Yorkshire-based temperature controlled storage and distribution business Reed Boardall has appointed Graeme Richardson as managing director of its transport division. With expertise in operations management, logistics and supply chain management, Graeme joins from National Holidays Ltd where he was a director. Previously, he spent five years with Tesco in a variety of roles including as area distribution manager for the North and as primary manager – national rail operations. Prior to that, Graeme was regional planning manager with Eddie Stobart for almost five years. In his new role with Reed Boardall, Graeme will be seeking to grow the business by winning new customer contracts as well as looking for further operational improvements and efficiencies.
Renault Trucks has announced the appointment of Gareth Lumsdaine to the role of network truck and LCV director for the UK and Ireland. Reporting to Nigel Butler, Renault Trucks’ commercial director, his brief is to drive retail volume through the Renault Trucks dealer network to contribute to the overall growth strategy of the business. Lumsdaine, who has previously held dealer and customer-facing roles at Suzuki GB spanning all-terrain vehicles, marine and automotive, joined Renault Trucks in February. Commenting on the new appointment, Nigel Butler, says: “Gareth brings with him a wealth of experience in brand repositioning, competence development and proven retail sales growth.We have ambitious targets for growth that we will deliver by enhancing the value that we offer to our customers in a challenging and changing market; Gareth has an impressive track record and we are delighted to have him on board.”
Michelin Tyre has announced key appointments to lead its B2B division covering the agricultural, bus/coach, earthmover, truck and van sectors. This sees Chris Smith, 34, appointed sales director of the B2B division, and Helen Ratcliff, 38, named as marketing director – both with responsibility for the UK and Ireland. Smith began his career at Michelin in 2007, and most recently held the position of truck & bus marketing director – North Europe. Ratcliff’s new role is all-encompassing, covering the B2B sectors, as well as Michelin’s B2C product ranges for the passenger car, 4x4, cycling and motorcycle ranges. She was previously marketing director of the B2C division.
Fraikin has further strengthened its leadership team with the creation of two new posts to support its ambitious growth plans. The company announced in April that its parent holding company FTI was acquired by a consortium led by Alcentra and Värde Partners, following which it will be recapitalized, with a significant reduction of its holding debt by approximately €500 million. The appointments see James Walker, 49, join as commercial director and Danny Alexander, 39, as head of transformation. Walker brings with him more than 18 years’ experience within the commercial vehicle contract hire, rental, fleet management and asset finance sectors – most recently with Ryder, where he was Sales Director from 2013 to 2018. Alexander has spent the last five years working in management consultancy with PA Consulting Group and Adam Smith International. Previously he spent 10 years as an Army officer, having graduated from the University of Oxford with a degrees in Economics and Social History, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
Josef Warmeling has returned to Kögel in April 2018 following a leave of absence. He has taken up the post of managing director of sales in Western Europe (including the UK), used vehicles, value added services, associations and OEMs. He said: “Over the next few years, our goal is to close the gap between ourselves and our big market competitors, and to continue to position ourselves as a strong number three in Europe. We will place a clear focus on our customer’s requirements for the future: high flexibility, short downtimes, low life cycle costs and premium-quality products.” At the same time, the temporary position given to Thomas Purschke, sales director for the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark in October 2017, now has been made permanent.
Schmitz Cargobull has appointed telematics expert Simon Mols to provide specialist consultancy to fleets in the UK and Ireland, to ensure cost savings and efficiencies can be maximised. Mols, who has worked for the trailer manufacturer in Germany since 2013, is a specialist in Schmitz Cargobull’s innovative technology which provides complete transport chain transparency, with data continually available to the driver, the freight agent and the customer. Alan Hunt, managing director of Schmitz Cargobull UK and Ireland, says: “Now Simon has joined our team, our customers get access to an expert who can advise them on how trailer telematics can help improve efficiency and cut operating costs.” The 29-year-old started his career as a car mechanic when he was just 16. After studying craftsmanship for the automotive industry at technical college, he worked for German certifications and standards body Tüv Süd, before joining Schmitz Cargobull Telematics in 2013.
