JWS News Bulletin Issue 51 - Summer Edition - July 2009

Contents

1mKm Challenge

David Barratt, of Insurers OAMPS and David Selby of safety organisation Brake, will today launch Suckling Transport’s 1mKm Challenge.

 

18 teams of employees will be asked to complete one million kilometers of driving at work without having an accident, crossover, spillage or personal injury of any kind.

 

Each team has now elected a Captain and chosen the Charity they wish to support.  Full details of the chosen charities are shown on the back page of this Bulletin.

 

Members of the winning teams will each receive specially commissioned pens and key rings and the winning team will receive a crystal trophy and a donation to the charity of their choice.  We can announce today that the first successful charity will receive £1,500.

 

Each employee is included in two teams: the operating centre at which they are based, and an international team according to the location of the terminal at which they work.  Grangemouth, Aberdeen and Inverness drivers will represent Scotland; Cardiff and Pembroke employees represent Wales; and the remaining operating centres make up the England team.

 

Good luck to everyone.

Welcome to Worcester

The Company’s annual race day takes place at Worcester today and features the Suckling Transport Handicap Chase.  Racing has been taking place on the banks of the river Severn since 1718 and as such, Worcester is one of the oldest courses in the country.

 

The first race meetings were on the flat, and in 1755 jump racing was introduced.  Flat racing ended in 1966 and in 1995 Worcester switched from winter to summer jumping.

Trainer Sue Smith (above) has won the Suckling Transport Handicap Chase twice previously and, she is hopeful of repeating her victory of last year.

Is ZIP a winner?

At the time of going to press, results from the Brake Fleet Forum Safety Awards evening at Warwick on 25th June 2009, were not known.

 

Suckling Transport had been nominated for an award for its Zero Incident Project.

 

The ZIP initiative is still on-going.  Many elements of the project have been implemented, but some trials continue.

 

Work also continues with RTL on the further developments of audible risk alert messages to drivers.  The first stage of this was to cover accident black spots.

Sarah Andrews has been busy identifying the longitude and latitude of black spots, so they may be geo-fenced and advised to drivers as they approach them.

Start of a new contract

Suckling Transport’s new contract with Shell starts today.  Some new vehicles and trailers have already gone into service and others will be delivered over the coming months.

 

All new vehicles and trailers delivered until April 2010 will be in Shell livery to meet the branding requirements of that customer.

A new MAN truck and a Lakeland tank trailer, in Shell livery were exhibited at the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers Exhibition at Harrogate in April.

The new Lakeland trailers will replace the current Millennium tank trailers as they reach the end of their lease agreement this year.

 

All vehicles will be fitted with on-board computers by the end of September 2009 as part of the Zero Incident Safety Initiative.

A grand win

Hythe-based driver Darryl Cohen (bottom photo) and his Grangemouth colleague Mike Pritchard (below) each won £1,000 in the bi-annual Safety Bonus draw last month.

 

£24,370 is the current jackpot fund which will be paid out to the safest drivers on the Shell contract in October 2009.

32 drivers are still in the Jackpot Pool.

Last year 40 drivers shared £17,740 and 4 drivers each won £1,000 in the half-year draw.

 

Representatives Danny Hughes and Gordon Johnstone met management last month to review the bonus scheme.

 

Should there be any changes to the bonus scheme, these will be advised shortly.

What's going to work?  Teamwork!

Welcome to our new Teamwork feature.  Has your team achieved something to be proud of? Then let Sue Nicholas know.

This quarter we feature our drivers working on the Shell contract at Cardiff.  The photo shows Shop Steward, Neil Lewis and his colleague Jeff Palmer receiving the Tachofta Award from Angela Whitehouse of the Freight Transport Association for being the most compliant team.

Well done!

 

Driver CPC

Legislation covering the new LGV Driver Certificate of Professional Competence is introduced to the UK in September 2009.

 

Unfortunately it seems Suckling Transport has been thwarted in its wish to produce a uniform response to those requirements across the whole of its business.  It had been hoped that the first two years of the 5-year CPC training could be used in a very positive manner for its workforce.  However, plans to use 2010 and 2011 to facilitate NVQ Level 2 and NVQ Level 3 qualifications for drivers will need to be limited to drivers based in England and Wales.  Grants towards these qualifications are not currently available in Scotland.

 

Suckling Transport has delayed the introduction of its Driver CPC training from its introduction date of 9th September 2009 until 1st January 2010 in the hope that this issue can be resolved.

