the process of replacing the vehicle tracking and management system it inherited from Downton with Microlise to run the transport.

That all contributes to the attainment of the company’s environmental targets, with a green car policy promoting low carbon vehicles including hybrids in the car fleet and a Green Paws Plan that targets every part of the business with reducing Pets at Home’s carbon footprint.

Although the Northampton distribution centre is relatively new, it was a speculative build with standard features. Some of these were upgraded when Pets at

“WE ARE DRIVEN BY ANIMAL WELFARE MORE THAN ANY OTHER CONSIDERATION” Home moved in, including the use of LED replacement lighting to give better energy efficiency and longer life for the bulbs.

The pressure on the distribution system is unlikely to lessen in the foreseeable future. The latest is an 8,643 square foot store in Hertford where £350,000 has been invested. Terry says: “The expansion drives the volumes in distribution. We are constantly looking at the range and resources, and they determine required changes. It’s really an ongoing drive for improved efficiency.”

www.petsathome.com Telephone: 0800 3284204

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COMPANY PROFILE: TEF TRANSPORT

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COMPANY PROFILE: TEF TRANSPORT

STORY OF SUCCESS

When Managing Director Andy McLaughlin purchased TEF Transport he was convinced he could rise to the challenge and turn the struggling company into a success

ustomer service and quality are synonymous with TEF Transport, the Scarboroughbased haulage and logistics provider. Managing director Andy McLaughlin took the helm at TEF after buying the company from its original founders seven years ago. It was at TEF that the managing director had his first driving job twenty two years earlier, amassing plenty of experience along the way.

After leaving school at sixteen Andy joined the army (Royal Corps of Transport). “I don’t regret the decision because I learned a lot in six years of service and I travelled extensively. I got the best driver training available, as well as a solid grounding in discipline and values. When I left the army in 1990, I joined TEF Transport as a driver,” says Andy.

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TEF was originally set up in 1970 by John Gill with a couple of Ford Transits (hence its abbreviated name formed from Transit Express Freight) to offer express delivery services. “By the time I joined in 1990, the business was being run by John Gill’s son, Jonathan, who was running a fleet of approximately fifteen maximum weight artics. It was my first commercial driving job and taught me a great deal about commercial haulage. After four years, I left TEF to join the Co-op Dairies in Whitby as a class 1 driver. After two years, I passed my CPC exams and sought a management role, taking an opportunity to rejoin TEF as Transport Manager.”

On rejoining TEF, Andy took up a management position. This gave him hands-on experience of dealing directly with customers and staff, managing a fleet and running a business. “It helped that I had been a driver and could appre-

ciate the day-to-day issues they faced,” he says.

After four years, Andy left the company to join a large commercial printer as Logistics Manager. Over subsequent years TEF shrunk considerably, with the company stagnating due to a lack of investment and commitment from the management. For Andy it represented a major challenge going back and attempting to revitalise the business.

“When I bought TEF it had three tractor units, four trailers and a small rented warehouse, with annual revenues of less than half a million. The business had no assets, but had a core of motivated staff and a good name in the market. Though it was going nowhere fast, I was confident that I could rise to the challenge and turn TEF into a success story.

“In the first eighteen months I did everything myself, with the sole aim of building a solid core

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COMPANY PROFILE: TEF TRANSPORT business. My strategy was to develop a more comprehensive range of logistics services to offer to local businesses. I also realised that waiting for customers to find us was not the way, so I got out and about to spread the word.

There are some great businesses in the area that need professional logistics partners and new contracts came in that allowed us to grow and add new talent to the business.

“We have built a superb team and the original founders’ daughter still works in the business nearly forty years after it was established.”

The company has made major steps forward over the last few years, now with a state of the art purpose built logistics depot, thirty-five tractor units, forty-six trailers and seven rigid vehicles to its fleet.

“The investment we have made over the past six years has been in excess of £6 million. We keep things as lean as possible in all areas of the business.This means that the departmental managers know exactly what is going on with every aspect under their control at all times. Though it means working long hours, the benefits for clients are clear.We can always give accurate and speedy answers if customers need to check

progress on anything. Our single largest investment was the new purpose built logistics depot which includes offices, 35,000 feet of food grade warehousing space, and garage facilities with all servicing, MOT's and repairs carried out in house. All of which lends itself to an efficient operation and offers room for expansion,” explains Andy.

Part of company’s success has come from its use of telematics. For this TEF has utilised the expertise of Gtrak. Founded in 2009, Gtrak is an in-house developed GPS Tracking solution, fleet management and business management system.

With a combined 20 years of expertise in the Telematics industry, the company has been at the forefront of pioneering a bespoke easy to use yet powerful, GPS tracking system.

Gtrak has strived for excellence and has grown from a fledgling business to an operation with a multinational presence supplying

to customers worldwide, most notably in Europe, USA and South Africa.

Its solutions help many commercial and government organisations reduce their fleet’s operational costs including: wages, overtime bills, and fuel costs. Whilst increasing productivity, efficiency, customer service and health and safety.

The bottom line for fleet management is performance and cost; achieving maximum results under budgetary constraints. Importantly, Gtrak’s software can be tailored by its specialist development team to suit specific business and operational requirements.

TEF Transport Ltd. Great Hill, Scarborough Business Park, Scarborough, YO11 3TT www.tefltd.co.uk Tel: 01723 581259

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REVOLUTIONARY VEHICLE TRACKING Founded in 2009, Gtrak is an in-house developed GPS Tracking solution, fleet management & business management system. With a combined 20 years of expertise in the Telematics industry, we have been at the forefront of pioneering a bespoke easy to use yet powerful, GPS tracking system.

Gtrak has strived for excellence and has grown from a fledgling business to an operation with a multinational presence supplying to customers worldwide, most notably in Europe, USA and South Africa.

Our Solutions help many commercial and government organisations reduce their fleet’s operational costs including: wages, overtime bills, and fuel costs. Whilst increasing productivity, efficiency, customer service and health and safety. The bottom line for fleet management is performance and cost; achieving maximum results under budgetary constraints.

Our software can be tailored by our specialist development team to suit your specific business and operational requirements.

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RAIL: COLAS RAIL

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CREATING TOMORROW’S RAILWAY Colas’ growth shows no signs of slowing after new contract wins with Network Rail

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RAIL: COLAS RAIL olas Rail is owned by the Bouygues Group, which is active in more than eighty countries and is the world’s second biggest construction business as well as being active in television, telecommunications and other industry sectors.

Colas itself is a world leader in the construction and maintenance of road, air, rail and maritime transport infrastructure and has two rail businesses, Colas Rail SA in France and Colas Rail Ltd in the UK.

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funding period.

Following a competitive procurement process, Colas Rail has been successful in winning work across Kent and Sussex/Anglia to deliver conventional plain line track works worth around £75m in total over the five-year period.

Switch and crossings (S&C) renewals and installation will be delivered using an ‘alliance’ approach, combining the skills of Colas Rail, URS and Network Rail. The Colas Rail URS alliance has successfully won work on the south alliance areas (Anglia/Kent and Sussex/Western, Wales

WE ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDING A HIGH QUALITY SERVICE TO NETWORK RAIL IN AN ALLIANCE APPROACH Recent successes include the appointment of Colas Rail as a track delivery partner for Network Rail’s £800m investment programme.

The company was selected by Network Rail as one of the preferred bidders for the delivery of its £800m conventional track renewals and enhancements programme for the 2014-19

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and Wessex/LNW South) worth in the region of £400m over the next ten years.

Elsewhere, Colas Rail has agreed to work with Network Rail for freight haulage under a contract worth approximately £90m. Colas Rail Freight will provide haulage for daily Network Services and Possession Services mainly for the

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Western and Southern regions. Additional services to Eastern and Northern regions including Scotland could also be provided. The Network Rail haulage contract, which this contract is a part of, is the largest freight contract in the United Kingdom.

Stephen Haynes, Managing Director of Colas Rail Services, said: “We are delighted that Network Rail has awarded us with a significant part of the locomotive haulage contract, providing the vital engineering trains for rail infrastructure maintenance and enhancements. We are committed to providing a high quality service to Network Rail in an alliance approach given that we benefit from being a major Infrastructure contractor for rail maintenance, track renewals and enhancements.”

The requirements of the new contract and the growing demand on its rail freight business will be satisfied by the acquisition of 10 new Class 70 locomotives announced earlier in the year.

