News - Lynch Tankers

An Interview with Adam Yates

Adam is the latest recruit to our garage team. He’s an HGV Mechanic and joins us for a second time.

The twentysomething worked with us at weekends on the wash while he studied agricultural engineering at college, over a four-year period.

After college, he became a mechanic and worked for Gunn JCB for a number of years repairing JCB’s onsite.

Adam says he’s always been practical and enjoys the big jobs coming in and the challenges that brings.

Outside of work, Adam has a lockup in Nantwich and owns two Land Rovers, seven tractors and a wagon which he says means he’s always got something to do. Welcome to the team Adam!

An interview with Helen Timewell

Meet Helen Timewell – our only female driver.

She moved here from Somerset six years ago to be with her future husband who’s also one of our drivers.

Helen’s entire 26-year career has been spent behind the wheel, either driving articulated lorries or fridge trailers.

The 50-year-old has a farming background and says she’s always had a fascination with lorries.

Although lorry driving is traditionally a male dominated industry Helen says she’s never faced any issues.

“Wherever I’ve worked I’ve always been accepted. If you do the job as well as everyone else, you get respect. I love my job and I love working with the team here. Don’t get me wrong there have been occasions working in the chemical industry where I’ve arrived for a delivery and they’ve been gob smacked that it’s a woman behind the wheel, but it’s only ever been surprise and certainly not sexism.”

“You need a good sense of humour and to be able to give and take the banter but for me that’s one of the best parts of the job, that and being able to see parts of the country that I would never have seen if it wasn’t for the driving. I also drive one of three new trucks, so I am very lucky.”

She added: “I think to make a good lorry driver you need to be patient, enjoy your own company and remember to expect the unexpected and go with the flow. There’ll always be days where traffic’s bad or your load’s not ready.”

“There are more women coming into the industry, my daughter being one of them. When she was a little girl, she used to come with me and now she’s driving trucks bigger than mine and delivering hay and straw in Somerset. Like mother like daughter!”

Longest Serving Driver Hangs Up His Keys

Our longest serving driver has turned off the ignition and hung up his keys after 27 years behind the wheel.

Andy Barclay who lives near Warrington is taking a well-earned retirement after clocking up around 1,647,000 miles on the road since he joined us.

Over the years he’s driven the length and breadth of the country and travelled across Italy, Spain and France. He’s decided to call it a day to spend more time with his wife, three children and six grandchildren and as he says “spend time doing what his wife tells him to do!”

After serving 14 years with the Royal Marines, Andy joined us when our founder’s son Peter Lynch was at the helm and he was driving flour tanks. Andy says he was a taskmaster but great to work for and really looked after his staff.

The 68-year-old says he’s enjoyed his career and made some life-long friends with other drivers who have been at the company nearly as long as he has but says now is the right time to go.

He said: “I wanted to be an air-line pilot at school so although I didn’t quite get to that level, I’ve had an enjoyable career, first with the Royal Marines and then with James Lynch & Sons. 27 years is a long time and it’s time to put my feet up as I’ve stopped enjoying driving. Being on the roads is very different to what it was when I started and now there are just too many idiots on the roads.”

“I think if I had any advice for anyone wanting to be a lorry driver, I’d say to think about safety. Safety is absolutely key and if you do everything you can to keep yourself and others safe, you won’t go far wrong.”

Installation of Life Saving Defibrillator

We’ve joined joined forces with our neighbouring businesses to install a potentially lifesaving automated defibrillator unit (AED) near our premises. If a defibrillator is used within 3-5 minutes of cardiac arrest, survival rates jump from 6 per cent to 74 per cent

British Heart Foundation figures show that:

Every year in Britain approximately 30,000 people are struck by sudden cardiac arrest, outside of hospital environments.
Around 80 percent happen at home and 20 percent occur in public places like work or schools. It is in these public places that the victim is at the most risk of death due to the lack of AEDs in proximity.
Every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces a victim’s survival rate by 7 to 10 percent
Without immediate treatment, 90-95 per cent of cardiac arrests prove fatal
12 people under the age of 35 die each week from sudden cardiac arrest
270 children die from sudden cardiac arrest suffered on school premises

Earlier this year our first aid trained staff had full defib and first aid training delivered by Adam Rooney from Peers & Rooney Training.

The training course focused on the operation of the AED but also included refresher training on casualty assessment, CPR and how to incorporate both into the AED process. The other staff on site also received AED training.

Our Chairman John Lynch said: “Our company has been part of the community for many years now and I’m pleased that we can give something back. The idea that the machine is available to our colleagues in and around the trading estate makes the sense of community stronger. Also, with the new housing estates being built in the locality it is a good start to friendly relations with our neighbours.’

Kevin Harrop from nearby company Director of XL Engineering added: “With approximately one hundred businesses in such a small area and thousands of people passing through the area on a daily basis it is great to see the equipment installed. The relative cost of the AED equipment and training is nothing compared to potentially saving a life.”

Trainer Adam added: “Delivering courses such as this can potentially save lives and we need to see more and more companies actively supporting the installation of AEDs. With having a defibrillator on site, you can hugely increase the percentage rate of survival.”