Supply chain, transport and logistics company Eddie Stobart has been awarded a Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award for the second time running. Having originally been awarded the Silver accolade in 2014, Eddie Stobart has showed continued support to the forces and today re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant, welcoming Armed Forces personnel to its headquarters in Warrington to meet employees who are already Reservists. The company says that it works hard to recruit service leavers and actively encourages its employees who wish to join the Reserves. As part of the company’s support, policies and measures are in place to ensure employees can give their full commitment to the Armed Forces. This includes an extra two-weeks paid leave, on top of normal holiday allowance, to attend an annual training camp.
VisionTrack, a UK supplier of in-vehicle video telematics, has appointed Gary Barnes, a 20-year veteran of the fleet industry, as operations director. Simon Marsh, managing director of VisionTrack commented: “Gary has a vast understanding of advanced telematics, vehicle cameras, niche markets and specialist vehicles, making him the perfect person to lead VisionTrack’s operational procedures, going forward. This is the second time that we have worked together and I know that Gary will bring something really special to our existing offering and ambitious plans for growth.”
Whale Tankers has expanded and restructured its service department. Leading the business side of the team is Phil Greenfield, service business manager. Phil is a recent appointment for Whale, having previously spent 19 years in the service department with commercial vehicle specialist Listers. Andy McFarlane continues to head up the technical element as service manager, which includes coordination of Whale’s 17 field engineers. In addition to the technical back-up provision, Whale’s service team has a dedicated finance manager in the form of Jo Haden-Thompson, who joined in November 2017.
Formula One racing team McLaren has taken on HGV driver, Dave Barnes, in January. The 31-year-old is an ex-lance corporal from the Royal Corps of Signals, and also worked driving for a team in the British Touring Car Championships in 2017.
Whistl has appointed Fabiola Sharratt as operations director and will sit on the executive board. She was previously group operations director at British e-commerce company The HUT, which is Europe’s fastest growing health and beauty online retailer.
Patryk Potrapeluk, an apprentice from Terberg Matec UK’s Warrington site, is celebrating after winning the ‘Engineering Apprentice of the Year’ award at a special presentation ceremony hosted by Wigan and Leigh College. Currently in the third year of his apprenticeship, Patryk originally came to the UK from Poland when he was just 10 years old. Unable to speak the language, he overcame this barrier through hard work and determination, studying for two hours each day on a Polish-to-English translation book. He has since flourished, successfully completing secondary school and becoming an engineering student, with an apprenticeship at Terberg Matec UK. Also shortlisted was Daniel Smith, who recently completed a four-year advanced apprenticeship with the company. He completed the course last year with outstanding results, qualifying with double grade distinction.
RETIREMENTS
Alan Steel, Whale Tankers’ regional sales manager for Scotland, is retiring, and bid farewell to colleagues and customers alike at the CV Show last month. Chris Anderson, commercial director for Whale Tankers, said: “We’re obviously very sad to be saying goodbye to Alan, but everyone at Whale wishes him a long, happy and healthy retirement. Alan has made a fantastic contribution to the sales effort at Whale over the years which has had a considerable impact on our business success. He has been an excellent ambassador in representing our interests ‘north of the border’. We’ll miss him from both a professional and personal point of view.” Having worked at Whale for more than 10 years, Alan began his career with British Leyland before moving into the bus sector working for Western Scottish as a PSV mechanic. His tanker experience was initially gained while working for a contract hire company where he worked on council vehicles before moving into fleet management, involving plant vehicles including tankers. It was this that later led him to join Whale where he moved into a sales role. Robert Frew is taking over as regional sales manager for Scotland.