Colas Rail has also begun a new contract to move aviation fuel for new client Air BP. The 12month contract will see Colas Rail Freight moving aviation fuel from the INEIOS refinery at Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth, Scotland, to Prestwick airport, Linkswood near Dundee in

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Tayside, and the Rolls Royce factory in Derby. Colas Rail won the contract through competitive tender and will be running up to four trains per week, depending on requirements. It will use VTG rail tank cars leased

by Air BP to transport the fuel. In a further boost to the local economy, Colas Rail has recruited extra staff in Scotland to ensure a dedicated team is on-hand to serve Air BP’s need.

This comes as the company announced the appointment of Richard Fostier as Chief Executive Officer of Colas Rail in the UK. Fostier has been with Colas Rail since 2007, most recently as President and CEO of Colas Rail in Asia and Business Development Director of Colas Rail Group. Before Colas Rail, Richard held a leading foreign trade role for the French

COLAS RAIL HAS ENORMOUS OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD OF IT, BOTH IN THE UK AND OVERSEAS government with particular emphasis on transportation infrastructure.

On Fostier getting the post, he said: “I am delighted to be joining Colas Rail in the UK as Chief Executive Officer. Colas Rail has enormous opportunities ahead of it, both in the UK and overseas. I look forward to working with Board colleagues and the talented and experienced teams across the business to help build on the outstanding work for clients upon which the company’s success is based.”

Fostier’s appointment arrives at a time of innovation for Colas Rail. For example, the company, along with UK Power Networks Services, is using its core skills and expertise to deliver a total rail electrification

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solution to meet the forthcoming programme of infrastructure enhancement through CP5 and beyond. This unique collaboration of resources will enable the new organisation to apply its significant experience in the safe and timely delivery of rail infrastructure projects and to work with Network Rail in delivering its forthcoming efficiency challenges.

Indeed, with Colas Rail’s jointly delivered Track Renewals business achieving BS 11000 certification for Collaborative Business Relationships, the company is showing its abilities to innovate while maintaining industry leading service quality. The prestigious British Standard, which is being championed by Network Rail, recognises a company’s ability to work in a collaborative manner with clients, partners and key stakeholders to drive continual improvement and deliver greater value for money.

Colas Rail is one of the first rail infrastructure organisations to be awarded BS 11000, says Richard Watts, Operations Manager. He com-

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ments: “Track Renewals joins Colas Rail Projects in securing BS 11000, which is fast becoming a prerequisite for rail sector contracts. It provides the industry with a strategic framework for developing contractual relationships which deliver improved levels of performance and cost efficiencies throughout the supply chain.”

BS 11000 certification is seen as official recognition of the way Track Renewals has always done business, says Richard Watts: “In addition to cementing the way we already operate in terms of building successful collaborative business relations, this accreditation provides a springboard to the future for Colas Rail and the UK rail industry as a whole.”

With core competencies in the design, build and management of track renewal projects, Colas Rail’s jointly delivered Track Renewals business is now among the top performing contractors in this demanding sector of the UK’s rail infrastructure.This expertise is reflected in a proven track record in delivering projects safely,

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on time, on budget and to outstanding standards of quality and value.

Aiding these endeavours is Colas Rail’s maintenance capability. This was recently enhanced through the acquisition of Pullman Rail Ltd, the Cardiff based engineering business which is at the forefront of rail vehicle maintenance in the UK. Pullman Rail enjoys a long-standing reputation for the quality of its engineering, its timely delivery and competitive prices. The company is a key employer in South Wales with a national reach.

This acquisition significantly advances Colas Rail’s current capability to maintain its growing rail fleet. In addition, it enables Colas Rail to further expand into the rail vehicle maintenance market for train owners and train operators.

Pullman Rail’s Canton depot, located close to Cardiff Central station is a prime asset serving the entire UK rail network. It augments Colas Rail’s existing infrastructure providing another key operational hub to develop its already significant presence in Wales.

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RAIL: COLAS RAIL Colas Rail plans to further grow the Pullman Rail business, building on the many well-established customer relationships as well as developing new ones. The business itself will continue to trade as Pullman Rail and will carry on completing current and planned improvements to its facilities. This will enable further development in the scope of services for passenger, freight and plant rolling stock. These developments will increase the capacity and reduce throughput time for bogie, wheel set, rail vehicle overhaul, refurbishments and upgrades.

Stephen Haynes, Managing Director, Colas Rail Services commented: “With this acquisition, Colas Rail benefits from a significant enhancement to our rail vehicle maintenance capability.

Pullman Rail has excellent facilities and a highly skilled workforce. Also, Pullman Rail benefits

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from the resources and experience of a leading international rail company focused on developing a portfolio of rail services for the UK.” Charles-Albert Giral, CEO, Colas Rail Europe commented: “With this acquisition, we are further strengthening our already extensive rail expertise and deepening our ability to offer a one-stop-shop to our clients. We are also confirming our commitment to investment in the UK and our particular focus on Wales”.

Colas Rail is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of railway infrastructure services and is an award-winning specialist in the design and construction of all forms of railway across Europe and the UK. Colas Rail is constantly looking to the future of the railway industry with continued enthusiasm and a commitment to improve everything it

does. To deliver the challenges set by a rapidly changing railway environment it constantly seeks to adapt its behaviour and culture in order to meet and exceed the expectations of its clients and stakeholders. It has therefore focused the business on providing best in class performance in key areas, which is demonstrated in the way that it delivers rail infrastructure projects.

Colas’ approach to project delivery is to challenge the status quo through value management and value engineering, offering innovative solutions, whilst ensuring that output quality is guaranteed first time every time.

All of this is achieved through Colas’ greatest asset, its people. With this unity of purpose, it will play its part in providing 21st century railway systems.

The UK end of the business undertakes a

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number of contracts for Network Rail, carrying out track renewals, construction work and providing various turnkey solutions such as electrification and signalling work through its project division. To support this work, it's got a rail services operation that provides the plant fleet for the maintenance and construction operations and, increasingly, delivers a national freight service.

WE'RE LOOKING AT WAYS TO DO THINGS MORE CHEAPLY, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CITIES WHERE LORRIES ARE BEING MORE AND MORE RESTRICTED

www.colasrail.co.uk Telephone: 020 7593 6353

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As Head of Freight Simon Ball recounts, the freight service really started to take off only recently: “Colas bought Amec-Spie Rail, which had a small freight operation originally moving logs from the West Highlands and Carlisle down to North Wales for a company called Kronospan and so we inherited a freight business. My background is that I had been with EWS and had previous experience with DB Schenker in freight operations. So we made the decision to expand that side because it works well with our partners and we've already got a train operators licence.”

Since that time, the freight business has expanded tremendously, helped by the fact that Colas Rail has hun-

dreds of drivers with route knowledge as well as the freight operator’s licence. The drivers move both the track maintenance machines and freight while there's also a control centre and engineering base at Rugby.This availability of all the necessary infrastructure meant the expansion of the freight business was a natural progression and fitted in well with the maintenance side.

“There's a lot of synergy between the two businesses,” comments Simon. “We assist them in terms of moving plant around. We might do work for Network Rail moving infrastructure trains, ballast and track materials on some of our track renewal sites. So it really fits with the rest of the business.

Expected increases in freight traffic over the next thirty years could cause an extra 1.5 million lorry journeys, so there is scope for more business. The situation means that Colas Rail has a major opportunity to boost its freight business and is making strenuous efforts to reap the benefits. It is increasingly looking at multi-modal operations and, although it won't handle the road transport end of the activity, it is working with road transport companies because a lot of the big road hauliers are now looking for rail partnerships.

“Our main competitor is road and we want to be as flexible as possible,” confirms Simon. “At the moment, rail freight tends to suit block trains, containers, coal or steel. But we're looking at ways to do things more cheaply, especially going between cities where lorries are being more and more restricted.”

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RAIL: GB RAILFREIGHT

PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE High performing, fast growing with an encouraging working environment and a keen focus on quality, it’s no wonder GB Railfreight is one of the leading rail freight service providers throughout the UK 30

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porting a turnover in excess of £100m, GB Railfreight is one of the highest performing and fastest growing rail freight companies in the UK and consistently sets an example for other operators to follow.

Founded in 1999, the company has enjoyed incredible growth since establishment and now employs over 600 highly-skilled individuals across the UK, offering rail services for: biomass, construction, coal, intermodal, infrastructure, petrochecmicals, terminal operations, automotive and much more.

