We can trust our good friend Saviem to fill us in with all the correct details when the subject is anything to do with Les Francais!
Hi Saviem,
You never cease to amaze me with your knowledge ! Hope you are on the mend.
The gentleman you refer to I believe was Ray McCord, I first met him at Robert Armstrong / P&O Tankmasters in the early 80’s he was there for a couple of years before moving to Norbert in 1984,working his way up to European Director and leaving Norbert at the end of last year.
He also studied business at Lyon I believe 
Regards
Richard
Simply astounding “Saviem”!!!
David
Thank you Saviem, I have followed the ND growth in the last 30+ years with interest and absorbed what information has been disclosed in the trade press over that period of time. Isn’t it amazing how the humble road transport operation is becoming a multi-national business.
Saviem:
Evening all,Sitting here with my second Bollinger of the night…(totally forbidden by my medicine lady)…but forbidden fruits are certainly the best…
And before this thread vanishes into the “ether”, I thought, (if it would not bore you all), important to just outline a few facts about this operation, and the individual, (who I know rather well), behind it. For it is a tale of some endeavour, some gigantic conflict, and perhaps a very uncertain future!
L` Enfant Terrible Dentressangle!
Back in `74, I met Georges Dentressangle, a small operator, in Saint Vallier in the Rhone Valley. He had a son, Norbert, who had left business school with rather high grades, (oh how I am sad at the true lack of business education in the United Kingdom…truly the depravation of a whole generations potential)), and who wished to develop his family business
And develop it he did!For the Rhone Valley was an ideal Geographic situation for any Hire and Reward Haulier, in France, and International.
By `78 the Dentressangle operation encompassed 25 separate operations, involved in Volume, Bulk, and local, and International Road Transport.
The first major deal that “we”, as RVI did was with Norbert, 300 units, Tractor, and Drawbar, including a number of extending draw bar trailers manufactured by Joel Soulard`s SAMRO, Fontenay Le Comte, (surely a man as innovative and possessing the same genius as our own Gerald Broadbent, the man who created the tensioned curtain side trailer). 300 units, 36 months contract, and a residual value guarantee. The first, but by no means the last such deal.
By `85, Dentressangle S A, Avenue Quebec Saint Vallier, was rated 31st largest in France, with Norbert at its head, his father Georges, as Director General, Norberts delightful wife Marie-Therese as Personel Director, and the dynamic Daniel Letard driving forward sales In particular concentrating on the UK business potential.
87, Dentressangle invested heavily in day cab tractor units, fitted with cab top “pavilion” sleepers by SAMRO, and aluminium framed 13.5 metre tilt trailers, (33 pallets), for UK traffic. The idea being that despite the gvw disparity between France and the UK, then a similar payload to that carried on French domestic transport could be accommodated.
A UK office had been opened in Lytham St Annes, (and as Bewick relates, a super guy worked for Norbert, and like Bewick I cannot remember his name…Ray, Roy)■■? But tasked with acquiring UK operations for Dentressangle Group. The first being Aston Clinton Haulage, followed by the Sheddick families operation in Wales.
`88 Dentressangle was rated as the 28th largest operator in France, Groupe Giraud at 25…mark this name well, for the battle that was to ensue between the two Groupes was to affect the domestic French, and International road haulage industry with dramatic, and devastating effect!
`89, Dentressangle were operating 100 cross English Channel movements
And our beloved Paul Channon was celebrated for securing derogation from increased lorry weights until 1999!!!..Plonker!!!
1990 Dentressangleoperated 1509 lorries, and employed 1710 people.
Then in 1991 the battle for market supremeacy with Groupe Giraud began!!!
Perhaps a little of the background to Groupe Giraud would help to understand the great rivalry that was to ensue.
Leon Giraud was a wine merchant back in 1934.
1954 his first “Pinadier”, (wine tanker, a Somua JL was acquired.
In the UK we probably best remember Giraud for their wine red Scania L110 bonneted tanker combinations, by `86 they ran 650 units, and were the French market leader in liquid transport.
The second generation joined the business, Michel, Andre, and their Brother in Law, Alain Fauquer. and did they drive the business forward…(And introduce me to the delights of Mdme Bollinger…for which I am forever indebited to them)!
`91 came the first battle…costly and bloody…over the ex Onatra companies Extrans, Samat, and Charles Andre…Giraud won!
Then Norbert acquired Dax, a favoured haulier to the Renault Group, and UKs Salvesens Darfueille, and biggest of all, the entire Savam, home delivery, and volume transport Group. A French institution, previously owned by the UK s United (BET), Group, and sold to Rentokill, then Norbert, reputedly the largest “volume” operator in Europe, with over 600 120 cu m plus outfits on the road.
94 Norbert acquires the first TDG company, Translitterol of Bolougne Sur Mer,..............then fridge haulier Pivoin, (complete with the UK livery including the juggler on the air deflectors of its Scanias.1995 Giraud operated 2800 vehicles, and employed over 4000 staff.
