In this month’s success feature, in conjunction with the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), Louise Robinson talks to the managing director of Elddis Transport, a North-East family firm that is, literally and figuratively, delivering the goods for its clients.

IT’S the industry that quietly keeps the country moving, that gets the bread to our table and the coffee to our cup.

Transport. And it is something that Nigel Cook knows a thing or two about.

The fourth generation of Cook to run a business in this field, Nigel has transport in his blood. Now at the helm of a £21m-turnover company, Elddis Transport, the name of Mr Cook’s grandfather, Siddle, spelt backwards, he has followed in the footsteps of his forefathers, something he always knew he would do.

“I took my first pay packet when I was only 12 years old, driving forklifts to help with the business. That was before health and safety – you couldn’t do that now.

“I definitely knew early on that it was something I wanted to do. I have grown up with trucks and it is something that gets into your blood.”

And Mr Cook has proved that he has the same business instinct that allowed his father to expand the Consett-based company so rapidly. Having taken over as managing director in 2000, he has steadily expanded the business, increasing the firm’s fleet of vehicles from 106 to 160 to meet customer demand. But, Mr Cook is clear that Elddis does not have an aggressive growth strategy.

“As a family-run business, we take a longer term view when we make decisions. As we don’t have external shareholders, we don’t have to deliver growth and focus on annual budget targets in the way a public company does.

“I have never looked to double the business overnight. It has always been about growing sustainably, and in a way that ensures we remain profitable.”

Organic is the best way to describe the growth of the business. Elddis Transport has built its reputation through word of mouth, retaining existing business, and expanding with its clients to help it achieve sustained growth.

“We offer a lot of flexibility for our clients. Years ago, if we ran a vehicle on a Saturday night it was a complete shock to the system. Now we have drivers who start their working week on a Saturday. But as we move towards a 24/7 society, we have had to change the way we do business. We need to respond to what the market wants and adapt quickly to meet the needs of our customers – it is all about keeping them happy.”

And Elddis is clearly doing that. The facts speak for themselves; 60 per cent of the business’s turnover comes from customers who have been working with the company for more than 20 years.

“That’s a record we’re really proud of. We work 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, and everything we do is based on what our customers need.

“There is no doubt about it, it is a really tough industry and our drivers work very hard. They live, eat and sleep in their vehicle five days a week, which is definitely not everyone’s idea of fun. But as a business, we have to deliver when our customers need us to.”

Elddis has a large number of North-East clients, including SCA Hygiene, in Prudhoe, Northumberland, and Tata Global Beverages, in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton.

But while it remains a familyrun business, the scale of the operation is staggering.

The company’s fleet of vehicles travels more than 15 million miles a year – getting through about 25,000 litres of diesel every day.

“It’s like telephone numbers,”

says Mr Cook.

“We talk about small businesses, compared with big businesses, and they all have exactly the same problems, but with more noughts on the end.

It’s all relative.”

THE business is very much aware of the environmental cost of what it does. With each of its vehicles racking up an average of 180,000km a year, Elddis has invested time and money into ensuring it is doing everything possible to improve its green credentials.

“We’ve done a lot of work, particularly recently, on looking at different types of aerodynamics. We have invested in bespoke aerodynamics and tried different spoiler kits that helped to improve fuel economy.

We have also built our trailers 0.5 metres higher than standard ones, allowing us to deliver increased loading capacity for our clients – this has been of real benefit too.”

But it is not just the environmental cleanliness of his vehicles that concerns Mr Cook. The appearance of his fleet is something that is very important to him.

“The trailers are the image of our business. Our advertising is 160 vehicles going up and down the motorway. They are what our customers and potential customers see, so they need to look good.

“My father still has an involvement in the business and the first thing he does on a morning when he comes in is to make sure that the vehicle washer is working. If he is travelling, we’ll often get a phone call from him saying, make sure such-and-such a vehicle gets back, because it needs to get through the wash.

He still takes a real pride in the image of the company.”

So, will the family business pass into the hands of either of Mr Cook’s two children when he decides to retire?

“I don’t know about that. My son, who is 16, has helped out here for work experience, but my children have other interests at the moment, we will have to wait and see.”

And what keeps Mr Cook interested in the business? “I am a truck person. I have a licence and I actually quite enjoy driving. I did a couple of days of driving in December, in the run-up to Christmas when we were busy.

“I have actually turned up for meetings in an ‘artic’. I like to make sure I keep my hand in, even if it is just a couple of days a year, to make sure I know the working environment of my drivers.”

WITH such a close handle on the business, you would be forgiven for thinking that he would have little time for hobbies. But Mr Cook is happy to change his suit for his training kit to enjoy an evening run; something he is spending a lot of time doing at the moment in support Willow Burn Hospice, in County Durham.

The company has raised more than £65,000 for the Lanchesterbased hospice, donating 15p for every mile driven by a speciallybranded vehicle that features a matching registration plate W11 OWH.

But Mr Cook, who is now a patron of the charity, wanted to do even more for it and committed to run ten halfmarathons over ten months to raise money for the charity.

“I wanted to do something personally to support them, but couldn’t figure out what to do.

Then, after a couple of bottles of wine, I decided running was the way forward.

“I have already completed the Great North Run, as well as half-marathons in the Isle of Man, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Benidorm, Majorca and Norway.

I am going to Marrakesh to do one, then in March I am heading to Portugal and in April I finish in Prague, so that will be all ten. I have already topped my £10,000 target.

“The beauty of running is that it gives me thinking time.

The phone doesn’t ring and there is nobody talking to me, so I can practically run the business as I run.”

He adds: “Running a family business means that I think about work a lot. It is hard to switch off because I take such a pride in the company.

“But we’ve been here 40 years and I intend to make sure we’ll be here for 40 more.”