The attributes of HGV Drivers are varied and the role itself more demanding than 10 years ago. A Sense of Responsibility – Alertness – An Ability to Work Independently – An Impeccable Driving Record – Customer Service Skills – Knowledge of Truck Mechanics – Maintenance Skills – Physical Stamina – Stress Management Skills – and Time Keeping are all key skills to being a successful driver on the busy UK highways.

Culina Group is an organisation that has enjoyed tremendous growth since entering the UK marketplace in 1994 and now has a turnover approaching £600 million. The food and drink logistics specialist has over 60 sites across the UK and Ireland and operates a fleet of more than 1000 trucks. To ensure that our vehicles reach their designated delivery locations on time we require the best drivers in the business. Culina Group are hiring nationwide and embracing the recruitment of female drivers into our winning team. Today the title of ‘HGV Driver’ is now a universal one with more and more women joining the profession.

Vicki Collins and Rebecca King are two superb examples of women succeeding brilliantly in this once ‘male dominated’ profession. We sat down with them to find out what they enjoyed most about being an HGV Driver and working for Culina Group.

Vicki Collins is based at Culina Bristol; she took her Class 1 HGV licence in 1991 and is now in her 27th year as a professional driver, 12 of those with Culina Logistics. Vicki says that she was not content with a job working indoors. She wanted to be out of the office and on the open road. She knew she had what it took to do the job and so that’s exactly what she did.

“I passed my Class 1 in 1991 with a previous company. My father played a part in my decision to take my Class 1 in the first place. He was a lorry driver many years ago and backed me all the way when getting my licence. I’ll never forget his face when I got home the day I passed my test, he was really proud.”

Being an HGV driver is a challenging role, meeting deadlines, dealing with road and traffic conditions, it’s an on-going test of resilience and mental adaptability. No two days are the same.

“Since I began driving the day to day challenges have remained the same. We all have those days where weather and traffic conditions can test one’s ability or resources. Then on the other hand there are days when it all ‘goes to plan’. Your mind-set has to be to ‘take the rough with the smooth’ in this job.”

Vicki and the other Drivers leave the Culina Logistics depot in Bristol each shift with their manifest for the days’ deliveries and collections. Operating with the latest vehicle tracking technology the transport staff can track loads at any given time, and as long as the Drivers call in to keep the Transport Team updated, they are trusted to get the job done. For Vicki, becoming an HGV Driver was a natural career choice, as it allows her to be on the open road whilst feeling like she is her own boss.

“I really enjoy being part of the Bristol team”, Said Vicki. “Pretty much all of our regular customers and contracts get used to seeing familiar drivers, you build up a rapport with them. When any concerns may arise, they appreciate it if you can ‘call base’ and sort it there and then… it helps your shift run smoothly whilst strengthening relationships. I enjoy interaction with our customers, plus, here at Culina Logistics I have the good fortune of working alongside great colleagues, who are helpful, patient, and always on hand to lend their expertise”

Vicki enjoys telling others about her job, “I have spoken with many people about what I do” said Vicki, “I tell them that haulage is not a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday career. It is a demanding job, the hours can be long and being a food and drink logistics operator, contractual deadlines have to be met 24/7. Flexibility is expected, but it works both ways.”

Whether you are Male or Female, the role of HGV Driver is a constantly evolving career, literally non-stop in many ways with changing legislation, improving fleet equipment and the progression of logistics technology.

“To anyone thinking about earning their licence, it’s not just about the driving; you can learn a lot more and after twenty-seven years I am still learning,” Said Vicki, “The company will always keep us updated on new rules and regulations that affect HGV Drivers, and our fleet is modern and complies fully with current legislation. Training days are provided so we are always developing individually and as a team. There are also opportunities to go further in the career if you wish, you can become a Driver Trainer, Driving Assessor, Coordinator or Planner.”

Vicki, one of an increasing numbers of women throughout the UK today that are proving beyond all doubt that being an HGV driver is a really great career choice.

“In the earlier days I did experience some resistance to being a woman in the industry, but that didn’t phase me whatsoever,” said Vicki, “Times have changed and now I see more women than ever in the role!”
Working alongside Vicki at Culina Logistics in Bristol is Rebecca King. A newer addition to the Bristol HGV Driver Team, she gives her own perspective on this exciting career opportunity.

