Anya Bentham is a gorgeous little girl from Chester who has neuroblastoma, a highly aggressive childhood cancer.  She only turned 2 years old in March 2013 but is already on her third round of chemotherapy trying to beat the disease.

Unfortunately the next phase of treatment Anya needs is not available in the UK, only in the United States, and the cost of her treatment won’t be met by the NHS. This means that Anya’s family, friends and The Neuroblastoma Alliance UK are trying to raise the £250,000 needed to fund her treatment.

Edge Transport first got involved by sponsoring a Balloon Race (Balloons 4 Anya) alongside recruitment firm, Gap Personnel.  Each balloon costs £2 and the owner of the balloon which travels the furthest wins an impressive £500.

With over 2,500 balloons already sold the launch on 27^th April 2013 in Waverton, Chester will be a very impressive sight as well as raise much-needed funds for the appeal.

If you’d like to get involved by buying a balloon then simply visit www.justgiving.com/balloons4anya. You’d be helping a great cause as well as having a chance of winning £500. 

The Edge Transport family have also completed a sponsored bike ride, helped organise an Easter Fun Day raising over £1,000 as well as supporting other events.

When Palletline found out about the appeal at the recent Members Meeting, we were moved so much that we have nominated Anya Bentham and the Neuroblastoma Alliance UK as our charity for 2013.

To date we’ve raised £4,000 thanks to the generosity of our staff and our members at the Palletline Annual Awards dinner. We’re hoping to raise even more throughout the year and help raise awareness of the Neuroblastoma Alliance UK.

If you’d like to find out more about Anya, her progress and the fundraising events planned then why not visit www.justgiving.com/appeal4anya  or her Facebook page www.facebook.com/AnyaBenthamAppeal. Please share her story and help her family reach the £250,000. Thank you.

We thought we’d share the awards shortlist before the evening so that Depots and staff across the network who aren’t able to attend the evening can share in the anticipation. We’ll also be publishing the winners via Twitter and Facebook, once everyone in the room has raised a toast to the winners.

So without further ado, we would like to congratulate the following Depots who have been shortlisted for our prestigious awards:

Delivery Depot of the Year is split into three categories. Don’t be fooled by the Small, Medium and Large categories - this is just the way that we size depots on our weekly KPI based on how many pallets they collect and deliver on behalf of the Palletline network.

Small Delivery Depot of the Year Shortlist

P85 Masters Logistical Services Ltd
P88 DTS Ltd
P139 Welch’s Transport Ltd
P143 Ascott Transport Ltd – Carlisle

Medium Delivery Depot of the Year Shortlist

P31 ABE (Ledbury) Ltd
P39 Alan R Jones & Sons Ltd
P64 Stephen Sanderson Transport Ltd
P166 Panic Transport (Contracts) Ltd

Large Delivery Depot of the Year Shortlist

P17 Edge Transport Ltd
P27 Browns Distribution Services Ltd
P44 Framptons Transport Services Ltd
P29 C S Ellis (Group) Ltd

Most Improved Depot of the Year Shortlist

Again don’t be fooled by the title, with service levels at an industry leading high, there is always fierce competition to be at the top of the league and get the most KPI points each week. These depots have improved their KPI score over the year:

P30 Task Force Movement & Storage Ltd
P93 Jonen Shipping (Midlands) Ltd
P133 Gordon Leslie (Distribution) Ltd
P156 Balin Distribution Ltd

Business Development Award Shortlist

P28 Stiller Warehousing & Distribution Ltd
P124 Garn Transport Ltd
P141 HMT (Groupage) Ltd
P155 R T McEwan Ltd

New Member of the Year Shortlist

P164 William West & Sons Ltd
P165 Mini Clipper Ltd
P166 Panic Transport Ltd

Depot of the Year

The highlight of the night, every Depot Principal has had the opportunity to vote for the best depot they dealt with during 2012 and the shortlisted members received the most votes:

P5 Expect Distribution Ltd
P64 Sanderson Transport Ltd
P72 Potter Logistics
P158 Q Logistics (HW) Ltd

There are also special Palletline People awards for the great people across the Network and working for Palletline who go the extra mile on a regular basis to help us deliver excellence. These will only be announced on the night I’m afraid!

We hope you, like us, are looking forward to another great Awards evening on Saturday! If you can’t be with us then keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook to find out the winners and celebrate with us!

You don’t simply saunter across a bed of hot coals, you first have to get through the business of preparing for the walk. You have to be coached into a state of complete focus and certainty that you will make it across without injury and also given practical instructions (don’t hang around, it’s hot!)

We went for training with a man called Cliff who runs Time4Change. I thought it was going to be a very serious mental attitude lecture but it was fun. We were all having so much fun shouting, laughing, doing fun little games, I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had flown by and suddenly the moment had arrived!