Through heavy involvement in areas such as infrastructure and aggregates for Network Rail and Crossrail respectively, the company has proven itself capable of taking on enormous projects and supporting an array of noteworthy clients. Taking a leading position alongside infrastructure and aggregates for GB Railfreight's key

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areas, GB Railfreight displays considerable expertise in intermodal as Julie Garn, Intermodal Manager explains: “Intermodal accounts for about a quarter of GB Railfreight's turnover. We operate only out of Felixstowe currently on deep-sea business, but we're also heavily involved in the Channel Tunnel since Eurotunnel took over.”

With the backing of Eurotunnel, GB Railfreight has been able to source an additional 37 locomotives within the year and has invested heavily in its people, in order to take on greater workloads and to pursue excellence in service standards consistently. To achieve such standards, the company also undertakes targeted investment into wagons which are tailored to specific upcoming or current jobs so that it can offer a tailored and “Perfect fit” service. Of recent note would be the company's investment into Ecofret wagons, an initiative which will allow the company to simultaneously improve

operational efficiencies, minimise carbon emissions and allow the company to take on increased workloads.

As a state-of-the-art container wagon, the Ecofret wagon is able to carry 9ft 6in high, 40ft and 20ft boxes on W10 gauge cleared routes.

Through maximising the amount of boxes which can be carried within a given train length, the Ecofret wagon provides an economically and environmentally sound alternative to tradition wagons and is expected to allow GB Railfreight to expand even further whilst minimising the negative impacts on the environment of doing so. In addition to bringing on board Ecofret wagons, the company has also worked hard on the lengthening of trains to achieve similar goals to date, as Julie explains: “In 2013 we added in the equivalent of 16 wagons per day to our services out of Felixstowe. That is almost two thirds of a train and by default, train lengthening means that

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you're using less locomotives to pull more cargo. In that respect it's obviously been a positive. We're now running the longest trains that anyone can out of Felixstowe and with the Ecofret we'll just get out mix better so that we can respond far better to our customers.”

Although GB Railfreight has an incredible reputation for service standards, quality, efficiency and altogether excellent business practice, Julie explains further how the culture and environment of the business truly sets it apart: “It boils down to the people we employ and their approach to work. Here at GBRf, we don’t think of ourselves as rail hauliers in the general sense, but rather as providers of a service from A to B, which is bespoke to a customer's needs, and that happens to use rail to achieve that end. Furthermore, we pride ourselves on being a reliable supplier, something that was acknowledged in the Golden Whistle Awards 2014.

“The whole culture of the company is very positive and yes-minded. We have some people with us now in Felixstowe who have been elsewhere in the haulage sector and, during the interview, they've shown that spark in being quite unique in how they approach things. It's almost about how GBRf is as an environment and how it encourages you to think outside of the box.

While GBRf does an awful lot in training people to do

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their job, central to our ethos is the importance of being part of a team and being empowered.......you're allowed to spread your wings and fly here.”

Looking to the future, the company has already enjoyed massive growth and has taken a position as one of the leading rail freight service providers throughout the UK and this does not look to change – with new developments and investments into taking that service to the next level as well as increasing workloads.

Commenting on the continued success of the company,

THE WHOLE CULTURE OF THE COMPANY IS VERY POSITIVE AND YES-MINDED ...YOU'RE ALLOWED TO SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY HERE. Julie adds: “One of the things that we've achieved was that we've put orders in for over a thousand trains, which is a landmark for us. From a GBRf point of view we have to acknowledge that MSC have been vital in giving us the confidence to work within the intermodal world – they buy three train services from us per day, five days per week and without them, I doubt that we'd have invested into more services out of here.”

www.gbrailfreight.com Tel: 020 7904 3393

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RAIL: GB RAILFREIGHT

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NATIONAL ROAD HAULAGE REVIEW: WILLIAMS HAULAGE

LOGISTICS ON DEMAND Williams Haulage has been serving the customer with reliable solutions for more than four decades

or more than 40 years, Williams Haulage has built up a wealth of experience and an enviable reputation for reliability. Supplying a range of logistics solutions to a variety of clients operating within the UK, Europe and further afield, the company has established long-running relationships with customers who have become accustomed to its unrelenting cmmitment to first-rate standards.

From its base in the heart of rural North Wales’ agricultural community,Williams Haulage is exceptionally well placed to satisfy the logistical needs of its clients. And, through continual investment, it has been able to enhance the service it can offer through a range of modern equipment and IT to provide a highly customer-focussed serv-

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ice, optimising the efficiency of the customer’s supply chain with a keen eye on driving costs down.

Sophisticated e-reporting also allows for real-time monitoring of the status of deliveries, but the company recognises the important of the human element in all its endeavours.That’s why Williams Haulage values customer service by working closely with clients, being adaptable to needs and developing solutions to individual requirements.

“When a customer needs their goods moving to a tight schedule, we do absolutely everything that we can to make that happen. Williams Haulage really do go the extra mile for customers. We’ve built a business on it,” says Huw Williams, Managing Director.

This keen eye for detail has also been witnessed in

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NATIONAL ROAD HAULAGE REVIEW: WILLIAMS HAULAGE the company’s endeavours to reduce its impact on the environment and lower its carbon footprint.

“Reducing carbon emissions should be at the forefront of all haulage companies in this day and age. Our fleet replacement programme ensures we stay up to date with the latest technology,” says Transport Operations Manager Eric Speed.

“The ever increasing fuel costs are a major factor in finding solutions to fuel economy. We have, for instance, installed TomTom telematics in all fleet vehicles which gives us a real time view of what truck is better suited to collect goods from the nearest customer. This enables us to reduce empty running fuel waste and maximise the fleet and drivers’ working time. Fleet telematics enables us to look at each individual driver and their performance in real time. We can tell them to switch the engine off if they are found to be idling excessively, for example.”

While the company hasn’t yet introduced eco-driving into its training regime, it is considering incentives for driver performance. “Drivers have attended, as part of their DCPC training, a module on economic driving practices. We also have in our main office a visual display of the current and overall scores of all drivers. This gives them a competitive edge to try to improve their individual performance.” Eric says the company continues to monitor its emissions and will endeavour to make further improvement and carbon reductions as an ongoing process.

www.williamshaulage.co.uk Tel: 01490 412576

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AWARDS: HEATHROW

SUCCESS FOR HEATHROW

Heathrow Airport’s vision of being a world class airport with world class facilities is ever closer after winning ‘UK Airport of the Year’ and ‘Best Airport Terminal’ n winning UK Airport of the Year for Terminal 5 as the Best Airport Terminal at the National Transport Awards, Heathrow Airport has proven not only to itself, but also to the nation that is a role model of excellence in facilities, service and overall airport standards. John HollandKaye, CEO for Heathrow Airport commented on this tremendous achievement: “We are really pleased to be recognised by the industry and by passengers. Our vision is to

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be a world class airport with world class facilities and we have spent £11bn transforming Heathrow in the last ten years.This, combined with a real focus on service is one of the reasons why Terminal 5 has been voted the world’s best terminal.”

Having recently opened a new facility for passengers with reduced mobility, dubbed The Lichfield Suite, Heathrow has been able to offer additional support for those with severe physical and, or learning disabilities who may struggle

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with the airport's traditional facilities.

Commenting on the new addition of this facility, Mr. Holland-Kaye states: “This facility will be of real benefit to some of our passengers with a disability and is a great addition to Terminal 5.”

In addition to the new suite, Heathrow has also installed brand new, automatic gates in immigration along with a brand new carriage in the Track Transit System for passengers travelling between Terminal 5 A, B and C to try and improve the overall resilience of the service and

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AWARDS: HEATHROW to improve efficiency and get individuals from A to B that much faster.

Although these developments highlight Heathrow's determination to consistently improve its service and facilities, it doesn't stop here for Heathrow and as Mr. Holland-Kaye explains, there is far more in the pipeline for developments at the airport: “In Terminal 5, we are currently embarking on a twelve month program of retail improvements adapting to changing customer requirements. We will increase space for passengers in popular areas, add more comfortable seating

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with soft furnishings and refresh the shopping areas. Improvements to the departure lounge will be complete by June next year and will include two exciting new restaurants and six highly sought after brands to the terminal following requests from our passengers.

“We are also expanding the security concourses and installing 2 new escalators to improve the journeys of our connecting passengers. Working closely with our airline partners, we will also introduce further technology to make the end to end passenger journey as seamless as possible.”