“I’d had thoughts of becoming a Driver for a while, but never acted on the idea,” said Rebecca, “I would tell myself that there is no way I could drive a HGV but this was only because I’d never seen a female driver. Looking back now, that’s because I wasn’t really looking, there are thousands of women driving HGV’s!”

“I’m not exactly sure what made me want to become a driver? After completing my A-levels I didn’t know what I wanted to do in terms of a career. I went to college to learn beauty therapy. I completed the first year but realised I was not enjoying it. I hadn’t yet told anybody about my thoughts on driving for a living; I had kept them to myself. But as I was leaving the college on the last day, my tutor told me to do something different, something that I enjoy. He said maybe you should go and be a lorry driver. That was my mind made up! It reaffirmed the fact that others had faith in me to do a job like that. So, I booked my training a month later and here I am today!”

Rebecca has held her licence for nearly 6 years, she achieved her Class 2 at 19 years old, and Class 1 the following year and has been with Culina Logistics now for nearly 5 years. Her first driving job was in Bristol with a family run company, doing multi-drop’s around Bristol city centre and further afield. She believes this job gave her best start to her career.

“I love working for Culina Logistics,” said Rebecca, “Being part of a bigger company gives me much more security. You’ll never get asked to take a truck out that has a bald spot on the tyre and never get asked to go over your driving time to make a delivery. Culina Logistics respect the fact that it is the drivers themselves who will get the points or a fine if the authorities were to find anything wrong with a truck or trailer. Plus we have an excellent rating with the DVSA which means we have a well-maintained fleet that is fully compliant with road safety laws.”

“My favourite part of the job is the freedom. We can choose the route which we feel will be fastest or most likely to avoid the major traffic areas. We get to see beautiful parts of the country that we wouldn’t see if we were behind a desk, meet lovely people and all with a company behind us that appreciates the work we do and treats us well.”

“The advice I’d give to anyone looking at joining the industry would be to JUST DO IT! It’s a great job and within the right company you can really thrive and better your knowledge of the industry. If you get a year into it and decide it’s really not your cup of tea then you can find something else, but along as you keep your CPC training up to date you can always come back to it.”

More and more women are seeing a career as an HGV Driver as a valid option for them. If you have good time management, want to meet new people and explore the country then HGV Driver might just be the career path for you!

If you have the drive and want to make a positive difference in the logistics industry why not join Culina Groups winning team. You can view all of our current vacancies at www.culinacareers.co.uk.

The perception of the average HGV driver’s life on the road has changed somewhat over the years. Gone are the days of the romanticised free spirit of the road. These stereotypes have been replaced by the thoughts of a job that entails sitting in traffic all day and in a layby all night. But this is not the case. Yes, due to the increasing number of vehicles on the British highways, traffic is something to be expected these days however with good transport planning, hopefully, the majority of this can be avoided. The modern HGV driver is a highly skilled professional.

It costs £3,000 to fund the training required to become a qualified HGV driver which is believed to be one of the reasons deterring young drivers from joining the industry. This has to be seen as an investment in a driver’s career which they will more than earn back over time. Another reason possibly scaring off the potential drivers of tomorrow is that many of them believe that the actual driver of tomorrow will be a computer! Although self-driving vehicles do appear to be the ‘future’, that future is a long way off from being a commercial reality. With the years of testing and the laws that will need to be passed, I would imagine that a new driver has nothing to worry about. Even when these new machines come into use the driver’s role will not likely disappear but evolve into one of a managerial position. They will need to be on board to carry out the ‘trickier’ manoeuvres and in case of any onboard malfunctions. The reason for the autonomous truck is not to remove people, but to improve efficiency. If every truck is operating to the exact same specification and parameters you have the most efficient fleet possible…in theory. We have all been guilty of having a ‘heavy foot’ from time to time or getting lost in the radio and having to break harder than we would have liked to. The vehicles of tomorrow won’t have these issues but they will need to be overseen. After all, the last thing we want is a ‘Skynet’ situation on our hands. Many years down the road, Culina Group may have a fully automated fleet but until the tech catches up with the idea and it has proved itself to be safe and reliable, we will continue putting our trust in our team of hard-working human driver’s thank you very much.

Over 600+ tractor units in the group are Euro 6 standard and 500+ of those have ‘Step C’ engines, with the remainder to switch in the coming months. All of our vehicles run on high specification tyres to minimise rolling resistance, maximise fuel economy and to ensure that we are doing everything we can to lower our CO2 footprint.