As the dark started to draw in, I look at the line of hot embers and see sparks flying through the air – that was when the sinking feeling in my stomach appeared. I stand there with a slightly frozen ‘Oh my God, what am I doing here’ smile on my face. I can’t believe I am actually waiting in line to voluntarily place my naked feet on red-hot wood embers measuring around 800 degrees and that I actually paid good money for the opportunity.

One by one we marched up and when it came to my turn and they asked the question ‘are you ready?’ my head was saying NO but I heard the word ‘YES’ come out of my mouth and suddenly I was off, striding across the fire – 10 seconds later it was all over. I felt a bit numb at first, then the realization of what I had just done suddenly hit me.

The decision to walk across the coals is dramatically life changing. Not because you have decided to firewalk in itself, but because you have consciously decided not to let your fear inhibit your actions. Once you take the power away from fear, there is really nothing stopping you. After all if you can walk safely across hot coals what else is possible?

All I thought about was how great I’d feel when I was done and I can definitely say “it felt brilliant”. I still have a stupid smile plastered all over my face.

So don’t be negative, with a positive attitude you can achieve anything!

And remember, Palletline always strives to give their members and customers the best service. We can’t walk on water but if we have to walk over hot coals – we’ve got that covered!

Launched 17 years ago, The Sentinel Business Awards are widely regarded as THE event of its kind in the region and continues to go from strength to strength. The awards are jointly sponsored by Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council and recognise achievement, innovation and success across all industries.

The top prizes will be presented at a glittering awards ceremony at the magnificent King’s Hall, Stoke, in March. It will bring together 450 of the best and brightest names in business from across Staffordshire and a host of VIPs.

The Sentinel’s Editor-in-Chief Mike Sassi said “The quality of entries this year was staggeringly impressive and I have to say I didn’t envy the judges. They did a terrific job and we are very grateful for their diligence.”

Judges of the Environmental Business Award looked for businesses who are enhancing the quality of life within North Staffordshire, reducing harmful emissions or noise levels, improved usage of raw materials and transport efficiency.

Browns Distribution Services were able, as providers of premium pallet distribution and road haulage services for over 55 years, to demonstrate their achievements and reached the shortlist.

David Brown Jnr said “We are all extremely proud of this achievement. This is the second time we have been shortlisted for this award, so we are very proud. This award shows how we maximise operational efficiencies and reduce waste across the delivery cycle.”

We’re sure it won’t be the last time they are shortlisted and we are keeping our fingers crossed that they get the recognition that they deserve this year and walk away as winners!

Good Luck and don’t forget to recycle the champagne bottles guys!

Customer feedback is great and something that we don’t normally shout about however seeing as we all need a bit of a boost every now and then, we thought we’d give a little air time to a couple of comments that we’ve seen recently:

Palletline Logistics, the member in Birmingham, received this lovely feedback from their customer following a pallet delivery…The chap in question is Dave Phillips, one of the great team at Simmonds Transport based in Telford.

“I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent service received today on the delivery of my 2 leather sofas from Simply Stylish Sofas. Your courier rang ahead and was very helpful and pleasant – he earnt himself a cup of tea as he was such a nice guy and the sofas were delivered in excellent packaging. I always like to thank companies for good service and just wanted to pass my thanks on to you and the delivery chap”.

The Real Firewood Company, based up in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders, have been a customer of Olivers Transport since 2010. As the name suggests, they dispatch pallets of firewood for delivery throughout the UK. They regularly post the positive feedback they receive from their customers on Twitter which is lovely to see and a real boost for everyone across the network:

“We were very impressed by couriers, arrived in spite of adverse weather, what a positive driver! #goldstar #happy”

We’d just like to say THANK YOU to everyone who takes the time to feedback to us, to everyone who works at Palletline and for our network of great members. We know that sometimes we get positive as well as constructive feedback but with our determination to the be the best, we take it all to heart and make sure that we learn from it.

We saw the BBC News article about building snowmen helping to reduce flooding and then saw the video clip below. Let’s just say that a director of a Palletline member company, Browns Distribution, and some friends took it a bit further than just a snowman…. Mission Igloo!

It looks like back-breaking work…  and would you believe that 4 men, 1 woman and 1 dog managed to get in it at the end!!

And whilst we’re at it… did you see the snow-facts in Daily Telegraph?

•         The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second
•         Snowflakes are always hexagonal but the majority are not perfectly symmetrical
•         Chionophobia is a fear of snow
•         Around 12% of the Earth’s land surface is covered in permanent snow and ice

It’s amazing what fits on a pallet!

Sent by Palletline Member JMC Van Trans, this type of product gets quickly and safely delivered across the UK through the Palletline network – making lots of children very happy we bet!

