7th March 2025
Written by Rachel Wallace
A glimpse into Paul’s career as a Driver’s Mate
At the beginning of February, we said goodbye to Paul Swift, who marked his retirement the same month he celebrated 10 years at Robinsons. Paul has been working within our Transport team as a Driver’s Mate since he started in 2015. We caught up with him for a chat before he hung up his high-vis for the final time.
So here we are, marking both a 10-year milestone and your retirement. A double congratulations. Have you always been in the transport industry?
Before joining Robinsons, I was at the post office for 23 years as a Postman, in Marple. A friend at the Post Office, whose wife worked at Robinsons told me there was a vacancy going here, and that’s when I made the switch.
I suppose there's similarities between the two jobs in some way. As well as both roles being about the delivering of goods, they are both centred around people too.
Yes, being a Postman, especially back in the day, everyone knows you. It was the same route I’d deliver on every day. I was delivering to the farms, seeing the same faces – you’d get so familiar they’d even get you Christmas gifts. I got to know the families and everything. So, like you say, it's similar, although we’re not always doing the same routes here and so you don’t get to know everyone to quite the same level, particularly when people change. And obviously it’s similar because you’re outside all the time, I can't imagine being stuck inside in an office.
Well, you're in shorts, and it's January and freezing, so that speaks for itself. Tell us a bit about your time here.
When I first started, people here in this job had been around a long time, there wasn’t often vacancies and people had been in the job forever. It was a different culture back then and a lot of the guys were older, and not too interested in chatting or helping you learn. But, at the time, Gordon Taylor took me under his wing and showed the ropes. If you were Gordon's mate, then you were most people's mate. He even helped me to do some bits at Stockport County at a weekend, because he was the Health and Safety Officer there. I was there with him for about three to four years. He sadly passed away, but I’ve got a lot to thank him for.
You’re not the first to mention Gordon in our interviews. He seems to have left a real legacy here for helping and mentoring people.
It seems so. I also love what I do though. I live locally, so it’s handy, and I love that every day is different, you know, you go to different places every day. Also, the people I work with, they’re a good bunch! I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and really, I’m only going because I can, and I’ve got a new grandson who I want to spend more time with. I have loved the variety of the job, getting to see some lovely sites and areas, like Cumbria and areas in Wales.
So, which is your favourite run?
Favourite or easiest? [laughs]. Probably one of the Anglesey runs, you get to see some nice sites. Places like the Gazelle, there are such lovely views when you get there, and George III, I was there yesterday, that’s very nice. They’re not too difficult those runs either. I wonder why I’m retiring actually [smiles]. I have started to get aches and pains though; it’s a manual job. But we are given plenty of equipment which we use to keep things safe. We’re big on health and safety!
The run I’ve done today is quite a nice and easy one too. It's only two pubs up in Ambleside, but there is a lot of beer. The first one, is the Golden Rule, which gets a big delivery. It's a long way to take them once you unload them from the lorry too. Once you’ve finished that drop, you drive about 100 yards down the road to the pub almost next door, The Unicorn.
Yes, that’s a fairly narrow road there too.
It can be a struggle for people in a rush, as we must block the road whilst doing the delivery, which can be a while with such big orders. But it is just a cut through road, so the locals know their way around it. We’re not preventing them from passing completely. But I see that as a nice, easy run.
Generally, I perhaps shouldn’t say this but outside of Christmas and the height of summer when it’s really busy, a lot of the time, it's a great day, at a good pace. The length of our day often depends on our drive, but once we arrive back to the yard and unload, more often than not, we’re done for the day, which doesn’t happen in a lot of other similar businesses. We’re paid for the full day, but once we’re done, we can leave and that works well for people with young children, they've got time at home with their family, which is important for them.
If you were to give any advice to someone joining you on the job or starting out as a driver's mate, what would that be?
Punctuality - it’s simple. If you come in on time, do the job the way you’re trained to do it, and be friendly to our customers, that's all you really need to do. Keep your head down and be on time.
Well, I don’t think I’ve heard such concise and direct advise before, a great starting point for that grandfatherly advice you’ll be soon dishing out. Congratulations on your grandson.
Thank you. He's just over one now, but I’m looking forward to spending more time with him. When I had my daughter, my days were busy and I had to often work overtime until 9 o'clock at night, so I didn't see that much of her at that age. So at least I can spend more time with him and enjoy that.
That sounds lovely. What else does a life of retirement look like for you?
I’ll be dusting my golf clubs off and getting out doing that. I’ve got plenty to be doing. My girlfriend has also been wanting a dog, and I’ve been saying that we won’t be doing that until I retire. So of course, as soon as I told her she was looking at dogs, that’s it. We’re going to get a Springer Spaniel. We’ve been looking after a Cocker Spaniel for friends during holidays, so we’re looking forward to that, and no doubt the challenge that brings.
