Although Angus wasn’t born into the industry, he does believe he was born to be in this industry having spent most of his youth as an expat, relocating from country to country. In his 34 year career Angus has only worked for 3 companies, Hoults (2 years), Bishops Move (15 years) & Britannia Lanes (17 years currently).

Earlier than usual in the podcast, Angus tells us that his greatest point of being in the industry was convincing his bosses at the time (Bishops Move) that they should be represented at the BAR conference, which Angus then attended. And it was at the BAR conference at The Belfry that Angus met fellow conference attendee Ms Maria Lane, who in 2006 became Mrs Maria Russell, hence Angus’s move from Bishops Move to Britannia Lanes of Somerset & Bristol.

Britannia Lanes started back in 1974 by Sylvia and Mike Lane after they were left some warehouses. Today they operate from 3 locations, Chacewater, Exeter & Bridgwater, with an unmanned Self Store due to open in Falmouth very soon. Britannia Lanes offer containerised storage, self storage, van hire, international, european, commercial & domestic relocation, shredding, and records management.

Angus talks in depth about training and the training services he provides to the industry, and we discuss the general question of what is the return on investment? From this came one of my favourite sentences, “we move dreams and aspirations”.

Angus has faced the challenges of a recession, but he finds the constant changes in legislation one of his biggest challenges, especially when the small businesses (the mum and dad business) have to upgrade on a corporate scale.

Angus wouldn’t change anything from his moving past, stating what you go through builds the character for who you are.

Apart from the obvious highpoint (see above) another of Angus’s highpoint was being made a Directly Elected Director of the BAR, which he really enjoyed.

The one thing Angus would like to change within the industry is the pay and value of the operational staff, but we can only do this by making the public recognise just how highly skilled moving actually is.

Angus’s advice to just starting out in the industry is listen, understand, and then make your viewpoint.

In the next 5 years Angus would like to continue his focus on training, maybe semi-retire (but that’s too hopeful) but without leaving the industry. In the next 10 years (rather than the usual 5), Angus sees the industry becoming more eco-friendly, with hydrogen vehicles being the way to go. And that the millennials will affect the industry as they collect less, resulting in smaller moves.

Outside of the industry Angus enjoys cooking, loves travelling, is into his pyrotechnics and of course spending time with his wife.

And as always we end Moving Matters with 2 funny moving stories, the first involving “milk!” and the second involving a chap looking for employment.

Enjoy!

Links to Britannia Lanes:

• Website

Special Guest: Angus Russell.

We discover that the Pickfords management training scheme was a 3-year program and you learned everything to do with removals, from sweeping the yard, making the tea, answering the telephone and you spent a period of time doing removals, writing reports and making suggestions based upon your experiences.

We discuss that Paul has recently become a part owner of Squab Removals & Storage which is based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Squab Removals & Storage are BAR members, hold 2 of the quality standards (BSEN12522 & BSEN14873), operate 9 vehicles, have a modern warehouse housing 900 containers, and are seen as the professional choice within the area they work in.

We discover that Paul is a strong believer in standards and has been involved in QSS (Quality Service Standards) for the past 6 years and Paul believes there is a very strong link between standards, quality, and profitability. Paul also thinks standards are a health check to a business and I question whether the standards need looking at again considering they have been around for quite some time now, unchanged.

We discuss that Squab Removals & Storage have their own training centre, which is a 3-bedroom purpose-built house within one of their warehouses, complete with household effects and the general challenges found when providing a moving service.

We discover that Paul has had lots of challenges over the years and the challenges are certainly different being your own boss and having your own business to working for somebody else. However, the challenge of educating customers has never changed and this still shocks Paul to this very day.

We discuss the one thing Paul would change from his moving past, but Paul thinks it’s always difficult to look back and much prefers looking forward to the future. Having recently become a company owner, later in life than most, he does wonder if passing up on an opportunity years ago to invest in his own company is a regret. Paul also believes that while you can always blame the past you have to learn from it too.

We discover Paul’s highlight of being in the industry and it’s the people, many of whom have become great friends, and the memories made that you will take with you as you go forward.

We discuss how we can get youngsters into our industry and Paul says people have to see it as a career and a profession in the UK, just like they do in America and other European countries.

We discover that the one thing Paul would like to change within the industry is for our industry to be seen as a profession (as previously discussed) and for customers to pay a proper value for what we do - Paul states when we sell ourselves short, the only people we are ever harming is ourselves, and it should not be a race to the bottom.

We discuss the advice Paul would give to himself just starting out in the industry, and it’s knowing and understanding the business as a whole, understand every element of what goes on within the business and understand your numbers (your true costs).

We discover that within the next 5 years Paul’s ambition is to grow the business and increase its footprint into 2-3 locations, so Squab Removals & Storage are on the acquisition hunt. As an industry the HGV shortage is going to be a challenge, so we need to put value not only in our drivers but also in our porters too, as they are our next drivers.

We discuss that outside of the industry Paul enjoys the countryside, either walking, cycling or driving in his sports car, and Paul is a fan of the egg chasing sport of rugby.

And as always we end Moving Matters with two funny moving stories, one involving the pecking order and the other involving lighting!

Enjoy!

Links to Squab Removals & Storage:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Special Guest: Paul Tracey.

We discover that Richard Healey Removals was started by her father (Richard) in 1965, who was a painter and decorator working in London, returning home at weekends, but soon discovered he was making more money transporting goods back and forth in his van, and thus the foray into removals began!

We discuss that today, Richard Healey Removals provide predominantly domestic and commercial removals, some European & International moves, storage in a 120,000sqft warehouse and shredding, running 15 vehicles, employing approximately 32 staff and house just over 1,000 storage containers. And all of this is now managed by brother Richard, Georgina herself, and Barry (Operations Manager)!

We discover Richard Healey Removals are heavily involved in training and have their own training facility onsite, which is a BAR approved training school.

We discuss the challenges faced and the biggest one was losing a major contract 8/9 years ago that they had held for many years, leaving them with simply no business! Using their resources and having to start from scratch they built Richard Healey Removals into a ‘proper’ removal business.

We discover that Georgina wouldn’t change a thing from the past, losing the contract allowed the team to grow as a company into what it is today.

We discuss Georgina’s highpoints and its winning awards. Richard Healey Removals are past winners of the BAR Domestic Mover of the Year in 2015, in 2017 they won 2 awards for customer service at the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce, and they are previous winners of Scotland’s Top Truck Training Operator at the Transport Awards, where Georgina was presented with the award by Anne, Princess Royal.

We discover that the one thing Georgina would like to change within the industry is keys, but also exchange and completion on the same day.

We discuss the advice that Georgina would give to herself just starting in the industry again and it would be to network, get to know other companies but also make yourself know to people, use the training resources available and join BAR either as a company or/and as an individual member.

We discover that in 5 years time Georgina hopes Richard Healey Removals continues along its current growth path but keeping everything manageable. Industry wise Georgina hopes the decent rates are here to stay as the current driver (and porter) shortage is pushing up wages.

And we discuss how we are going to have to do more to entice new blood into the industry, through many of the career paths available, just as Georgina did 6 years ago with Ryan & Ryan (yes, I know!).

We discover that outside of the industry Georgina likes to keep fit and reads for relaxation, but is mainly taxi for her two children (15 & 17), where he daughter does a lot of dancing and her son a lot of football.

And as always we end Moving Matters with a funny moving story regarding the making of a promotional video.

Enjoy!

Links to Richard Healey Removals:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

Special Guest: Georgina Berry.