With record highs of positive customer feedback, the number of customers giving the airport an “Excellent” or “Very Good” review have sky-rocketed by 80% as a result of the recent developments and facilities added to the airport. Looking to the future, Heathrow will aim to build upon its success in winning Best Airport Terminal and continue to expand, continue to improve standards of service and continue to stay ahead of the global competition as the one of the greatest airports throughout the world and as a representative of Britain on a global scale.

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AWARDS: EASYJET

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR eing named Airline of the Year is no small achievement and easyJet, one of the most recognisable and competitive airlines operating in the UK, has worked hard to live up to its reputation and win such a prestigious award: “We were delighted to be awarded airline of the year as it's testament to the hard work all of our employees who make easyJet what it is today,” explained Paul Moore, Director of Communications.

Operating the number one air transport network throughout Europe, easyJet has a leading presence on Europe's top 100 routes flying into the largest, primary airports across the continent. Now serving approximately 64m customers annually, easyJet plays not only a crucial role in the direct transportation of these customers but also supports the airports and local economies on each side by increasing business and tourism traffic at leading destinations and major airports throughout Europe.

When asked what it is that truly sets easyJet apart from its competitors, Paul explains: “We believe the combination of our friendly service, comprehensive network and low fares sets us aside from the competition.” With easyJet, every decision made, be it big or small is made with the needs and concerns of the customer at hand and this is one of the major reasons for which people come back to the airline time and time again.

A key example of this is the airline’s move to offer allocated seating in 2012, an initiative which was developed to encourage more and more

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With a focus on customer concerns, friendly service and a keen interest to reduce carbon emissions it is no wonder that easyJet has just won the prestigious ‘Airline of the Year’ award

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AWARDS: EASYJET individuals to test drive easyJet's service and improve the overall flying experience of its existing customers. Further supported by the introduction of online check-in services, FlightTracker and associated mobile applications, it has become increasingly easy for customers to use easyJet's services and the airline has developed its product to make both the booking and boarding process as simple and as streamlined as currently possible.

Through this combination of great customer service and technological innovation, easyJet has been taking an increasingly prominent role in the airline sector, which has been truly well deserved. Commenting on the friendly service offered by the airline, Paul explains: We’re very proud of our customer service that our staff provide day in and day out across the network. We have a Customer Charter that our staff created and it represents how we work and the promises we make to customers. There are recognition programmes that run alongside this which shows that all areas of easyJet are delivering for our customers.” The charter is essentially a set of promises made by the airline, to the customer and focuses on key principles such as: ensuring the complete safety of all passengers, approaching situations from the point of view of the customer, presenting a friendly and passionate service, ensuring that this service is

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offered in an simple, easy manner and in being upfront, honest and open with customers.

Commenting on key, route developments over the past 12 months, Paul explains: “We are continually developing our route network, looking for new opportunities in existing markets as well as exploring new markets. We recently expanded at Gatwick, our

explains: “We’ve introduced a range of measures to reduce our fuel bill by making our aircraft lighter and more efficient. These have included innovations like introducing paperless cockpits across our fleet of more than 220 planes, lightweight trolleys and lightweight seats and introducing sharklets onto our fleet of planes. Our pilots also operate our fleet in the

“WE’VE INTRODUCED A RANGE OF MEASURES TO REDUCE OUR FUEL BILL BY MAKING OUR AIRCRAFT LIGHTER AND MORE EFFICIENT” largest base, which saw us start new routes, increase frequencies and improve our schedule. During 2014 easyJet opened new bases in Hamburg and Naples and in 2015 we will be launching bases in Amsterdam and Porto.

Popular routes remain our network of key cities across Europe and key holiday routes like Alicante, Malaga, Palma and Geneva.”

With an expanding fleet and service portfolio, however comes the risk of increased carbon footprint and in an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, easyJet has undertaken a number of innovative measures so that the company can continue to offer a high standard of service to an equally high standard of ethics and corporate responsibility. Paul

most fuel efficient way through innovative measures like single engine taxiing. We are currently examining technologies from other industries to see how they can be applied to aviation.

“We constantly work to ensure we are flying as sustainably as possible so we are always looking for ways to improve fuel burn.

Passengers on easyJet will on average burn 22% less carbon than on competitors. This is in part due to our high load factor and young fleet.

Our planes fly at load factors above 90%, which means our carbon footprint per customer is far lower than traditional airlines who do not hit such high loads.” www.easyjet.com

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BAR: DAVID DALE REMOVALS

FIRST RATE STORAGE & REMOVAL Safe, efficient and reliable solutions for all of your removal and storage needs avid Dale Removals has enjoyed a reputation for first-rate customer service and reliability for over three decades. When it comes to professional removals and storage, the company has established itself as a leader in North Yorkshire.

Indeed, it has enjoyed operating from its Harrogate head office for more than 30 years, specialising in the removal and storage of a range of items for both domestic and commercial clients. It also offers a European and international service for removals.

The company was established in 1976. Since then it has become recognised for its efficient removals and safe storage combined with unrivalled levels of customer service. For example, one customer who moved from the UK to Spain called the service “fantastic from start to finish”. They added that everything was looked after from the quote stage through to delivery in Spain.

“The packers/removers were so careful with all our personal belongings from grandfather clocks to motorbikes to pictures to plants, everything wrapped up securely and nothing left to chance, everything arrived on time, in fact earlier than previously advised. The guys in both Leeds and Spain were so polite and help-

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David Dale Removals, Dale House, Forest Moor Road, Knaresborough, Harrogate, HG5 8LT www.daviddale.co.uk Tel: 01423 895 952

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BAR: DAVID DALE REMOVALS ful – a credit to you,” they added.

During David Dale Removals’ years of service, it has established itself throughout Europe and has offices in the UK and Spain. It also has storage facilities in Alicante, Spain.

The business is a member of FEDEMAC European Removals, the UK branch of which is known as the British Association of Removers (BAR). The company states: “We provide reputable, professional and safe removals and are known for our high standards of service.We pride ourselves on being members of such prestigious bodies as it upholds our company values and helps you to put your trust in us.”

Whether a customer is moving within the same county or from one end of the UK to the other, the company provides the same comprehensive house removals service every time. David Dale Removals coordinates every stage of the house move, from packing services (if required), to careful unloading of belongings at the destination. In addition, its specialist commercial removals service is ideal for businesses of any size with coordination of a business relocation, including packaging and packing materials.

The company also provides a comprehensive storage solution. From time to time you may require your belongings or business assets to enter storage on a long or short term basis – whether you’re waiting for the paper work to be cleared for a new flat, or simply wish to create more space in your business premises prior to a move, David Dale has the solution to meet your needs. The company operates a safe and secure storage unit from its North Yorkshire base, so customers can be sure that their belongings will remain completely secure at all times and protected from any environmental factors.

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BUS AND COACH: EYMS

THE GREAT SUCCESS OF EYMS The recognisable face of safe, efficient and comfortable public transport on the East Coast, EYMS continues to go from strength to strength

ast Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS) has been running buses in and around Hull for over 85 years and its distinctive livery has become a recognisable part of life on the east coast. The company enjoys access to a fleet of around 300 buses and coaches, running a number of services including timetabled regional routes, school runs, coach holidays and day trips. In addition, the company has modern and vintage coaches available to hire for events and special occasions.

The roots of the company date back to 1919 when Ernest John Lee purchased a 14-seat Ford Model T bus for a service between Elloughton and Hull. In 1922, Lee went into partnership with an investor to form Lee & Beaulah. A couple of years later Hull & District Motor Services Ltd was set up by H. A. Harvey to run a service between Kirk Ella and Hull. Finally, on 5 October 1926, the British Automobile Traction Co. Ltd. registered the name East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd. to take over Lee & Beaulah and Hull & District Motor Services Ltd.

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Today’s recognisable burgundy and cream coloured buses were originally indigo and primrose. The colour was changed in the early 1970s to the colours of the National Bus Company, red and white, and then more recently to the colours that are familiar today.

Meanwhile, EYMS’s coaches are different again; riviera blue with primrose.

EYMS was privatised in February 1987, becoming a subsidiary of EYMS Group Ltd., which had been formed by its management team. Since this time it has gone from strength to strength, acquiring many small bus businesses in and around Hull.

Today, EYMS is owned by Peter Shipp, who has been with the company since 1980.The Head Office and main depot are located on Anlaby Road in Hull, where they have been based since 1929. There are also depots in Beverley, Bridlington, Elloughton, Hornsea, Pocklington, Scarborough and Withernsea. All these depots have an active role to play in the continued success of EYMS. The business is strongly committed to providing passengers with quality transport, and is determined to invest as much as it can afford in new buses. The fleet currently

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BUS AND COACH: EYMS

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BUS AND COACH: EYMS includes double decks, single decks, minibuses, coaches, open top buses and a selection of vintage vehicles.

