Derek Linch in Administration

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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Dieselcowboy:
have had business and personal dealings with Derek and Del, and the drivers. What a lovely bunch of people to deal with-always! Derek has been so disolusioned with the UK Haulage scene I’m surprised they stayed open as long as they did.

I would imagine that the writing was on the wall for Derek Linch for many years, as it has been for all of us here in east Kent, an area which was once chock-full of international hauliers, but that just like my last employer he struggled on for as long as he could simply because the thought of laying off people he had worked with for decades was horrifying.

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I believe that Hurst Transport in Stallingborough has just gone the same way, went into administration this afternoon. Yet another company bites the dust.

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Big Rich:
I believe that Hurst Transport in Stallingborough has just gone the same way, went into administration this afternoon. Yet another company bites the dust.

That would be these then!

hursttransport.com/index.htm

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One for Harry Monk :smiley:

This is bugging me now…who was it in Paddock Wood in the mid 80’s in similar colours to Hurst?

They did fruit and veg, and I have a feeling it may have been Henley?

Are they still going?

A& RJ Wood are they still at Teynham?

George Hammond? what happened to them?

What about the bright yellow lorries from Mereworth?
I always kept well to the left when I met one of those doing the coldstores in the backwoods :smiley:

Sorry for the reminiscing, but they were probably the happiest days of my driving career.
Is EKP still going, and Highland Court Farm?
Chart Court Packers at Loose?
Paddock Wood Imports?

I may not get back to this until Monday as I’m away for the weekend :unamused:

Pat

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flat to the mat:

newmercman:

bloodoodle:
We also have a lot of people who have no respect for a thread about a very old, well respected Haulage firm going into administration.

A lot of us have fond memories of Derek Linch and are sad to see it go, so can I suggest an this is not the place for an argument about EU drivers or Tesco’s?

Pat

My first thoughts echoed yours, but they are relevant, if the competition from EE wasn’t able to drive rates down to such low levels then DL would still be around, high fuel costs may be to blame, but if it wasn’t for economic migration, rates would reflect the high fuel costs and Brit hauliers wouldn’t be so fragile :bulb:

To play Devil’s Advocate even more, DL could’ve lowered his fuel costs considerably if he removed all the junk off the roof of his lorries and didn’t run super singles on the front, all the spotlights and crap may look nice but they cost up to 1mpg, maybe that extra mpg could’ve made the firm more competitive :bulb:

Ha ha ha ,PMSL,this coming from the driver of the Ducknosaur,who has the bare faced cheek to take the ■■■■ out of Moyles in his plastic Pete.
I’ll suggest to your boss that the financial benefits of running “modern” trucks could catch on if fuel bonuses were shared with his drivers :wink: Can see you in a nice plain Columbia with a towel on your swede.
Yeah your playing Devils Advocate. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

You stay away from my Boss with all that talk of Columbias :laughing: :laughing:

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Harry,

It’s the same Derk Linch I was talking about, they have toned things down a bit with the lights and stuff, remember I’ve been away for a while now so haven’t seen them on the road lately, but when they were taking part in the earlier fuel protests there was one of his trucks at the front of the parade, it was dripping in lights, running super singles etc, they also used to have generous limiters, maybe as they got bigger they lost the bling, the super singles are necessary if you run big tanks on the units, but they do increase fuel use, I very much doubt it was the reason they closed the doors though, even if it was it would be a sad state of affairs if you couldn’t afford to run anything other than a plain white fleet spec lorry to stay in business.

Whatever the case, it’s a sad day, sad for the drivers, sad for the office staff, sad for the owners, sad for the local economy, that part of the world has took a real beating since the EE invasion :cry:

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newmercman:
Harry,

It’s the same Derk Linch I was talking about, they have toned things down a bit with the lights and stuff, remember I’ve been away for a while now so haven’t seen them on the road lately, but when they were taking part in the earlier fuel protests there was one of his trucks at the front of the parade, it was dripping in lights, running super singles etc, they also used to have generous limiters, maybe as they got bigger they lost the bling, the super singles are necessary if you run big tanks on the units, but they do increase fuel use, I very much doubt it was the reason they closed the doors though, even if it was it would be a sad state of affairs if you couldn’t afford to run anything other than a plain white fleet spec lorry to stay in business.

