Published by Farmers Guide, February 2008.

Website makes it easier to find a haulier

While not strictly a contractor, Scott Chambers' truckspace.co.uk website provides a service that offers farmers the opportunity to fill their haulage requirements from their computer.

AN AGRICULTURAL graduate has turned to cyberspace to help make a living after failing to find regular, well-paid work in farming.

Bedford-based Scott Chambers grew up around farms in his local area and worked part-time on them at evening's, weekends and during school holidays from the age of 13.

"When I left school, I decided to do a degree course in agriculture and make that my career," Scott told Farmers Guide, "but things just didn't work out that way."

In fact, when Scott left Writtle College in 2003 with his BSc (Hons) degree, he found it impossible to find farm work that paid a reasonable wage.

"Most of the work that was available was only for five or six months of the year," he added, "and the relatively low wages on offer meant I had to look elsewhere for a more profitable way to pay the bills."

Instead, Scott moved into construction and got his plant operators' ticket.

"It was one route to a decent income, and it has seen me through the past four years," he said.

Keen to develop his own business, however, Scott was on the lookout for another venture and eventually got inspiration from his haulier brother.

"It was clear that there was a demand from hauliers for easier ways to find regular work for their trucks, and especially backloads when they'd otherwise be running back empty from a delivery," Scott said. "A couple of other websites had started up offering a similar service and I felt that this was an idea I could build on."

In May last year, after several months of website development and testing, truckspace.co.uk was launched.

"The site offered firms with goods to move the opportunity to list the loads on the website so that hauliers could look for work in their local area," Scott said. "Hauliers with vehicles looking for work could also list their availability, so that anyone looking for haulage from a particular part of the country could look for suitable vehicles."

During the past nine months, truckspace.co.uk has continued to develop, with Scott ploughing all his profits back into the site.

"I'm not a web developer myself, so I have to buy in the design and programming expertise that makes the site look and work as it does," Scott said. "The website is constantly evolving as we get feedback from users on how they want to use it and how it can be improved."

One recent upgrade is using text alerts to let hauliers (and couriers) know if there is a suitable load in their area.

"Full members can request e-mails and/or text alerts that will tell them whenever a load comes onto the system that they might be interested in," Scott said. "When they sign up, they specify the area, or areas, of the country they are interested in and the type of vehicles they have available, and if a load is posted on the website that matches their details, we send a message to their 'phone automatically.

"This means that hauliers don't need to sit at the computer all day looking for new loads being added. The text alert will give them all the information they need and a contact number to call if they want to quote for the job."

With users running everything from small vans to 44t bulkers, and from 18t rigids with Hiab cranes to specialist, heavy-load low loaders, Scott feels the site could be of use to farmers who need to arrange haulage.

"Our text alert system means you might be able to urgently find a courier to bring a part from a distant spares depot," he said, "while the service could also be used to look for a haulier to bring, say, a combine back from a farm sale.

"Whatever you need to move, we've got members that can do the job, and if you can plan a bit in advance, you could end up with several quotes to choose from.

"We have had several farm machinery companies using the site to find hauliers to take equipment around the country, and regularly have listings for loads of feedstuffs and grain that need to be moved."

truckspace.co.uk currently has about 3,000 registered members and, towards the end of January, had about 120 available loads/day listed on the site and several hundred available vehicles.

"Simply registering with the site allows you to browse the available loads and vehicles and to list your own loads for free," Scott said. "If you want to go further and enquire about a load or vehicle you need full membership, which currently costs £4.99/month.

"We've purposefully made listing loads as easy as possible and only require the bare information that hauliers need to quote for the job. Where the load is coming from and where it's going to is required, along with the type of vehicle required, the weight and description of the load and the date the load will be available for collection.

"Once the load has been posted on the website, it's up to interested hauliers to get in touch and the two parties to come to their own arrangements for rates and payment terms."

truckspace.co.uk has also recently added a storage section to its website where warehousing and storage space can be offered.

"This could also be of interest to farmers who have empty sheds that could be used for dry storage of bulk or other goods," Scott said.

For more information visit: www.truckspace.co.uk.