
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| DJ WILLS HAULIER
Last year, we baled 7,000 acres
of straw in Milton Keynes and the
surrounding area. Michael also has a
lime spreader. Using our local tipper
lorries, he spreads many tonnes of sea
sand and lime on the fields, and the
local farmers use sea sand for bedding
in their cubicles for their cows to lie on.
My youngest son, Richard, organises
the straw purchasing, transportation
and other flat-lorry work. He also
organises the other articulated lorry
work, with three of our articulated
lorries transporting scrap metals
nationwide. We have our local tippers
doing general haulage and supplying
aggregates, sea sand and lime
throughout Devon and Cornwall.
Employment
Our biggest concern is employing
drivers. We have been advertising
for two years, and good drivers are
almost impossible to find. We used to
employ 18-year-olds who took part
in the Young Drivers’ Scheme. This
was an excellent scheme, and the five
youngsters that we put through it
all made exceptional drivers and are
still working in the industry today.
Now, you cannot employ 18-year-
olds, as the insurance premiums are
extremely high. We were quoted
£14,000 per youngster on top of our
regular premium, with an additional
excess of £3,500 if they were involved
in an accident. Obviously, as a small
family firm, we cannot afford these
extra costs, but the insurers’ reason is
“lack of experience”. Youngsters who
are keen to come into our industry
can pay around £4,000 to obtain
their licences and then be told that
they are unemployable because of
high insurance premiums and lack
ofexperience.
We have wasted many hours waiting
for applicants to come for interviews.
The lack of good drivers is holding
our company back. Decent drivers
are the future of our company. It
would be beneficial if another scheme
like the Young Drivers’ Scheme
was introduced, as I feel it was so
successful back then and could be
again today.
Digital age
Another concern is lack of broadband,
Wi-Fi and mobile phone coverage.
We live in an area of Cornwall where
coverage for all three is very poor,
which can lose us vital customers.
Since the closure of many banks in
the local area, it is extremely difficult
to pay in cheques. We try using the
mobile banking app, but it only works
occasionally due to lack of coverage.
We are also limited to cheques under
Three straw lorries in a
layby
We now have
two depots
where we can
store the
straw we buy:
one at Milton
Keynes, and
one at our
yard in
Cornwall
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