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INTERNICI
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It's easyto see why Laura Weatherley won Inas Women in Transport owneroperator of the year. As well as running ..••••••• her own tipper MO operation she manages to juggle family life and run Europe's largest quarantine vehicle rescuing greyhounds from across
Europe. Jennifer Ball heads down to Kent to meet her.
jiust seven days and rci hours of tuition after her 21st birthday, Laura became the youngest woman in Europe to pass her Class r test Last October she won Iveco's loman in Transport owner-operator [the year.
"Truck driving is in my blood. It's LI I ever wanted to do," she says. "My arents owned a tipper operation, JA /eatherley, just a mile down the )ad. I was brought up surrounded by -ucks. My mum and dad both drove. a fact my mum is now in her sevenes and still has an HGV licence," ays Laura.
She says that while everyone xpected her to take over her parents' usiness, this never happened. etermined to go it alone, she forked for five-and-a-half years in a 3ctory, saving to buy her first Volvo, Fm.
Shortly afterwards she began subontracting work for Williams ggregate Supplies, a father and son ,usiness in Gravesend. Sadly the owner, Eric Williams, had a stroke and was left unable to drive; consequently she was given the opportunity to buy the business.
Her boyfriend Dean was a driver at Erith Haulage and, having persuaded him to come and work for her, she took Williams Aggregates over.
That year was a leap year, so she decided to propose to Dean with none other than a 32-foot banner on the side of her trailer. Her transport on her wedding day was a little out of the ordinary too: "There can't be many brides who drive themselves on their wedding day in their 32-tonne tipper wearing four-inch stilettos and with a 20 foot train on their dress. I even made Dean change his name to mine so we didn't have to change the livery on the trucks," she laughs.
The business grew rapidly and the pair began to replace their vehicles with new ones. She now runs a fleet of four tippers hauling building materials across the Southeast, as well as Europe's largest quarantine vehicle rescuing greyhounds from across Europe. Laura says that she has own up around dogs. Her d found a couple of stray .gs while he was out driving ien she was a child, which e adopted as pets. Since en, a couple have been abanoiled on her farm, which she .s also taken in.
Puppy love
it her real interest in rescug dogs was aroused last May nen she was on a job in uth-east London; there she umbled upon an injured ray dog and its puppies. She it the family in her cab and ok them home with her, here she nursed them back health before finding them new home.
A week later while out dring she found another stray which she also put into !r cab, but sadly it died.
"I felt quite moved by what ippened so decided to do )me research on the Internet rto transporting and rescuing dogs. I found at about a charity called Greyhounds in Need ad rang the founder, Anne Finch. She rang le back and said that after months of planing to rescue 16 dogs from Barcelona her ansporter had let her down. She asked if 1 mid help and I told her not to worry, and that • e could build a quarantine truck.
"John Brown from Truckbusters truck ealers in Dartford lent us a Leyland Daf, .hich we had just two days to modify before ur Department of Environment, Food and ural Affairs [ID EFRA] inspection. We 'orked night and day installing fans to nsure that it was air-conditioned and the umidity was correct, building cages and dring up cameras so that I could monitor le dogs on the journey from my cab. There ren't many companies that make such veinles. Most of the quarantine vehicles are mailer such as Mercedes Sprinters, but iese are still few and far between.
"I would be
particularly interested to hear from manufacturers who have a specialist interest in such vehicles. There are very strict European regulations such as how large the cages are, the size of holes in their mesh, padlocking of the vehicle and ventilation," she adds.
The dog rescuing is financed though the charity and also the tipper operation. "It's a new element of our business, which is not yet fully established. I do it for the love of the dogs. But it will be an added bonus when it shows a profit and is self-funding," says Laura.
"Considering the driver shortage, we have been extremely fortunate in employing such loyal staff Dean and I take the children with us and may be away for weeks at a time. Our staff oversee all tipper operations. We place tremendous trust in them."
Laura would like to see the link between road haulage and animal transportation strengthened. She suggests this could be done through a company sponsoring its truck for charity— for instance, donating a penny for every mile that the truck covers, or 1% of earnings of the truck. The charity's logo could also be painted on the side of the vehicle.
Laura also won Iveco' s Women in Transport award for owner-operator excellence, of which she is particularly proud.
Judge Lisa Fuller, the National Officer for Women in Transport in the UK says that she was chosen from around 15 entries in her category for her outstanding commitment to the haulage industry: "Laura is devoted to her industry and has had an interest in trucks since she was knee high.
"As well as running her own business and gaining her HGV licence at such a young age, she has gone on to get a number of other certificates including both national and international CPC 0-licences, Hazchem, fire fighting and numerous Construction Industry Training Board Certificates. She is also committed to her charity work and helping to rescue greyhounds."
Old-fashioned attitude
Laura admits that life can be tough as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. But she takes it all in her stride: "Women in haulage are very few and far between. You have to be really good at what you do and are often under scrutiny. While nine out of ten truck drivers are pleased with what I do, there are still some older drivers who believe that women should be chained to the kitchen sink and are not too keen.
"They can be egotistical about the size of their trucks-in that case, if I am driving a bigger vehicle 1 rev my engine at the lights and whizz past them."
Ultimately she says that she would like to expand her dog rescuing. She has visions of the future of driving around Europe in a double decker truck with a mobile veterinary service in the back of the trailer.
"I have a number of dogs here that still need homes. Despite people thinking that greyhounds need a lot of exercise, they actually sleep for around 22 out of 24 hours and make excellent cab companions. I always have mine in my cab."