We provide drivers with the best support system we can to enable them to perform their jobs safe in the knowledge that we have their backs. We have a great team of planners picking the most efficient routes, a 24hr helpline for all driver issues and full breakdown cover in case the worst happens. So even though being a HGV driver means having your independence on a daily basis out on the open road, we give our drivers peace of mind that we are here if and when they need us whatever the issue.

All of our staff members are important to our business and its smooth operation, but without driver’s, a client’s product wouldn’t reach its destination and the work that everyone before them had done would be rendered pointless. To recognise this, many of the Culina Group sites celebrate not only their ‘Employee of the Month’ but also their ‘Driver of the Month’ with site recognition and congratulatory gifts.

If you want to join an award-winning team, drive state of the art trucks and be known as the best in the business visit www.culinacareers.co.uk or contact recruitment@culina.co.uk to find out more.

The Microlise Awards each year recognise the UK’s most talented HGV drivers, acknowledge the vital work they do, and the professionalism with which they carry out their work.

“The Award for Driver Excellence was awarded to Culina Group for consistently having more drivers in the top 1,000 of the total Microlise measured population of over 180,000 than any other company,” Said Thomas Van Mourik – Culina Group CEO.

“We have now done this for the last three years! This is against most of our competitors and all the big retailers. This major independent Award recognises just how well we at Culina Group are using the Microlise system to support our on-going improvement in driver performance throughout the UK.”

The Microlise Awards were developed in cooperation with the vital support of The University of Nottingham, with a team at the Advanced Data Analytics Centre providing impartial analysis of telematics data.

With music being such an important part of any road trip we at Culina Group asked our drivers what their favourite songs are to drive to, and they did not disappoint with their responses.

Using their suggestions we have created a ‘Culina Group Driving Tunes’ Spotify playlist, made up of over 40 songs ideal to drum on the steering wheel to (in a completely safe manner of course). From Country to Classic Rock from Indie to Folk and some others sprinkled in for musical flavour, this playlist will keep you entertained while out on the road. Who knows, you might find your new favourite artist. If you like the playlist feel free to share the link on your chosen social platform.

The full playlist is as follows:

1.Convoy – C.W. McCall

2.The River – Bruce Springsteen

3.Slip the Clutch – Marty Mone

4.On the Road Again – Willie Nelson

5.Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

6.I’m Shipping Up To Boston – Dropkick Murphys

7.Planetary (GO!) – My Chemical Romance

8.East Bound and Down – Jerry Reed

9.Highway to Hell – AC/DC

10.Sultans of Swing – Dire Straights

11.You can Call Me Al – Paul Simon

12.I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)

13.Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen

14.I Drove All Night – Roy Orbison

15.Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel

16.California Dreaming – The Mamas & The Papas

17.Black Betty – Ram Jam

18.Go With The Flow – Queens Of The Stone Age

19.My Favourite Game – The Cardigans

20.Wake Up Boo! – The Boo Radleys

21.Staying Out For The Summer – Dodgy

22.Hundred Mile High City – Ocean Colour Scene

23.All Right Now – Free

24.Ace of Spades – Motorhead

25.Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen

26.You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – Bachman-Turner Overdrive

27.Cold As Ice – Foreigner

28.Since You Boon Gone – Rainbow

29.Monster – The Automatic

30.Wild Thing – The Troggs

31.Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones

32.Get Off Of My Cloud – The Rolling Stones

33.I Get Around – The Beach Boys

34.Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry

35.Help Me Make It Through The Night – Kris Kristofferson

36.Hit the Diff – Ritchie Remo

37.Raw Hide – The Blues Brothers

38.Long Way To Go – Alan Jackson

39.Red Light Spells Danger – Billy Ocean

40.Midnight City – M83

41.Stop The World (And Let Me Off) – Waylon Jennings

42.Whip it – Devo

You can listen to and download the ‘Culina Group Driving Tunes’ Spotify Playlist by following this link. Ideal for those perfect and not so perfect driving days.

If you have any late additions you would like to suggest please send them to us via Twitter (@Culina_Group) or on our Facebook page (Culina Group). We hope that this playlist will continue to grow in size and quality over the coming months.

The family car, however, is not seen by many in the same light as the family pet.

The car is the workhorse of the home, journeying from A to B and beyond. However, it shares many similarities with ‘Fido’. For example, if you ‘feed’ it with the right fuel, clean and care for it with regular trips to the garage, it will take care of you and your loved ones out on the ever-expanding UK road network.

