Near Esher, (where I was going the following day for the Futurescape exhibition), we stopped to load 26 cubic metres of woodland mulch. John's skill with the grab was very much in evidence as he not only loaded from the main pile of mulch at the yard, but also tidied up bits of mulch which had been strewn about and very neatly packed down the mulch in the lorry to ensure a full load, while avoiding spreading the top layers all over the M25 when we later got up to full speed...
Compared to the morning drive, we had a much easier run back to Newenden, where I got off after 9 interesting hours, with a new perspective on driving, traffic and the London roads network!
Oxford Street looks different from the cab!
We continued down to Clapham Common, to the specific point indicated by our customer, Lambeth Council. There was nobody there, but a quick phone call to our contact promised he would be there in 15 mins. So it was time to grab some lunch from the nearby burger van. But of course, as soon as we had our food, the chap turned up, in a JCB. He then proceeded to tell us that we were in the wrong place and we should follow him to another place, at the south end of the Common. It remains a mystery to this day why we couldn't have been directed there in the first place...
But we got the fourteen bags of compost off and could continue empty (or "light" as we say at sea) down to Esher, to load some woodland mulch.
Logistics router and problem-solver
We are looking for a recent graduate (or similar) looking to develop a career in transport management, to join our team in a busy transport office. Must love transport and thrive on fast thinking under pressure. A good understanding of the roads, routes and layout of Southeast England and London is vital, as is the ability to communicate clearly and cheerily with customers and drivers.
Salary neg. - apply with CV to peter@bourne.uk.com
John Bourne & Co, the original company within the Group, providing haulage and lime, compost and other aggregate services throughout the Home Counties, has just been awarded CLOCS Champion status. This sounds like a Good Thing - but what is it? A little bit of investigation is called for.
So what is CLOCS? The acronym stands for Construction Logistics and Community Safety. It is an initiative stemming from a report published in 2013 by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) which highlighted the road safety problems when large construction vehicles operate in close proximity to vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists. A CLOCS community was formed, which published a national standard for improving and promoting road safety within the construction and logistics industry.
Haulage operators can demonstrate their commitment to better road safety by signing up to the CLOCS Memorandum of Understanding, and implementing a plan for continuous improvement. Obviously, as JB & Co already are FORS Gold accredited, this helps showing that we take these matters seriously. Having adopted the MoU and an implementation plan, and having been thoroughly assessed over a period of time, we have now been awarded the CLOCS Champion status.
Nobody works harder at safety and environmental issues than our transport management team - it's good to see all their efforts rewarded!