But Norbert was giving over 25% return on capital employed in the business. But profitability had “peaked”.
2000, Giraud Groupe began to" shed", its road haulage operations, concentrating on warehousing and logistic provision to its main clients.
2000 in the UK Norbert, and his UK MD, Petar Cvetkovic faced a series of major hours and records offence in the UK.
The opportunity arose to absorb the entire “rump” of TDG, (a long admired operating company). But now of questionable profitability…
2015.Dentressangle operate over 45000 units, (including 690 Rumanian registered, and 767 Polish)
Gentlemen , there you have a “potted” history. I can fill in copious details, companies, personalities, but Norbert and Therese are friends, and private people, and that I respect…But what an achievement…what an empire…and what a story. …Dentressangle/Giraud…
But the Bollinger wins…
Cheerio for now,
drove a man 18 tonner for ND on the outo kompu steel contract out of the depot in aldridge until it closed 3 years ago. good firm to work for.
Thanks to ‘Saviem’ for taking the time to write the potted history of Norbert Dentressangle.
I started in haulage in the Crewe area in1969 at the age of 21, in those days it was standard practice to work 18 to 20 hrs per day, often using two or more log books to hide the fact, more often than not, only filling in the details at the end of the week, or sometimes later.
I had numerous driving jobs in my time, some better than others, but most involved having to ‘fiddle’ the log books (Poplar Motors at Lymm was the exception), and even the tacho when they came into force, people soon found out how to stop the tacho working by pulling fuses or short circuiting the pulse to get the tacho to show that the driver was resting when in fact he was still driving.
Although some of the time it was the drivers own decision to run this way, mostly, it was expected by the company, if you didn’t you were soon got rid of.
Some hauliers amassed small fortunes and achieved a ‘pillar of the community’ status by keeping secret the fact that most of them were as running as bent as nine bob notes, local business groups held them up as shining examples of how to succeed in business, totally oblivious to the fact that most were breaking the law on a daily basis!
1979 saw me starting my spell of driving to the Middle East, Baghdad mainly, and as any old M/E driver will tell you, once out of the EEC, all driving regulations were totally ignored, you drove till you couldn’t drive any longer.
None of this ever put me off the job, on the contrary, it was the misguided sense of ‘doing your own thing’ that made the job more appealing, you could stop where you wanted, not where you were told to by a traffic clerk or the ‘spy in the cab’!
By the mid eighties I was doing mainly Spanish work, the driving rules were adhered to a little more as there was more chance of getting stopped by the Gendarmes or the Red caps and fined telephone number amounts, but the fiddling still went on well into the nineties.
1996 I was doing a load to Portugal, when on approaching the Portuguese border at Vilar Formoso, whilst climbing a slight gradient, I found myself behind a brand new Norbert Dentressangle wagon and drag, but to my surprise, it had British number plates, I wasn’t aware that they had any British registered trucks, I pulled out to over take him, and, as I was intending to park for the night at the border, I motioned to the driver with my hand with an imaginary cup in it and pretending to take a drink, he responded with a thumbs up.
He must have had a heavy load as I’d managed to park up and walk across to the restaurant and order a cerveza before he joined me. I asked him “ Like a beer, mate?” he replied “ Non, une cafe” in a French accent, how strange, I thought a French truck, on British plates, French driver…after his initial coffee he joined me in some alcohol, and as it turned out he spoke reasonable English, certainly better than my French. As I asked him about the odd combination of company, number plates and driver, he told me that his wife was a big boss at Norberts in the UK, and that she was in charge of starting a new wagon and drag depot in Heywood, he said the wages are better than most, you’re paid for every hour you work, even if week ended, over £30 night out money, and all brand new wagons, and that if I wanted a job then all I had to do was ring her to make an appointment and to tell her that I’d spoken with Patrick, he was quite adamant that I would get a job on his say so and he jotted down the name Michelle and a phone number. I put it in my wallet thinking that it all sounds too good to be true, and virtually forgot all about it
A couple of days later, as I was getting some money out of my wallet, I noticed the note that Patrick had given me the other night, I thought to myself ’ I’ll give this a ring, got nothing to lose’, I rang the number, a lady answered “Norbert Dentressangle, how may I help you?” “Can I speak to Michelle please?” “Speaking” was the reply, I went on to tell her about my encounter with Patrick, and to my surprise she said “You’ll be Peter then, Patrick told me all about you, when are you back in the UK to come in for a chat?” I said that I expected to be back in the UK on the following Thursday so she told me to come in on the Friday, That’s a result I thought, it wasn’t just beer talking from Patrick the other night, after all.
Sods law, got stuck in Spain waiting for a back load. On the Friday morning that I should have been at Heywood for the interview, I as at Le Shuttle on the French side, and to my surprise, a couple of trucks ahead of me in the queue was another Norbert wagon and drag on British plates.
How strange. I thought, never seen an English registered Nobby before and now I’ve seen two on the same trip.