Whatever the case, it’s a sad day, sad for the drivers, sad for the office staff, sad for the owners, sad for the local economy, that part of the world has took a real beating since the EE invasion :cry:

ever considered the fact that his drivers used to personalise their trucks,with their own cash■■? Amazing all the knockers and know it alls come out after it’s all over!!! And as for super singles, mmmmmm, i have read various reports testing them,fuel over axle loadings etc,amazing how lots of people who run heavy weight on the front still use them,and not for aesthetic purposes?

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Dieselcowboy:
And as for super singles, mmmmmm, i have read various reports testing them,fuel over axle loadings etc,amazing how lots of people who run heavy weight on the front still use them,and not for aesthetic purposes?

On a rigid, maybe! However, in my experience (and the appliance of a bit of science) the short wheelbase of a tractor unit means there is next to bugger all difference in steer-axle loading whether loaded or empty up to the standard 44-ton limit - almost all the weight tends to sit on the drive/midlift, and even with a tag your fifth wheel should be far enough back not to make a difference. To get any meaningful weight over the steer axle at 44T would mean having the fifth wheel so far forward that you would more than likely start to have handling issues!

Unless you’re running STGO or some other specialist/high weight transport then super-singles on the steer are purely an ego-massage, and anyone who says different just doesn’t understand simple high-school physics!

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well forgive me for being so thick. After all, as I said I read the reports, silly me, and obviously read them wrong! Obviously this was some time ago,probably round about the same time Linch was putting them on his trucks, like a lot of people at the time,and the same time they tested the theories in the trade press. Think someone better tell all the fridge boys who run them that they are just posing?

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Dieselcowboy:
Think someone better tell all the fridge boys who run them that they are just posing?

It doesn’t make any difference whether it’s a fridge, flat or even a sliding skelly! Prividing your unit is configured properly, then at 44T you will NOT get enough weight over the steer axle of a tractor unit to need the extra few hundred kilo’s that running super singles will allow.

I will concede that a 4x2 unit may have some limited benefit in running supersingles, particularly with hanging meat or something with a similarly dodgy centre-of-gravity, but if your fifth-wheel/kingpin are set up properly you still shouldn’t need super-singles on the steer axle!

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Dieselcowboy:
well forgive me for being so thick. After all, as I said I read the reports, silly me, and obviously read them wrong! Obviously this was some time ago,probably round about the same time Linch was putting them on his trucks, like a lot of people at the time,and the same time they tested the theories in the trade press. Think someone better tell all the fridge boys who run them that they are just posing?

Daf did a test in the late 90s with a standard SSC, then put all the lights, mirror guards, super singles etc on it and it dropped a mpg compared to the bare cab. So if fuel economy is your priority then it doesn’t matter who buys the chrome, it’s still going to hurt the bottom line :open_mouth:

Super singles can have a greater rolling resistance than a regular all position tyre (commonly referred to as a steer tyre) depending on the tyre choice, for instance a Michelin Energy 385/65 could and probably does have a better rolling resistance than a spurious 295/80 steer tyre from China. A super single may last a lot longer than a regular sized tyre, but diesel costs a lot more than rubber and a low rolling resistance tyre will save money even if it’s twice the initial price of one with a higher rolling resistance :bulb:

I never knocked the bloke, nowhere was it said that fuel use put him out of business, it was high fuel costs, in theory it may have been possible to continue for a little longer, The FH and Merc are not the best motors out there for mpg, there are lots of other measures that can be used to squeeze more out of every drip of fuel, if this had been done then maybe an extra mpg would have put less strain on the cheque book and DL may have weathered the storm until it passed, one way or another things will have to change in regard to fuel prices and soon.

It may have just been the straw that broke the Camel’s back, too much competition, rate cutting etc etc, whatever the case, it is as I said, sad for all involved :cry:

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I believe there are two more reasons for fitting super singles on the front steer, it can get you home by only needing one spare wheel plus a spacer, and they are cheaper than a set of Michelin Pilote Steers.

As a couple have already mentioned, the benefit in raised axle weights is negligible unless you are running 4x2 with a deep pin. *It was this configuration we ran at Transalliance, and with over 3500 trucks and a tyre supply / testing deal with both Goodyear Dunlop and Michelin, I am sure the whole fleet would have been on super singles if it was a benefit to fuel economy. After all we ran Energy tyres, 82kmh limiters and didn’t use the peage.

*This configuration worked well in France as a 13tonne drive axle is much easier to get things right than in the UK :exclamation:

I believe it was a Dutch import and like the yellow lights on the dash, the Spanish spears and dashboard coffeemakers, we copied them. The difference is we were running at 40,000kg while they were running at 50 tonne.

