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1 THE PRESENT 0 ENID ROOCROFT A sense of service
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Sav Seddon Atkinson to many a fleet engineer and they reply "Enid". They know her; and she , knows them. "I'm front man for this side of the organisation," she says, a position she unwittingly landed when she became secretary to the service manager 20 years ago.
Things have changed since Enid Roocroft's first day when the former service manager would stand over her with a ruler and rap her on the knuckles whenever she typed a mistake.
Her boss today service manager Mike Fairbrother, is nowhere near so cruel, He knows full well that Enid is now known by many Seddon Atkinson customers and dealers for her sound technical knowledge and her efficiency in a crisis. "When you've got an operator on the phone who's very upset because his 040,000 truck is off the road and I can't get hold of my boss Mike or the field service manager, I've got to do something." She admits to a certain satisfaction in deflating male prejudice with her expertise. "Like the one who wanted to know where the greasepoints for the automatic chassis tubes were and was flabbergasted when I told him straight off. He made me go and check but I was right," she says.
Enid's mechanical knowledge has largely been built up through sitting in on the company's training courses. She arranges at least one course a month, ranging from hands-on vehicle maintenance to twice-yearly specialist service managers conferences, which Seddon Atkinson offers to the brewery, food, hazardous goods and oil industries.
Enid makes sure the customer is getting help quickly and, if necessary, does not hesitate to ring up a distributor "and put a foot behind them".
Switching off from the day can be difficult, she admits, especially if she's had a stroppy operator "swearing and bawling" down the phone. Appreciation is shown too, she adds, although sometimes in unusual ways. "One operator said he'd bring a bit of pig manure round for Mike and dumped two tonnes on his front garden."
It was Enid's 50th birthday earlier this year. "They had balloons, bunting and posters saying Happy Birthday Enid" all over the industrial estate down to the main roundabout."