Based in Dublin, JMC Van Trans handle hundreds of parcels and pallets each day destined for delivery throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe. They offer a next working day service from Ireland to Scotland, meaning that one of these ride on’s could leave Dublin on a Monday and be delivered in Scotland on a  Tuesday!

Now, boats, trains and diggers we’ve seen before but have to admit that the Fork Lift Truck is a new one on us! Let us know if you spot it at a location near you?

Great to see budding Fork Lift Truck drivers can start early!

In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for other worthy picture opportunities and post them here.

The Palletline network carries all shapes and sizes of pallets and products…. from eggs to marmalade, books to trees and even the occasional jacuzzi so a good photo opportunity is never too far away!

Snow ahead. Take care everyone.

The ‘winter’ seems to have been a long time coming with rain, rain and more rain. We’ve been watching the weather reports closely to see the potential impact on the roads and, is it us, or do the weather forecasts not really tell you anything specific anymore?

Palletline Member companies are always well prepared for snow. There’s normally winter packs and thermal clothing for drivers, sleeping bags and emergency food tucked away in the offices just in case the snow prevents staff getting home.

Battling against the elements is just part of life in the transport industry; snow, rain, wind or more uncommonly in the UK, excessive heat. It’s one of those trials that really demonstrates the commitment of the people within the Palletline network. Last year we heard of one member of staff at Caistor Distributon (Martyn Pixley) who had walked two miles through deep snow to get to the Depot to open up. The roads weren’t cleared yet. No vehicles could get in or out but calls needed to be answered and there was work to do.

We’ve seen a few weather related communications over the past couple of months that have made us smile. Several members such as HH Distribution and Edge Transport have been offering customers discounted rock salt to keep them operating smoothly during the cold weather.  Delivered on the same vehicle that collects or delivers a Customer’s palletised freight – we think it’s a great idea!

Then we saw RT McEwan’s Christmas Gift for their key customers. We didn’t think they could beat their homemade gingerbread truck from Christmas 2011 but they did! Each key customer received an ”Emergency Winter Kit” for Christmas including a bag of rock salt, hot toddy and a Palletline Ice Scraper. What a very useful gift, especially this week.

When you have suppliers who deliver excellent service and look after you so well, there’s simply no reason to go elsewhere is there?

A class of Age Group 4-5 were delighted to have a personal tour of the Sanderson’s fleet of commercial vehicles together with a child friendly presentation focusing on road safety awareness and some fun facts about our industry.

There was even a cartoon illustration of a Sando, the friendly Sanderson vehicle, on his day trip through Market Harborough to colour in as part of the package!

Sando – the friendly Sanderson vehicle – all ready to colour in!

Sue Hangar from Foxton Primary School and Ed Sanderson, Business Development Manager for Stephen Sanderson Transport Ltd masterminded the day ensuring that the great mix of education and fun meant a great day was had by all!

Labour, a late supporter of FairFuelUK, launched the attack expecting to take advantage of divisions within the Coalition.

The Labour motion was defeated by 282 votes to 234, a government majority of 48. Despite early indications, the Coalition backbench rebellion did not occur. It appears that ‘quiet conversations’ behind closed doors have spoken louder than threats of outspoken defiance against the Chancellor.

We will have to wait for the ‘real’ decision. The government will announce its intentions in the Autumn Statement on the 5^th of December.

Of course, all this attention on the proposed three month delay risks obscuring the fact it is just a temporary fix – motorists and our members need more.

In order to have a real impact and help to reverse the damage of fuel duty, we need a complete scrapping of the 3p rise and a cut in real terms of at least a further 3p. The evidence is overwhelming, as demonstrated by research conducted by the respected National Institute of Economic and Social Research. As FairFuelUK concludes:

“The report clearly proves that the planned rise in fuel duty of 3p per litre that is scheduled to come into force in January 2013 will impact as follows: It will destroy 35,000 jobs and cut UK growth by 0.1%.

“If instead of raising fuel duty the government were to introduce a 3p cut in this tax – in line with policies under action and discussion in France and the USA – the relative impact is as follows: There will be a net increase of 70,000 jobs and UK growth will be boosted by 0.2%.”

Decisive action is required to support the growth of the UK economy – and reducing the burden on motorists and hauliers should be a top priority.

This being said, there remains some cause for optimism in the anti-fuel duty camp.

Following FairFuelUK’s recent delegation to the treasury to present its case on the negative impact of fuel duty, it appears that the government may be beginning to take British road users – and the economy they drive – seriously. Yesterday’s vote may have been tainted by cynical political manoeuvring, but it also brought more valuable exposure for FairFuelUK and welcome additional pressure on the government.

For more information and regular news on the fuel duty campaign, visit our partner’s site: http://www.fairfueluk.com/

Kevin Buchanan, MD, Palletline Plc.