Describe your typical day: No day in Northgate is a typical day as far as I’m concerned because of the area that we cover, sometimes we might not go more than 10 miles away from the depot, other times we might be 70 miles away which is on our perimeter. Predominantly they’re commercial vehicles which are usually vans. They range from small Fiestas, Peugeot Partners, and then increasing in size to Transit vans, Vauxhall Vivaros, and getting into the Mercedes Sprinters which are long wheelbase and extra long wheelbase and Lutons, which are box vans, invariably with a tail lift.
What’s the working environment like? It’s the people I work with, an absolutely great bunch of drivers, we’re as different as chalk and cheese but in the end we get on extremely well and due to the nature of the role, we’re always working in different combinations. Sometimes you’re working on your own, sometimes there might be another colleague or three or four of you, all going out on trips where we’ll be collecting and delivering at the same time and it’s just the chemistry that exists between us and we have some great laughs, even when things are going wrong, it’s the humour that saves the day.
Your advice to someone considering joining Northgate? Customer service within this role is absolutely paramount, we are in my opinion, the face of Northgate, we are the ones that meet the customers more often than probably everyone else within the organisation. They, as far as we are concerned, are Northgate and we will probably have a bearing on that customer’s view and feeling towards Northgate. Before I joined Northgate I was in banking for 30 years. Having made the decision to leave at the age of 50, I wanted a role or a job that would be predominately active, outdoors, involved driving which I enjoy and the opportunity arose to join Northgate. I am a shareholder, so I do own a small slice, receive dividance several times throughout the year as a result of that. If you’re in a role that’s highly pressured and maybe not giving you the enjoyment that you would like and you’re looking for something totally different, then this might be the answer.