EYMS recognises that it has a major effect on the community it serves, and has a policy of close involvement in that community. It has close links to Hull University and the City of Hull and Humber Environment Forum, and runs an annual Big Bus Day in Hull in partnership with the Streetlife Museum of Transport. The company also works with local businesses in order to help reduce traffic and parking problems in the region.

Enhancing these endeavours is EYMS’s commitment to running its services as environmentally efficiently as possible. This includes through its use of vehicles, its choice of vehicles and its promotion of public transport as a worthy alternative to the car.

In 2011, for example, EYMS put 10 hybrid double deck buses onto the streets of Hull. These diesel-electric hybrid buses use 30% less fuel than a normal bus, and produce 30% fewer emissions. Not only that, but they are also quieter and more comfortable to ride in.

Each of the company’s hybrid buses will clock up around 60,000 miles each year, annually saving 9,000 litres of fuel each, and across the batch of ten buses up to 240 tonnes of CO2 will be saved each year. These buses were partly funded under the government’s Green Bus Fund.

In addition, all EYMS buses and coaches are fitted with the “GreenRoad” telematics system. This monitors how the vehicle is being driven, for instance cornering, lane

THE BUSINESS IS STRONGLY COMMITTED TO PROVIDING PASSENGERS WITH QUALITY TRANSPORT changes, heavy braking and acceleration. A traffic light system in the cab shows the driver how efficiently the bus is being driven; green means a bus is being driven well and fuel efficiently, amber means a bit more care is required, and red means the driver needs to change their driving style. Drivers can log on to the system via the internet to see how well they are performing as individuals compared to the average scores across their depot. Not only does this help improve fuel consumption, but drivers aiming for a green score will drive more smoothly, giving passengers a more comfortable ride and reducing the risk of accidents.

Elsewhere, since 2008, EYMS drivers have been trained in the principles of SAFED - Safe And Fuel Efficient Driving. This seven-hour driver CPCapproved course teaches drivers how to drive in a safe and fuel efficient way, for example by anticipating what will happen on the road ahead and reacting early in order to avoid harsh braking or unnecessary acceleration. The Department for Transport have since used EYMS as a case study of best practice for SAFED programmes, and EYMS Bus & Coach Training is now offering the course commercially to external companies or individuals who want to improve their employees' or their own driving skills.

www.eyms.co.uk Tel: 01482 327142

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BUS AND COACH: D&G BUS

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BUS AND COACH: D&G BUS

FRIENDLY RELIABLE SERVICE

Despite impressive growth over the last 26 years D&G Bus have retained their core ethos and show that a friendly smile goes a long way

he general approach of D&G Bus was set when founder Gerald Henderson, who sadly died in 2006, drove buses in the early years, greeted passengers with a friendly smile and provided assistance.

The vision then was to offer ‘friendly, reliable and personal bus services’ as an alternative to the service provided by the big operators and, according to joint founder and Managing Director David Reeves, that continues today: “We started in 1998 and, since then, we’ve grown but I like to think we’ve kept the core ethos of friendly drivers because it makes a big difference if you smile at people.”

The growth has come through an increasing focus on scheduled bus services after starting as a coach and bus company, although the last coaches were disposed of in 2003.

There has been some school contracts work but the focus went into establishing a commer-

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cial bus service network and scheduled services are now the core of operations.

The business is split over two companies — D&G Bus that provides services in Cheshire and Staffordshire, and South Lancs.

Travel that covers Wigan, Bolton, St Helens, Leigh and Farnworth. The latter company operates 43 buses while D&G Bus has 58, ten being minibuses for a demand-responsive transport service known as ‘D&G Little Bus’.

“That’s a contract we won last year,” recalls David. “In rural Cheshire, we’re providing an element of bus services to passengers where their original bus service may have been withdrawn. Passengers have to book the day before but, if they need to travel and haven’t access to a car, an element of public transport is available.”

Each bus operates within a particular area between set times and the actual route is variable depending on passenger needs.Those passengers must register for the service and book

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Creating operator value through smart technology When bus operators such as D&G Bus look for ticketing technology

ing operator sharing our vision of a smart-enabled future.

that is robust, reliable and value-adding, they turn to Parkeon and its

“Increasingly, our on-vehicle platforms are not only driving fare collec-

Wayfarer portfolio of on-vehicle systems.

tion systems but acting as the data hub for a wide variety of allied tech-

Parkeon’s Wayfarer ETMs continue to lead the way in dual reading both

nologies. In the case of our most recent innovations in the areas of Real

ITSO concessionary and commercial smartcards, with top-up enabled

Time Information and Fleet Management, the effect is a lower cost and

on-bus, on-street, over-the-counter and via the internet. Increasingly,

more accurate solution than is achieved with conventional architecture

however, the in-built GPS and mobile communications functionality is

- this is just the sort of operational efficiency that operators value and

also being used to support Real Time Information, fleet management,

indeed need to compete effectively.”

vehicle displays and vehicle efficiency monitoring.

The company is also actively engaged in rolling out highly innovative

The company has been at the forefront of automatic fare collection

mobile ticketing projects, with its Wayfarer200 system future-proofed to

technology for almost 40 years and is proud to be the long-term ticket-

process both NFC and EMV payments. In the hand-held devices arena,

ing systems partner of D&G Bus, which operates a fleet of over 100

Parkeon units are capable of cash and contactless smart card transac-

buses, with main depots in Crewe and Manchester.

tions, payment by chip and PIN credit/debit card and contactless EMV.

Working alongside D&G Bus, Parkeon has delivered an ITSO-enabled

The hand-held can also being used as a fixed retail outlet solution

ticketing system founded on the TGX150 platform and a dynamic back-

supporting ITSO contactless smartcards and period-based paper tickets.

office system. The operator also benefits from regular service visits from

Equally importantly, these multi-device and multi-protocol transactions

Parkeon engineers.

are capable of being processed via a secure hosted back office service

D&G is certainly in good company. In recent times, Edinburgh Tram,

developed by Parkeon - a facility that offers a cost-effective solution for

Blackpool Transport, Newport Transport and the Worcestershire-wide

individual operators while strengthening the company’s position as the

scheme have all selected Parkeon technology.

leading ITSO bus ticketing system provider with the broadest UK coverage.

Says Gavin Trimnell, Head of Sales and Marketing at Parkeon: “We’re delighted to be working closely with D&G Bus – they are a forward-look-

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BUS AND COACH: D&G BUS the bus on a first come, first served basis. The challenge is to manage the bookings to plan the optimum schedule, which is handled by a route planning system.

The ideal aim is to maintain a fleet less than ten years old and David says: “We have a reasonably updated fleet, particularly at D&G. We now need to focus on the South Lancs. fleet and, if we buy new buses, that’s where they will generally go.”

An exercise has shown that replacing some bigger buses with new models could potentially

“We’ve just won a five year contract with Cheshire East and, as part of that, we’re providing a new bus. When it was three years, we couldn’t do that although the cost of hybrids means we need longer contacts of 7-8 years. The bus industry is very competitive so I’m not sure the money’s there but we need to investigate further.”

Good maintenance keeps the buses running efficiently and that’s ensured by each depot having full servicing facilities. The Crewe depot, having celebrated its tenth anniversary, is now mov-

WE HAVE LESSONS TO LEARN, BUT WE TRY TO DELIVER A FRIENDLY, RELIABLE SERVICE THAT PASSENGERS WANT save £7,500 each a year despite them being relatively low mileage vehicles. There is also interest in hybrids but their initial purchase cost makes them difficult to justify and requires long contracts for them to be feasible. Nevertheless that situation, confirms David, is improving: “Contracts are being awarded for longer periods and various authorities are regularly giving fiveyear contracts. That means we can have a more grown-up approach to vehicle replacement.

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efforts to maintain the level. “We have a merit award system so drivers who go the extra distance are rewarded,” outlines David.

“We have lessons to learn and don’t pretend to be perfect but we try to deliver a friendly, reliable service that passengers want.We look at complaints and reliability, we invest in new vehicles and we have WiFi on some routes.

Passengers mainly want to make a journey because of need and our biggest competitor is the car, not other bus companies.”

