Bill Purvis
Founder and Owner
Hello, I’m Bill Purvis, Owner/Director of Rock Haulage Limited. Previously the company had been operating as D Renton and Sons (Alnwick) and I had been running it since its inception in 2005. In September 2018 I bought David and Peter Renton out of the partnership.
Eddie Bradbury
Transport Manager
When you give us a call you will most likely talk to Eddie Bradbury, our Transport Manager. Eddie has been working with us since 2006. He started his driving career in the south of England, but has now officially adopted the North East as his home.
Karen
Office Manager
Geoff Purvis
Driver and Council Lead
My brother, Geoff, works with me as a driver having started back in 2005 when D. Renton & Sons (Alnwick) was formed. He and I had a wagon each and the business has grown steadily over the years. For a number of years Geoff has spent the summer months working for the Council on the surface dressing (tar and chip road resurfacing).
Joe Bradbury
Driver
Eddie’s son, Joe, has been with us over a year now driving the tippers. He has recently passed his Class1 test so is now able to drive the artics as well.
Joe started working part time for us about three years ago when he came to help me on Saturdays with servicing, repairs and safety checks.
Martin Robson
Owner, Roman Britons Websites
Behind the scenes my cousin, Martin Robson, is the designer of the web site, which he keeps updated and free from virus attacks (apparently of which there are many). He also keeps the FaceBook page up to date when we have time to send him any news updates.
Hello, I’m Bill Purvis, Owner/Director of Rock Haulage Limited. Previously the company had been operating as D Renton and Sons (Alnwick) and I had been running it since its inception in 2005. In September 2018 I bought David and Peter Renton out of the partnership. My business is run from my home location at Rock Nab north of Alnwick. I was born here a few months after my Dad took the farm tenancy. He worked the farm until his retirement in 1986, at which point I took over the running of the farm.
As I grew up, I started driving tractors at about the age of seven, so was involved in all aspects of farming from an early age. After college I trained as an Agricultural Engineer before my passion switched to wagons. My first proper driving job was at Redpaths of Wooler doing both livestock and general haulage. Over the years I have driven almost every type of lorry on local, long distance as well as continental work.
In those early days everything was manual and physically demanding. Drivers worked hard as well as needing to know how to keep their vehicle in good running order. My keen interest in fixing minor problems still comes in handy. Since I am living on the premises, I am usually the first port of call early in the morning to get the wagons out on time.
As well as driving when extra hands are needed, I’m the one in the office paying the wages and sending out the invoices. I also spend Saturdays checking every single tyre on every vehicle. Also fixing all the minor problems which have accumulated throughout the week, as well as greasing and servicing the fleet as required. Safety is a major concern of mine.
When you give us a call you will most likely talk to Eddie Bradbury, our Transport Manager. Eddie has been working with us since 2006.
He started his driving career in the south of England, but has now officially adopted the North East as his home. Eddie is brilliant at multitasking, which is useful when processing customer orders and client requests. At the same time, he might be producing customer spreadsheets and tallying drivers’ hours. Also, from time to time he can be found helping out driving an artic.
We have trackers and dash cams in all of our fleet, so we always know where each wagon is located and when it will arrive at its destination. Eddie organizes all our day to day activities and keeps everything running smoothly.
My daughter, Karen Purvis, is our Office Manager. Karen graduated from Harper Adams University and then did a Masters Degree at Newcastle University. Now she has become a genius at creating all the necessary forms we need to run a haulage business these days.
Karen is in charge of all the banking, purchase invoices, paying bills and everything that comes into the category of I.T. She fits this in around her day job as a Civil Servant and her horses.
On top of this she has a Class 2 HGV licence, so gets pressed into service either driving a tipper, or collecting wagons on Saturdays from their inspections and service dealers around the County.
My brother, Geoff, works with me as a driver having started back in 2005 when D. Renton & Sons (Alnwick) was formed. He and I had a wagon each and the business has grown steadily over the years.
For a number of years Geoff has spent the summer months working for the Council on the surface dressing (tar and chip road resurfacing). He organises our drivers on the job and is the point of contact for the council drivers. The rest of the year is spent on any of our normal tipper work.
In the past you might have heard Geoff playing the fiddle with our Dad in the Border Country Dance Band.
Eddie’s son, Joe, has been with us over a year now driving the tippers. He has recently passed his Class1 Licence test so is now able to drive the artics as well.
Joe started working part time for us about three years ago when he came to help me on Saturdays with servicing, repairs and safety checks.
He always takes great pride in whatever vehicle he has and likes it to be presented at its best at all times.
Behind the scenes my cousin, Martin Robson, is the designer of the web site, which he keeps updated and free from virus attacks (apparently of which there are many). He also keeps the FaceBook page up to date when we have time to send him any news updates.
In addition, if you search Google for things like “tipper hire” or “decorative gravel” in Northumberland, Martin ensures we appear at or near the top of Google’s suggested websites.
THE DRIVERS
A number of our drivers are old friends and have been with us for several years.
As we have expanded, our numbers have increased, and now there are drivers who are relatively new to the business.
Recently we have trained a number of drivers who have come to us with newly acquired licenses but little experience.
Some of them have stayed to become valuable members of The Team.