Experience is the key

by Nick Drew | Tue 17 Mar 2015

Experience is the key

I recently stopped by on a site where a number of Digger Man Blog readers were working and was lucky enough to catch up with some of the guys who were working for Devon based B T Jenkins.

The company who are engaged in both plant hire and contracting, has a long history of employing some of the best operators in the business and it was on this site in Bodmin that I met some of its longest serving members of staff. Andy Harris who is currently operating the Doosan DX225LC has been with the company for an incredible 26 years, starting out at the tender age of 17 Andy’s first machine was a Volvo A20 6x4 articulated dumptruck. Andy later progressed on to excavators operating a Komatsu PC160, which was eventually replaced by a Volvo EC160C LC which was one of the first of its model to be delivered in the UK.

Andy went on to have a number of Volvo machines before finally taking up the drive on this Doosan machine that he is now operating and which I’m sure you will agree is in immaculate condition.

Nigel Taylor, Lionel Whitnell's brother in law, originally hails from Essex but has been working for B T Jenkins for many years now. Nigel has spent his whole life as a plant operator having worked for some of biggest muckshifting outfits in the country in the past, during which time he was a motor scraper operator for C J Pryor amongst others.

Today his mount is a Volvo EC160D L hydraulic excavator on which he was busy on the day of our visit loading the company’s new Volvo A25F articulated dumptruck which is operated by Paul Jarvis. Paul started with Jenkins about 8 years ago as a labourer/banksman before taking on the role of ADT operator.

Viv White is another well-known plant operator on the South West circuit who has worked for many of the big firms in the area over the years, including Alex Sims and Aardvark Excavations, before joining Jenkins some 9 years ago.

Viv’s current mount is this Liebherr 624 tracked loading shovel which has proven to be a cracking machine over the years. During our visit Viv was engaged in some ripping duties and pushing loose material over to the Volvo EC160D L for loading on to the truck.

Alan Barrett has been working for Jenkins for some 18 years, another long term plant man, Alan has formerly worked for Kelston Sparkes and Coles Excavations before joining the highly experienced team here. Alan’s current machine is the Komatsu D65EX dozer which was busy attending to the spoil heap.

This team of experienced men are often called the “A Team” or sometimes in jest “Dads Army” but one thing is for sure, men with this level of experience are becoming harder to find as each year passes, there is simply no substitute for experience of this kind. It does make you wonder where the next generation of plant operators will come from.

Pictured above “The A Team” Left to Right: Kim (Banksman) Viv White, Nigel Taylor, Andy Harris, Alan Barrett, Paul Jarvis. Thanks must go to Andy Harris for his help with the detail in this blog post.

The magazine for owners + operators

Digger Man Blog

Experience is the key

Loads more

Getting Attached with Holp

Red & Grey all the way for Mays

It’s Intermat Time!

Subscribe to Earthmovers