Now! If you don’t have a dog or a car and are thinking of making an addition you’re your homestead there is a very important question you need to ask yourself. ‘Do I buy new, or ‘second hand’ / pre-loved?’

When it comes to a dog, you’ll most likely choose the cutest puppy you can find. You will then take it home to nurture and train so that you can watch it grow into a beloved member of the family. It’s not all going to be plain sailing, however. Puppies are often more expensive than an older dog. There are house and obedience training to consider, not to mention ensuring that they don’t chew everything in sight costing you even more money.

On the other hand, if you were to choose an older dog from a local rescue centre, you can find yourself with a dog who is already housetrained. Yes, there will be an acclimation period but once you’re through this, that dog will be as loving as any other as long as you take care of it.

The same goes for cars. The average family car costs £28,000 brand new. As long as you take care of it you will have many happy years driving around the country. You may enjoy the new car smell which fades over time and be wowed by all the technology hidden in the dash, half of which you may never use! One year later that same car could be worth £7,000 less with 10,000 miles on the clock and you have to ask yourself, ‘did I get my monies worth?’

If you decide for whatever reason to sell your relatively new car, imagine what a great deal this will be for the next owner. They are getting a nearly new car with low mileage for a great price. Still a reliable and loveable ‘workhorse’ to be accepted into any family.

Commercial fleets work in the same way as both of these examples. As long as a tractor/trailer unit is maintained and cared for it can be a valued asset to any business. Companies rely on these ‘steel horses’ to facilitate their day to day needs, making deliveries up and down the country transporting all kinds of goods. A well-maintained fleet is the backbone of any good logistics company.

As one of the top Logistics players in the UK, we at Culina Group make a commitment to client base to operate a brand new fleet on a two-year replacement cycle. We are on the road in a “state of the art” fleet. This is a significant cost obligation (like the puppy) that we fulfill on behalf of our clients to represent them as best we can at all times.

‘What happens to all of the ‘old’ trucks at the end of their two-year cycle?’ I hear you cry. Well, like the dogs home, all of our nearly new trucks receive a second chance to learn some ‘new tricks’ with a new logistics family. We sell these vehicles on our truck sales website, www.culinatrucksales.co.uk. All of our vehicles are fully maintained with a full-service history and would be a great addition to any fleet.

With the increasing popularity of sites such as eBay over the past 10 years it is getting easier to buy anything your heart desires including tractors and trailers, but there will always be that niggle in the back of your mind regarding reliability. Is the description 100% reliable, are they hiding anything from the potential buyer? The reliability of a vehicle can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. If you are unable to make a delivery due to a vehicle being stuck on the side of the road because a snap decision was made on price over quality, this could be detrimental not only to your profits but to your reputation also.

Well, with Culina Group you will have none of that worry. You can call our Fleet Manager to discuss any vehicle advertised and arrange a viewing to suit you.

Our vehicles are beloved members of the Culina Group family but the time comes when we just have to let them go. We thank them for their service and hope they can find themselves a new home where they can be loved once more. And if your heart is set on a cab with that ‘new interior smell’ I’m sure we could throw in an air freshener to sweeten the already great deal.

The FTAvision Compliance Award is presented to the Culina site that has, over a complete calendar year, kept their EU driver’s hours and working time rule infringements to a minimum when matched against other Culina sites.

To win this award three years running shows the fantastic attitude the Milton Keynes team have towards compliance. The drivers understand what is expected from them and are committed to keeping infringements as low as possible.

“It’s great to see the Transport Team at Milton Keynes setting a very high standard and showing a concerted effort to ensure repeat infringements are kept to a minimum.” Said Mick McCarron, Transport Director.

Culina Logistics Milton Keynes has a robust procedure in place where they monitor closely any driver infringements. They look to re-train at the earliest opportunity so that a driver who may be weak in a certain area can be brought up to speed quickly. This sets an excellent training standard and following re-training drivers very often do not repeat the infringement that they made previously.

All Culina Logistics (Chilled) and ex Culina Ambient sites had their 2016 tachograph data processed by the FTA (freight Transport Association). The FTA were looking at infringements, number of re-offenders, utilising the FTAvision system to de-brief drivers correctly, a percentage comparison against Culina sites and industry sector average.

Congratulations to the Milton Keynes team. This is a team effort and everyone involved was instrumental in this achievement.

Seventy eight Culina drivers, representing almost 10% of the company’s driver workforce have been recognised for completing a full calendar year without a single Tachograph infringement to their name.