 

In the absence of a common-sence response from the Government, the NVQ training will be provided by fuels distribution experts OES, which is an associate of Suckling Transport’s insurers OAMPS, to drivers on our Contracts with ConocoPhillips.  The Company will seek an alternative solution to its CPC training requirements on other Cotracts.

 

Letters have been sent to several appropriate Members of Parliament to enlist their support for grant aid in Scotland.

The 5 question interview

Jim Stephen, Suckling Driver of the Year 2008, took the 5 question interview this time round.

 

What did you do before joining Suckling’s?

Long distance LGV driver.

 

What was the worst job you ever had?

I worked for a tree surgeon for a week (Ed: that was a saw question.).

What was the last CD you bought?

Pink Floyd

 

What was your most memorable day?

21 years of age passing LGV test.

 

Where was the best holiday you ever had?

Portugal, very nice country.

 

Can you suggest an employee who should face the 5 question interview?

1mKm Charities

The 1mKm Challenge is launched today with two aims.  Firstly to reduce accidents on our roads and secondly to raise money for charities chosen by our employees.

 

The Team Captains and the Charities have been selected by the drivers at each terminal.

 

The England team is captained by John Thompson (based at West London Terminal) and the chosen charity is C.L.I.C, the Children’s Cancer and Leukemia charity.

 

The Scotland team is captained by Gordon Johnstone (based at Grangemouth Terminal) and the chosen charity is the McMillan Cancer Trust.

The Welsh team is captained by Jeff Palmer and they will be raising money for the Welsh Cancer Charity Tenovus.

Each terminal also has its own team and the Captains and Charities are as follows:

 

Hythe: Gary Palmer – Wessex Cancer Trust.

 

Coryton: Alan Archer (below) – NSPCC.

West London: John Thompson -  Cancer Research

Westerleigh: Peter Marjorams (right)– Brake

Plymouth: Richard Burrows – C.L.I.C.

 

Grangemouth (TankShare): Gary McLaughlin (below) – International Rescue Corp.

Grangemouth (Shell): Gordon Johnstone – CHAS.

 

Aberdeen & Inverness: Mark Lyons & Jim Stephen – British Heart Foundation.

 

Cardiff: Jeff Palmer – George Thomas Hospice.

 

Pembroke: Phil ‘Iffy’ Rowlands – RNLI Pembroke.

 

West Thurrock: Alan Dodson – Brake

Driver Instructor / Assessor Team chosen

Following a review of the Company’s driver training procedures, six employees have been selected to form Suckling Transport’s Driver Instructor / Assessor team.

The team will receive external training by Smith Systems in October 2009, which will enable them to provide on-going training of this system to our employees.

David Elliott (above), Bruce Dalgleish (right) and Dave Shaw (bottom left) have been appointed as Senior Instructors and they will be supported by Scott Douglas, Richard Burrows and Nigel Harding.

The six employees will be among the first in the UK to qualify for the new Driver Certificate of Professional Competence that will be introduced in September.

Other News...

Safety Talks

The dates for Q3: 2009 Driver Safety Talks are shown below.

 

SHELL

Grangemouth   7/8th July

Pembroke         7/8th July

Cardiff            6/9th July

Aberdeen           14th July

Inverness        15th July

Avonmouth        27&30th July

Plymouth        28/29th July

Hythe                 11/12th August

 

CONOCOPHILLIPS

Coryton              5th August

West London   23rd July 2009

Westerleigh      19th August 2009

 

PETROPLUS

Westerleigh      19th August 2009

 

TOTAL UK

Kingsbury          24th August

 

Tacho Checks

The Freight Transport Association will be conducting their quarterly checks on Tachograph charts at our operating centres on the dates shown below.

 

Aberdeen  – Digitally sent

 

Pembroke – Digitally sent

 

Inverness – Digitally sent

 

Plymouth – Digitally sent

 

W. Thurrock / Immingham / Westerleigh & Kingsbury – w/c 13th July 2009

 

Hythe – 16/17th July 2009

 

Grangemouth – w/c 20th July 2009

 

Cardiff – 21st July 2009

 

Avonmouth – 22nd July 2009

 

Unite-d

Unite the Union (formerly TGWU) has signed a recognition agreement with Suckling Transport, covering employees working on the Company’s contract with Shell.

 

This agreement replaces the previous joint agreement that included other companies working for this customer.

 

Separate Regional Agreements exist with Unite on the Companies other contracts.

 

News Bulletin

The next issue of the bulletin will be in October 2009. 

 

Please let Sue Nicholas have any news items by early September 2009 please.

 

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