The only real way to get people out of their cars and onto buses, he believes, is to run high

ing to a new purpose-built location due to redevelopment of the original site. Although the new depot is smaller, it has three-bay facilities, a rolling road and all equipment necessary for a modern bus operator to keep vehicles running.

Constant at each depot is a good management team and staff who keep standards high.

Given the initial and ongoing aim to provide a friendly, reliable and personal service, that’s essential and the company makes strenuous

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BUS AND COACH: D&G BUS

frequency services so customers aren’t waiting long.

Since the company tends to operate in rural areas, that’s not possible due to there being insufficient people to justify such a service. The solution is to maintain a high quality service that people want to use, improving it to some degree by the use of technology.

David says: “We have ticketing systems that provide a wealth of information. We can tell how many passengers have caught the bus, how many have got on and off at each stop. We have Green Road on all buses, which is useful if we have an accident or get complaints when people say the bus didn’t turn up at the right time because we can check.

“We have electronic destination equipment and CCTV in most of the fleet. We put cameras in all new buses and we’ve fitted cameras to all vehicles less than six years old. We’ve certainly got about 60-70% of the fleet with cameras now and moving towards 100%.”

With the problems of high fuel prices having receded to some degree, the bus industry still faces major challenges that have reduced its income.The first of these is the concessionary fare reimbursement resulting from the introduction of free travel for the over 60s. The unexpected success in terms of increased passenger numbers has caused successive reductions of the reimbursement amount to cut costs, resulting in the original 75% of the adult fare going down to 40-50%.

The other main challenge has been the bus service operators’ grant, which two years ago went down 25%.

Together, as David outlines, the changes have introduced

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uncertainty: “You can argue the merits of whether we should have it but that’s beside the point. The issue is we build a business to run on a certain amount of money. The income was a known amount and it’s uncertain where it’s going in future so it’s very unsettling.

“We can’t, for example, buy hybrid buses without a degree of certainty over the income stream. Like anything, we make decisions on fares based on that and, if we’re getting more for our concessions, we can avoid putting paying passengers’ fares up as much. Any business wants a certain level of income and, as concessionary fare reimbursement has significantly reduced, paying passengers are effectively subsidising the free travel.”

The business has changed recently, with two elements — D&G Longton and Liyell — sold. That’s enabled a consolidation of the remaining operations,

WE HAVE ELECTRONIC DESTINATION EQUIPMENT AND CCTV IN MOST OF THE FLEET which David expects to continue, saying: “As a small business, we don’t make a complicated strategic vision but focus on our local level. If there are opportunities at that level, we will do our best to take advantage. We have a nice steady business and, over time, want to consolidate what we’ve got and perhaps buy some more nice buses.”

www.dgbus.co.uk Tel: 01270 252970

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BUS AND COACH: D&G BUS

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anglian bus.qxp_feature 2 14/11/2014 12:12 Page 52

BUS AND COACH: ANGLIANBUS

YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL SERVICE anglianbus has built up an incredible reputation over the years and is a core service provider for the local community whilst providing an encouraging working environment for its staff

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BUS AND COACH: ANGLIANBUS

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BUS AND COACH: ANGLIANBUS

s a regional Bus Operator carrying approximately 2.5m passengers per year throughout Norfolk and Suffolk, anglianbus is a core service provider for the local community and has earned a tremendous reputation for its friendly drivers and excellent customer service.

Founded back in 1981, anglianbus now operates a fully-fledged portfolio of routes throughout the region, with a hotbed of activity within Norwich itself. Currently employing approximately 100 individuals and a fleet of around 50 vehicles, the company boasts impressive capabilities and has grown significantly over recent times.

Much of the company's growth can be attributed to the incredible reputation it has built up over the years and the swarms of positive customer feedback it has had for services. Due to this customer-service focused approach, anglianbus has been able to expand at a significant pace despite keen competition from close rivals such as First Bus in the local area. David Jordan, Commercial Officer explains how this is achieved in simple terms: “It's largely through picking the right people and working with them so that they are comfortable and happy in the job as much as possible. We find that a lot of drivers who come to us like to do regular routes – they don't like jumping and changing routes every day and so we do that, we put them on regular services. In many cases they're on the same duty, so the same working hours every day that they work.”

As Commercial Officer, David looks after promotions, marketing, ensuring service quality and supporting a whole range of business-related developments to ensure the continued success of anglianbus.

Commenting on his aims for the company, David explains: “The reputation which anglianbus has built up for itself over the years is as a very friendly operator with a very high standard of customer service – that's our unique selling point in the area that we operate. A

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BUS AND COACH: ANGLIANBUS number of our routes are in competition with other operators who don't seem able to emulate the approach which our drivers take to the passengers and we're looking to build on that.“ While the approach both anglianbus as a company and its drivers take to delivering exemplary customer service is testament to the company's reputation, anglianbus doesn't stop with just a friendly face. With anglianbus, drivers are seen not only as a smiling face to meet and greet the customer, but also as a front-line representative for the company who possesses a wealth of ground-level knowledge as David explains: “The drivers are the front line really – they're the ones out there seeing the passengers and they feed that back to us. There's sections of routes which, at times of the day might be becoming a problem and particularly on products which passengers request then they feed back to us on that too.”

In addition to this, anglianbus has a fully equipped garage to undertake on-site maintenance and servicing in coalition with its own engineering team which is made available from five in the morning all the way through to midnight every day and an on-site M.O.T testing site to ensure that standards of service will never falter due to insufficient testing, servicing or maintenance.

With the recent announcement of 95% customer satisfaction from surveys undertaken by Passenger Focus, which was an independent passenger survey: “This means that we're doing the right thing and that in the overwhelming majority of cases, people are sat-

isfied with the service they're getting, that we're reliable and our drivers are friendly, polite and it's a really firm foundation from which to build. Obviously next year we'd like to get 97-98% and the management team in place at the moment is very motivated to move forward,” explains David.

With a number of anglianbus' bus services still being derived from county council contracted services, anglianbus has always been, and will always be an integral part of the local community both due to the level of service provided and the keen nature of the

THE DRIVERS ARE THE FRONT LINE REALLY – THEY'RE THE ONES OUT THERE SEEING THE PASSENGERS company to support the local area as a whole.Through working with the local job centre to recruit trainee drivers, in addition to opportunities offered to job seekers for various administration areas around the business, giving them more experience .

Looking to the future, the company intends to build upon its tremendous success over the past year and will continue to set new standards and benchmarks for service quality both locally and sector-wide: “Our aim is to be known as the bus operator in our area which offers the highest standards of customer service and passenger experience all the time, both on and off bus,” concludes David.

www.anglianbus.co.uk Tel: 01502 711109

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PUBLIC SECTOR: LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

AWARD WINNING DEDICATION

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luton council.qxp_feature 2 11/11/2014 13:31 Page 59

PUBLIC SECTOR: LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

uton Borough Council was celebrating this month after scooping two prestigious national awards.

The accolades came within days of each other, as the Council’s endeavours in operational improvement and efficiency as well as enhanced customer services were rewarded. Prior to Luton’s Revenues, Benefits and Customer Services Team picking up the top award for Excellence for Innovation from the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV), the Council celebrated being named Transport Local Authority of the Year at the National Transport Awards.

Organised by industry-leading publication Transport Times and supported by the Department for Transport and Passenger Focus,

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the National Transport Awards celebrate successful projects that have improved the experience of transport users across the country.

Luton’s entry – “Luton is open for business” – highlighted how delivery of a number of transport schemes is continuing to drive regeneration of the borough, and impressed the judges with its “vision for a strong commitment to firstclass urban design, to create a top quality built environment.”

The citation noted how the regeneration of St George’s Square led to a number of other town centre improvements, with the Luton Dunstable Busway, Luton Bus Interchange, Station Square and Luton Airport Parkway station gateway all opening last year.

Also highlighted was the delivery of the £24m Town Centre Transport Scheme, including

the completed inner ring road, improvements to cycling networks, major works at M1 Junction 10a, the forthcoming Luton Travel Centre, and the redevelopment of Town Hall Square.

The Council impressed the judges with their dedicated vision. The £90m Luton-Dunstable busway, for example, runs from Houghton Regis via Dunstable to London Luton Airport and serves some of the poorest wards in the area providing better links to jobs, housing, health and education facilities.

Cllr Sian Timoney, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, said: “We are absolutely delighted as this is probably the pinnacle of UK transport awards. Investment in major transport schemes is a cornerstone of Luton’s strategy for attracting new private inward investment and driving the local economic and employment markets.