“This announcement is a real testimony to our driver professionalism”, commented Pip Bains – Culina Group Fleet Compliance Manager.

“At Culina we are very particular about driver recruitment. Despite the major current challenges in this area in the UK, we at Culina are able to recruit the best.”

“We pay well, we provide great fleet and driver conditions, and it’s made really clear to our drivers that they are an absolutely key component of our company. Culina stand or fall by the quality of the drivers we recruit and train”

“Culina recognises what a fantastic achievement this is and is proud to display the drivers name prominently at their home depots. Only drivers that had driven for 100 days and over were eligible for analysis and each received a performance bonus of £100.00.”

This unique level of driver professionalism has been achieved through an on-going focus by Culina management and staff to a commitment to efficient, safe, and correct driving standards throughout the company’s operation.

“To absolutely minimise our on-going impact on the environment, Culina are looking at fuel economy, vehicle efficiency, and vehicle utilisation from many angles”, said Group Fleet Manager – Mark Matkin.

“We have made significant investments in developing an extremely aerodynamic fleet of units and trailers. Our Culina fleet runs on high specification (Goodyear “Fuel Max”) tyres that minimise rolling resistance and maximise fuel economy.”

“We have recently invested in new “Slipstream” fuel efficient aerodynamic rigid fleet. Urban short trailers are being utilised to optimise fleet usage, provide fleet flexibility, and minimise unnecessary mileage.”

“Another significant environmental investment we have made is in trailers. We now have 62 LST Trailers (Longer Semi Trailers) which can carry between 2 & 4 Pallets extra. We will now be taking trailers off the road and moving more goods per trailer”.

State of the art refrigerated curtain sider trailers have also been introduced to the Culina Fleet. These special trailers can deliver chilled goods and then collect ambient goods and vice versa, again minimising unnecessary fleet mileage and optimising fleet usage.

“We now have the greenest fleet available to Culina”, said Mark, “This is testimony to Culina’s commitment to environmental efficiency”.

The FTA Award is recognised as prestigious within the industry and highlight members’ efforts to stay compliant with driver hour’s legislation, and ensuring that they keep their drivers safe and legal.

Culina has received the Award for three consecutive years. As a leading provider of logistics services for chilled and ambient food and drink companies in the UK, Culina specialises in the development and implementation of total supply chain solutions for major or niche ambient and chilled brand manufacturers and distributors.

The high standards at the organisation’s Milton Keynes depot in particular, were highlighted for a second year running. The site stood out with an average of just 3% of its core drivers having infringements on a daily basis. Additionally, it had the lowest percentage of drivers with repeat contraventions indicating the robust systems in place monitoring driver performance.

The Tachofta Award was presented to Culina at Milton Keynes by FTA Director of Operations – June Powell, who said: “FTA analyses more than 20 million driver days and recognises the efforts Operators make in order to achieve such high standards. To be presented with this Award once is a great achievement, but for Culina to receive their third is testimony that the systems they have in place are key to retaining such a high level of compliance. We are delighted to continue to work with Culina to both support their internal systems and evolve Visionfta.”

Fleet Compliance Manager at Culina, Pip Bains said: “One of the most rewarding things for any transport manager is the knowledge that they run a very compliant operation and have staff in place to ensure a continuous commitment to legislation. Our Milton Keynes depot have now won this award for 2 out of the last 3 years proving yet again that driver compliance, safety and well being are at the foremost of all their procedures. A huge well done to all the team at Milton Keynes, keep up the great work!”

This move by Culina ensures that clients have the guarantee that their product temperature will be maintained in the event of a power outage.

“This is a significant contingency investment by Culina to ensure that we are not compromised whilst client products are in our care”, said David Lowe, Culina Commercial Director.

“We want to be completely confident that in the event of a power failure our client’s products are protected. Especially when considering the ever growing strain on the UK power network. We at Culina are proud of the market leading service that we provide to our clients and its investments such as this that really differentiates us as a business”

The Himoinsa HTW-1390 T5 “heavy range” diesel generator container is powered by Mitsubishi and will be based initially at Culina Market Drayton.
Culina Group currently has 17 strategically located sites across the UK and Ireland, providing 3 million sq. ft. of warehousing space, while it also operates a fleet of 350 trucks and 650 trailers.

Culina employs over 3,000 people and has an enviable client list containing nearly 200 brands and manufacturers, many of which are household names.