Europa Worldwide Group’s domestic transport director has turned off the ignition and is settling into retirement after more than 40 years working for and with the business. Russ McNally is a true Europa veteran, having started his association with the company in the 1970s when he worked for AGA Freight, and during his time there ran the imports, exports and operations. He also worked at Reeve Freight Services and launched his own business before being approached by Europa Worldwide to return as general manager-transport in 1999. When Andrew Baxter acquired Europa in 2014, Russ was starting to consider retirement and winding down his ‘office hours’ to three days a week – but Baxter convinced him to stay while he reshaped and redirected the business, offering him the role of domestic transport director and a place on the Board. McNally commented: “I can’t quite believe my time at Europa has now finally come to a close, despite having tried to retire once before! I’m so pleased I decided to stay on when Andrew acquired the business because what followed were the best and most challenging years of my career. I took on the role of Domestic Transport Director and my place on the board at a pivotal time, just as the business launched its 1hub concept in 2015, a £30m facility in Dartford designed to speed up transit times and reduce handling by centralising all of its European road freight in one location.”
Horiba Mira, the engineering, research and product testing consultancy, has announced changes to its executive team, with Declan Allen becoming managing director. He will succeed Dr George Gillespie OBE who will be executive chairman of Horiba Mira, and also take on a more senior role as an executive vice president of the ATS division. Allen joined MIRA as Operations Director in August 2011 before taking on the increased responsibility of Chief Operating Officer (COO) in February 2013. He is a mechanical engineer by profession, and holds a masters in mechanical & industrial engineering from Queens University, Belfast.
In the light of the recent retirement of Martin Bragg, national fleet manager of Isuzu Truck UK, the truck has confirmed that Isuzu stalwart Lee Tansley is now taking over the national role of fleet sales manager, while Dave Slatcher is moving from his current regional ITUK dealer-based role to the newly-created position of municipal fleet sales manager. Tansley, a 15-year veteran of the company, is now stepping up to the national role of fleet sales manager, reporting directly to the company’s head of sales and marketing, Richard Waterworth. Announcing details of the changes, Isuzu Truck UK MD Pete Murphy said: “Martin is taking his well-earned retirement after spending all his working life in the commercial vehicle industry. He is incredibly well known and will be missed, not just here at Isuzu, but by customers and suppliers alike. However, we strongly believe that continuity is key to our long-term success here at Isuzu Truck, which is why we have made the changes involving Lee and Dave, who are both long established members of the Isuzu Truck sales team.”
CHARITY
The team behind van dealer Anchor Vans have once again signed up to take part in the gruelling physical challenge, Tough Mudder, to raise much-needed funds for the Rosemary Appeal. The super-strong crew of Anchor Vans staff members toughed it out at Henley on Sunday 6th May. The team’s chosen charity, the Rosemary Appeal, is working to raise £4.5 million to provide essential facilities to the local community at the centre at the West Berkshire Community Hospital.
A series of thought-provoking adverts are set to appear on buses and train stations around the UK, as part of a new campaign designed to draw attention to children’s mental health. The campaign, by Action for Children, highlights the fact that mental health issues, commonly identified in adults, often start in childhood. In April, FirstGroup and Action for Children launched a three-year charitable partnership. Through the partnership, FirstGroup is donating advertising space across its UK transport network, helping to place the charity’s message in front of millions of people.
Rygor employees from the Westbury branch of the Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle Dealer group came together in April to take part in a showroom cycle challenge, where they collectively pedalled more than 620km across the day in aid of Camp Mohawk, Shooting Star Chase and Wiltshire Air Ambulance. The Rygor team’s efforts saw them raise in excess of £800, which will go towards their annual £6,000 fundraising target for the three worthwhile causes. Graham Drake, Rygor owner director who took part in the showroom cycle challenge, said: “Charity events like this one are always great fun and it is fantastic to see the team come together to raise money for our Charities of the Year. The health and wellbeing of our team is an absolute priority, which is why we encourage team events and activities just like the cycle challenge. Furthermore, March was Rygor Wellness Month, where we put the spotlight on the importance of looking after ourselves and living a healthy life by sharing our team’s own health and wellbeing stories.”