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PUBLIC SECTOR: LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

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PUBLIC SECTOR: LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

“INVESTMENT IN MAJOR TRANSPORT SCHEMES IS A CORNERSTONE OF LUTON’S STRATEGY FOR ATTRACTING NEW PRIVATE INWARD INVESTMENT AND DRIVING THE LOCAL ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT MARKETS.”

www.luton.gov.uk Tel: 01582 54 60 00

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“Look around our borough, and the successful and ongoing delivery of a number of key projects is changing the landscape of Luton for the better before our very eyes.

Cllr Dave Taylor, Portfolio Holder for environment, added: “The award is an achievement not only for the Council to take pride in but also external partners including The Mall, Network Rail, Arriva, Grant Palmer, Centrebus and Volker.

“The busway was a technical triumph of engineering, and since completion has helped deliver a 6% increase in bus passenger journeys across the Luton network and 9% in Dunstable and Houghton Regis. I am delighted that our strong commitment in Luton to creating a firstclass urban environment while preserving our existing character is being recognised on a national level.”

While Luton picked up the top Local Authority award, on the operators side Reading Buses won Bus Operator of the Year and ScotRail won Rail Operator of the Year. The two new awards that were introduced at this year’s awards were won by Caledonian MacBrayne and Port of Tyne for Ferry Operator of the Year and Port of the Year respectively.

“Transport is a crucial part of everyday life –

whether it’s commuting to work, getting to school, or visiting friends and family. It plays a central role in supporting local economies, linking businesses, services and goods with markets, and driving growth and prosperity. The National Transport Awards are an opportunity to celebrate innovation and excellence across our transport sector, and to recognise industry professionals who go the extra mile to deliver efficient and effective transport across the country,” said Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport.

The IRRV award panel was looking for local authorities to demonstrate new initiatives while improving performance and achieving measurable savings or income.

Successful innovations introduced by Luton include “revenues solutions” – a new trading arm offering support to other local authorities covering all areas of debt collection, incorporating partnerships with the private and public sector bringing enforcement in-house. The Council also maximised business rates income through the new valuations and listing officer role and partnership with Analyse Local to identify properties not paying the appropriate business rate.

Cllr Mohammed Ashraf, Portfolio Holder for finance, said: “The Council is delighted to receive this award. We are delivering a wide range of innovations to increase income while ensuring fairness for all customers and supporting the needs of the most vulnerable.We have only achieved this through a massive performance improvement journey, underpinned by the dedication and skill of our staff.”

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PUBLIC SECTOR: EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE

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PUBLIC SECTOR: EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

The East of England Ambulance Service recognises the importance of a well equipped and reliable fleet to ensure top quality care

he East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is investing £15m in new vehicles in an attempt to improve response times and improve overall services. 120 vehicles will replace older ambulances, response and service vehicles within the fleet as new Chief Executive Dr Anthony Marsh pledged to improve and expand EEAST’s capability across the region.

He said, “We need to get more ambulances on the road treating patients. We also need to ensure that those ambulances meet the needs of both the crews and the people they care for. It is my ambition for us to have no ambulance or response car that is more than five years old.”

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The Trust, one of 12 providing medical services around England, handles more than 900,000 emergency 999 calls a year across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Complementing its provision of emergency call-out services, EEAST also provides out-of-hours primary care services, patient transport, commercial services and special operations such as air ambulances, emergency planning, and hazardous materials incident response.

The Trust is also replacing 68 of its rapid response cars with brand new Skoda Scouts, a process it expects to complete by June.

Simon King, EEAST General Manager, said: “We’re really pleased to be able to replace our older ambulances with these brand new ones. It’s

important that we have as many ambulances on the road as possible and it’s also vital that they are in good working condition so that they can respond to patients in a timely and safe manner.

“This has also been a real boost for the clinical staff working on them, as they recognise the importance of having reliable vehicles and the best possible environment in which to treat our patients.”

Regional Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle dealer Orwell Truck & Van made the first delivery of new ambulances in March. Based on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 519 CDI chassis and fitted with purpose-designed box bodies by German specialist WAS, the ambulances will replace older vehicles as they are phased out with a net fleet size increase of 27, taking the total to 310.

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PUBLIC SECTOR: EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE

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PUBLIC SECTOR: EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE

THE COMPANY IS PARTICULARLY PROUD OF ITS COMPREHENSIVE CONTAINER HAULAGE SERVICES IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE AS MANY AMBULANCES ON THE ROAD AS POSSIBLE AND IT’S ALSO VITAL THAT THEY ARE IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION

John Hole, Head of Fleet at EEAST, said: “The 5.0-tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is well proven in operation and offers the combination of performance, reliability, safety and carrying capacity that allows us to provide a high-quality service to patients.”

Key to the model’s appeal for ambulance services nationwide is the availability of a fully automatic gearbox. “This makes life a lot easier for our drivers, particularly when they’re on a ‘blue light’ call, as it leaves them free to concentrate fully on the road,’ added John.

By adapting the cupboard layout to better reflect the needs of crews, the Trust has also updated and refined the successful design of the vehicles’ WAS box bodies. It has also altered the positioning of the “Battenburg” livery to increase visibility.

John also praised EEAST’s supplier as the new vehicles began to be delivered. “Orwell Truck & Van is our preferred dealer and a company with which we have enjoyed a very good

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relationship over many years. It provides an excellent service, maintaining some of our ambulances in its workshops, and supplying parts to our own facilities in Norwich and at Barton Mills, Suffolk.”

The introduction of new vehicles comes after a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report last year said the impact on patients waiting for transport to hospital remained a “moderate concern”. The service said improvements to highlighted problems were under way.

Another inspection followed in December which noted that response times to life-threatening 999 calls had not seen the level of improvement required. It cited some senior fire officers who had alleged crews often waited "excessive times" for an ambulance to arrive following road traffic accidents.

However, it did find that patient experience with ambulance crews was “very good” overall and complaints about delays had fallen.

The new ambulances, which are arriving at stations across the region as part of the ambu-

lance service’s aim to improve and expand its existing fleet, will make great strides towards EEAST’s objective of delivering a better, more efficient and timely service.

As part of this operational upgrade, 350 additional staff will be needed for the expanded fleet. The Unison representative Tim Roberts said: “The bigger picture [for the Trust] is a balance between solo responsibility and doublestaffed ambulances. The issue for patients, and one of the reasons the CQC failed it for patient care, was around response times for people going into hospital - and this is only addressed by an increase in double-staffed ambulances." By the time the Trust receives all the new A&E ambulances, its fleet will have increased from 283 to 310.

www.eastamb.nhs.uk Tel: 0845 601 3733

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PUBLIC SECTOR: SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE

he Scottish Ambulance Service is the largest ambulance service in Europe. Its ambulances and support vehicles have to cover an incredible 78,000 square kilometres which includes Scotland’s 700-plus islands such as the Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides groups. Operating from 151 locations, the service employs around 4,000 people and has a fleet in excess of 1,500 vehicles including 1,000 A& E and Patient Transport ambulances.

The Patient Transport Service carries almost 1.6 million patients every year. This service is provided so that patients who are physically or medically unfit to travel to hospital out-patient appointments by any other means can still make their appointments.The service also handles non-emergency admissions and discharges from hospitals.

Patient Transport vehicles are staffed by Ambulance Care Assistants either double or single crewed depending on the patients’ needs.

They are trained to look after patients during the journey to and from hospital.

The service also has the only governmentfunded air ambulance service in the UK. The fleet consists of two Eurocopter EC-145 T2s helicopters and two Beechcraft B200C King Air fixed-wing aircraft, which provide emergency response and transfers of patients to and from remote areas of Scotland. In 2010/11, the air ambulance service flew 3,774 missions.

In June 2012, as the result of a tender process for a new seven-year air ambulance contract, winning tenderer Gama Aviation, who ran the service previously, will continue to provide two rotary- and two fixed-wing aircraft on a 24-hour basis throughout Scotland.

Given the necessities of such a large and diverse fleet to cover such a vast geographical area, it has become increasingly vital that the Scottish Ambulance Service works with the

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DRIVING FORWARD

The largest ambulance service in Europe leads from the front

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PUBLIC SECTOR: SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE right industry partners to deliver consistent high standards. By doing so, it gains maximum operability and performance from its vehicles.

Importantly, operational performance and standards must be married to value and efficiency. With an ever-tightening belt on government expenditure, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service trusts are increasingly looking at cost effective alternatives to traditional coachbuilt vehicles for front-line ambulance procurement.The main alternative is to design and operate van-derived ambulances. Purchasing vanderived ambulances has cost advantages from both purchase and operational points of view, however the smaller size of these vehicles limits their operational carrying capacity.