I also don’t think it is aimed solely at Derek Linch, it was an off the cuff comment that was blown up and then proven to be true by images on another thread.

It is most definitely bad news for DL and Kent, but he is not the first and certainly will not be the last. At least he has held his hands up, enough is enough, and there will be an auction sale, rather than taking half a dozen subbies with him.

I wish him well in his car racing :wink:

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The boss of a Kent haulage company which went out of business last week has warned that soaring fuel prices will lead to the loss of more firms.

Derek Linch closed his Romney Marsh business after 33 years, citing the rising cost of fuel as a major factor.

He said he could no longer compete with foreign lorries which filled up on the continent with cheaper diesel.

Roads minister Mike Penning has pledged to help UK hauliers by introducing a lorry road user charging scheme.

Mr Linch has urged the Chancellor “to do a deal for UK operators” in the Budget.

George Osborne has hinted that he may freeze fuel duty, scrapping the rise planned for next month, when he presents his Budget on Wednesday.

Mr Linch said he put his business into voluntary liquidation because he could not “meet all his commitments”.

At its height, his company had a fleet of 30 lorries, which he reduced to 20 three years ago because he could not keep up with the “foreign competition”.

‘Brimming with diesel’
He said coupled with the loss of a key contract in September 2009, the continual rise in fuel had made it impossible to survive.

“Fuel prices have always been an issue with UK truckers, but it’s just got to a point now where we just can’t carry on,” he said.

“In the last 15 months the fuel price has gone up from 90p a litre, net of VAT, to 115p … we buy 80,000 litres a month on average, so that’s about £20,000 a month.”

Mr Linch said the “constant stream of foreign operators” coming into the UK was also a huge problem.
He said the drivers were working for “a quarter of the wages that our guys are working for”.

“The trucks do not pay a penny towards our UK economy, they’re driving on our roads free of charge, they’re coming in brimming with diesel… and something’s got to be done,” he said.

Roads minister Mike Penning is planning to introduce a lorry road user charging scheme.

The Department for Transport said the scheme would create “a more level playing field with foreign trucks for the first time by making them pay to use British roads”.

The scheme is due to come into force in 2014.

Mr Linch said the loss of his haulage business had left him feeling “absolutely gutted”.

“I’ve worked my backside off for the last 33 years - that’s my life.”

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-12803498

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Who was the other company i think from larkfield, they run a tidy fleet red trucks if i remember

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I heard him on Radio Kent this morning, well, as much as they let stay in the interview, which wasn’t much to be fair.
Are the East Europeans really on a quarter of the wages?, does anybody know that fir a fact?
Mr Linch said the loss of his haulage business had left him feeling “absolutely gutted”, me too, hope he shut it in time to pay off all the peeps owed money.

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TDL102:
I heard him on Radio Kent this morning, well, as much as they let stay in the interview, which wasn’t much to be fair.
Are the East Europeans really on a quarter of the wages?, does anybody know that fir a fact?

I know of Romanians pulling unaccompanied trailers out of Ramsgate who are on £700 a month, which is about a quarter of what you would expect to earn being away all month, and a third of what you would earn doing a job where you got home every week.

TDL102:
Mr Linch said the loss of his haulage business had left him feeling “absolutely gutted”, me too, hope he shut it in time to pay off all the peeps owed money.

I believe he did.

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TDL102:
I heard him on Radio Kent this morning, well, as much as they let stay in the interview, which wasn’t much to be fair.
Are the East Europeans really on a quarter of the wages?, does anybody know that fir a fact?
Mr Linch said the loss of his haulage business had left him feeling “absolutely gutted”, me too, hope he shut it in time to pay off all the peeps owed money.

He was also on our local tv bbc news south east tonight, at his transport yard, More or less saying the same thing.He was also the biggest employer in new romney. so hope his drivers get sorted :wink:

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Sorry if im being thick but could someone please tell me what a super single is? (many thanks)

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matizerSCANIAR480:
Sorry if im being thick but could someone please tell me what a super single is? (many thanks)

A tyre which has the same profile as a trailer tyre, i.e. wider than the normal tyre you would expect to see on a steer axle. .

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matizerSCANIAR480:
Sorry if im being thick but could someone please tell me what a super single is? (many thanks)

It is a generic name for a large low profile trailer tyre which is commonly used on the front axle of tractor units.

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