Carl Lomas and Tracey Worth were in Watford to visit Darren Walmsley April 2016 at Top Flight Couriers in Orbital Business Park. Established 1989, the vans proudly carried 25 year logos and FORS silver stickers processing up to two thousand overnight consignments a day. Crossrail-compliant with cycle scheme for accident avoidance. The drivers were cleverly split between self-employed and employed by vehicle size. Quality recognition from clients gave the votes to see Top Flight NCDA Courier Company of the Year winners two years in a row.
Darren Walmsley, General Manager, explained he was a business management student graduate out of University of Surrey, Guildford and entered directly into the logistics business of Top Flight over a decade ago. Top Flight have formed partnerships with some of the UKs leading carriers who they also provide final mile and Sameday recovery services for. RHA members and a strong player in the NCDA where Darren is currently Vice-Chairman and developing a vision for tracking to bring a wide network of member vehicles into a tracking platform which will enable an exchange of work across companies, inter-trading as one. ‘It’s good to do business with people you know’ says Darren.
A decade ago when Darren arrived only about 20% of work was overnights, today about 60% of the company’s revenue is derived from overnights and internationals. Same-day levelled out a few years ago during the economic downturn but is growing again, about 65% of their same-day work goes to London. There are no push bikes on the fleet but a couple of motorbikes provide fast access to London. Volume can be an issue, so vehicles are predominantly vans. Small van drivers work on a self-employed basis and all the large vans are leased to Top Flight and run with employed drivers. All the employed drivers have done their CPC and can drive up to seven and half tons. Top Flight look to offer a best option to their clients, using the time match and location available on other networks, Scotland, Northern Island postcodes and latest cut-off times are all matched to client needs.
Darren had worked with DHL on the TfL van space project a year ago, looking at collaboration and road space but it was a difficult match to the urgent express demand of clients with rush deliveries. London Shuttle. Top Flight offer their own consolidation service to Watford clients consolidating before 1 am collections for a none rush, by close of business same-day delivery to Central London postcodes. Congestion charge is sorted on auto-pay for all the vans, there have been a few issues when a vehicle is in for service and the courtesy vehicle is not on the TfL system, making sure congestion charge is registered.