To solve this problem, the Scottish Ambulance Service drew upon the expertise of Carnation Designs. The company services the emergency and specialist vehicle sectors with intelligent switching and power management systems. Its genisys technology is already an integral part of many different specialist vehicles.

The Dualpod is a solution based on genisys that has been designed specifically to meet this challenge, and underpins Carnation Designs’ ongoing commitment to the emergency services sector.The compact Dualpod offers true ‘plug and play‘ connectivity between the base vehicle and pre and post-battery equipment, allowing rapid installation at the point-of-build without compro-

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mising on vehicle functionality. Designed to be mounted behind the cab seats in special casings, the Dualpod allows the majority of the pre- and post-battery equipment to be distributed between separate driver and passenger-side pods, linked by an umbilical wiring harness, with bronzetinted polycarbonate covers to aid rapid diagnostics and fault finding.This intelligent design, together with the use of multi-pole interface connectors, makes the best use of the available space while still allowing ease of access for maintenance and limiting the amount of cabling that needs to

65 paramedic response units (cars or motorbikes used to get paramedics to the scene of an incident as quickly as possible) while the latter will include 98 patient transport vehicles and 151 support vehicles.

When the funding package was announced, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “Our hardworking ambulance staff do a fantastic job and are out 365 days a year saving lives. They cannot do this without a modern, up-to-date mix of vehicles that allow them to provide the very best patient care to the people of Scotland.”

“OUR HARDWORKING AMBULANCE STAFF CANNOT DO WITHOUT A MODERN, UP-TO-DATE MIX OF VEHICLES THAT ALLOW THEM TO PROVIDE THE VERY BEST PATIENT CARE TO THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND.” run down each B-pillar of the vehicle.

Michael E Jackson, Fleet Manager for Scottish Ambulance commented: “Dualpod is another example of Carnation Designs’ commitment to developing innovative solutions specifically for the emergency services sector.”

Since funding was granted, the Scottish Ambulance Service has begun replacing its entire fleet of more than 570 vehicles. The £34.3m funding package will see 326 new accident and emergency vehicles introduced, as well as 250 support vehicles. The former will include

Scottish Ambulance Service chief executive Pauline Howie added: “Our crews deliver the highest standard of patient care in a wide range of conditions and environments so it is essential that they operate with the most appropriate equipment. The funding for our vehicle fleet ensures that care continues to be delivered in ambulances that are fit for purpose and specifically designed to meet modern healthcare standards.” www.scottishambulance.com Tel: 0131 314 0000

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PUBLIC SECTOR: WEST MIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE

A MARK OF EXCELLENCE

Winning the prestigious Van Fleet of the Year Award demonstrates the West Midlands Ambulance Service’s commitment to high standards and top quality patient care. est Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) won the prestigious Van Fleet of the Year within the Public Sector and Bluelight category at the 2014 Fleet Van Awards. Now in its seventh year, the Fleet Van Awards are the benchmark awards for the light commercial vehicle industry, with trophies for manufacturers, fleet operators and suppliers.

The event, which is seen as an integral part of the van fleet industry calendar, follows the Fleet Van Summit and offers a vital opportunity for the industry to share best practice, network and celebrate.

Fleet operators have the opportunity to demonstrate commitment to the highest standards in terms of operation, innovation and safety. Whilst the manufacturer categories compare vehicles across a number of core fleet criteria, including payload, safety, technology, running costs, fuel efficiency, reliability, after-sales service and back-up offered by the dealer network. The van supplier categories are also open to companies supplying products and services to van fleets, and reward great service and innovation.

The award comes hot on the heels of WMAS becoming the first emergency service in the region to receive accreditation to one of the toughest ‘excellence’ programmes in the country. The Trust has been awarded ‘Van Excellence’ by the Freight Transport Association (FTA). For patients who need an ambulance, it means that the vehicle they are conveyed in is operated at the highest level.

Tony Page, General Manager Fleet Services, said: “Some people might be confused as to what the programme has to do with us. However, ambulances are essentially vans with a very specialised purpose,

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so to get the award is a fantastic achievement for the staff and is good news for patients. We are one of only three ambulance services to meet the standard and there are only 75 accredited operators in the UK out of 14,000 members of the FTA. “The transport industry is the second most regulated in the UK after aviation. To gain accreditation, we have to actively ensure the safety of our staff and the public through robust maintenance programmes; adherence to pre-departure checks; a robust defect rectification process and high levels of driver training. Having a fleet that meets the standards expected of ‘Van Excellence’ not only benefits patients, but also makes the work life of staff that little bit easier.”

Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, added: “This award is the culmination of 18 months of hard work. Clearly our top priority is to ensure the highest standards of patient care. If we have a fleet that meets the toughest tests, that will undoubtedly benefit patients and enhance the work life of our staff. Our decision to invest in our fleet means no vehicle

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PUBLIC SECTOR: WEST MIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE

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AWARDS: WEST WIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE over five years old. This brings real benefits to staff and patients alike; we get very few breakdowns and the vehicles are more comfortable. In terms of a team effort, I am really proud of everyone in our Fleet Department for all of their hard work in attaining this award.”

Part of WMAS’s success has come from considered investment in the fleet. This year, for example,

IF WE HAVE A FLEET THAT MEETS THE TOUGHEST TESTS, THAT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BENEFIT PATIENTS AND ENHANCE THE WORK LIFE OF OUR STAFF.

www.wmas.nhs.uk Tel: 01384 215555

new 4x4 ambulances came into service. The new 4×4 Mercedes ambulances will give the Trust much more capability to get to patients in difficult weather and muddy off-road conditions.

WMAS currently has one of the most modern 999 fleets of any ambulance service in the country with over 300 ambulances and 200 rapid response vehicles. It is planned that one of the 4×4 vehicles will be based at each ambulance hub

around the region, able to be used the same as an everyday ambulance.

Craig Cooke, WMAS Support Services Director, said: “The new vehicles will mean that for the first time we will have a full size ambulance with 4×4 capabilities. This investment in new vehicles will help us provide high quality clinical services to people who suffer serious injuries or medical conditions when they are out and about on uneven and difficult to access terrain. This should improve the comfort and care to patients and offer a much better working environment for our staff.

Assistant Area Manager, Nigel Wells, said: “The new Mercedes 4×4 sprinter has been developed with staff and Mercedes to ensure they meet all the requirements of both the patient and the staff.

The fully automatic 4×4 system is very simple to use and will give staff greater access to patients in challenging conditions. They will come into their own during the winter months and will add an extra dimension to the ambulance service when responding to emergency calls.

“A number of ambulance staff recently attended the Prodrive test facilities in Warwickshire along with Mercedes training staff to use the vehicles off road. WMAS driver trainers also attended and will be passing on their knowledge to all frontline staff who will all be trained to use the vehicles over the coming months.”

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Looking back at...

LÆRDAL TUNNEL In our regular column we take a brief look at some of the great pioneers, innovators and technology that has helped shape the world’s transport system

he Lærdal Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in the world measuring over 15 miles in length. It connects the Norwegian municipalities of Lærdal and Aurland in Norway and was constructed between 1995 and 2000 at a cost of $113m. It succeeded the Swiss Gotthard Road Tunnel as the longest of its kind and carries two lanes of European Route E16 connecting Oslo and Bergen. It is an important route as it cuts out the need to travel along difficult mountain roads and via ferries when winter weather makes this near impossible.

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The Lærdal Tunnel’s development was an incredible feat of engineering. In 1975, the Parliament of Norway decided that the main road between Oslo and Bergen would run via Filefjell.

In 1992, Parliament confirmed that decision, made the further decision that the road should run through a tunnel between Laerdal and Aurland, and passed legislation to build the tunnel. Between 1995 when construction began on the tunnel until its conclusion in 2000, a total of 2,500,000 cubic metres of rock was removed.

To drive through Lærdal it takes approximate-

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ly 20 minutes. To relieve claustrophobia, mental strain and provide areas to have a break or turnaround, the tunnel is divided into four sections with varying lighting to offer a refreshing view.

The four sections are separated by three large mountain caves which have blue lighting with yellow lights at the fringes to mimic sunrise. The caves are meant to break the routine, providing a differing view to keep drivers alert. In addition, each lane is supplied with a loud rumble strip toward the centre to keep drivers from being inattentive or falling asleep.

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