I walked over to the truck to have a chat with the driver and when he turned to look at me all I could see was the drivers flowing white hair and beard to match, he looked just like Kenny Rodgers, it was in fact Colin Hardie from Blackpool.
I told him about my encounter with Patrick and that I should have been at Heywood this morning to see Michelle and that,of course, I wouldn’t be able to make it. No sooner said than done, Colin picks up his cab phone (Cab phone!! I was still using pay phones) and starts talking to her, One of his replies to her was “ No more than I do!”, which I found out later was in response to her asking if I looked like a cowboy!. She told him tell me to go in on the Monday
Anyway, I had my interview and test drive (I’d never drove an A frame draw bar before, and it was a left ■■■■■■) on the Monday and started work with Norbert on the following Saturday, initially as a co driver with a more experienced driver to get used to the A-frame etc, I double manned for just over a week before being let loose on my own, that was when the learning started.
Everything Patrick had told me about the job was true, it turned out to be the best job I’d ever had in the transport industry, you were treated like a human being, you were respected by the office staff and always treated with courtesy, for Gods sake, they used to ask YOU when you thought you’d reach a destination to book you in, not tell you when to be there, like most British firms, and, most importantly, you were expected to adhere to all driving regulations and all the traffic clerks respected that!
It opened my eyes to how a transport organisation should be run, there were depots throughout France and some in Spain, and all had driver comfort facilities like cooking areas, drinks and snack machines and clean showers at every depot, St Vallier, the main depot at the time even had a dormitory. There were fuel, workshop facilities and truck washes in most depots, and, if you happened to run out of cash, you could go to any depot and get an advance.
Michelle and Patrick left after a year or so, to start their own small haulage business in Patrick’s home town in France, taking the first driver they employed for Norbert with them, I’d like to think that they’ve been successful and are still in the business but I never saw them again. It would be true to say that I felt extremely grateful to them for giving me the chance to work for a quality company.
Heywood Volume depot, now being managed by Paul Dunn, was moved to brand new premises in Leigh, along with the tanker division from Widnes, that was managed by Gilles Letard, a true gentleman.
Eventually, ND Volume UK, as we were known, was merged with TND Volume in Severy (Chalon sur Mer), a super sized depot with around 300 vehicles and warehousing facilities, but still, all the staff in the offices and all the traffic planners treated all 21 of us that transferred over from the UK, with the utmost regard and respect. You planned your working month to suit you. My choice was to be away for 3 week ends and home on the fourth ( I had secure parking facilities so was allowed to keep the wagon at home when off work), often adding on any reduced weekend rests making it around 5-6 days off every month or so.
The work itself was truly international, typically, I’d load at Kelloggs in Wrexham or Manchester for anywhere in Europe, then hop from country to country in a ‘European tour’ fashion, and when I felt it was time I went home, I just tell the planner and he’d get me a load as near to home as possible.
I stayed with Norbert Dentressangle for 5 years, and I can honestly say that in over 30 years in the job, the 5 at Norberts stand out as the best by far.
Mr Norbert Dentressangle, I salute you and congratulate you on your achievement!
Boarding at Caen
Now that’s what you call Sod’s Law- I have to wait until I’ve been retired for five years before I learn that there ARE good companies to work for! 
Someone put me out of my misery , i can’t find any pics of their g260 supercube drawbar outfits they ran in the 80’s , with as Saviem mentioned the ‘telescopic’ coupling - they used to almost touch, drag and prime mover in a straight ahead position
Look no further Boris, the picture above is of the truck I had at Nobby’s, these had the telescopic system.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Now that’s what you call Sod’s Law- I have to wait until I’ve been retired for five years before I learn that there ARE good companies to work for!
I do know what you mean ROF, it took me 26 years of putting up with all sorts abuse before I found Nobby’s, and if you worked in the area it says you’re from on you username, then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Pete
i remember in the 90s knighting out at either j13 truckstop or j29 and sat with one of norbert’s english drivers . at that time everyone was slagging the foreign interlopers off , so i asked him what was the true situation . what he told me left me gobsmacked , i could hardly believe the efficiency and benefits of the job , remembering that i was tramping all week for a british firm that wouldn’t even pay parking for high value loads . the guy even gave me a phone number to ring if i was interested , but i was in my late 50s and felt it was too late to start over . dave
petecud:
Look no further Boris, the picture above is of the truck I had at Nobby’s, these had the telescopic system.
Petecud , i meant the daycab top sleeper g260 (club of four cab ) with pod they ran mid late 80’s , the tractor units were similar spec then if i remember - was it something to do with keeping within the length limit at that time ?..
Same system, different truck. The truck and trailer ran about 12" apart when going forward, as soon as you turned, the back of the truck would touch a bar which ran the full width of the trailer and that would extend the telescopic towing ram, and as you straightened up it all closed up again, all to keep you within the 18 meter limit, fully extended you were about 20 metres.
neversweat1:
21
0
Steve
Yeah their the ones i remember 
Steve