The Big Interview: Motorway Buddy’s Chris Holloway

In 2010, Chris Holloway was working as a driver for a haulage company delivering pressurised hydrogen to nuclear power stations around the UK. Whilst driving up and down the A9, sleeping in lay-bys where necessary it dawned on him that, despite several years of experience, he didn’t really know where the best, safest places were to park up.

He wondered if he was the only one, but surely, he couldn’t be? Then he had a flash of inspiration… and Motorway Buddy was born. Since then, the app has been downloaded over 200,000 times, with 20,000 active users relying on its technology to assist them on their way.

How did the app come about?

"I got in contact with someone I used to know who was involved with very basic technology and asked ‘can we build an app that is the HGV driver’s ultimate friend, something they can rely on in their daily work lives? The iPhone was only released in 2007, so when we came up with the idea to build this in 2010 it was all still very new. In fact, one of the first questions people would ask is "do truck drivers have iPhones?". Most people these days have an iPhone or Android device but at that time they clearly weren't as popular. However, I found myself saying ‘well I've got one, so you know I'm presuming that other drivers do also’. 

"The first version of the app was a very simple tool that showed where the sites were and the distance you were from them. It was downloaded over 20,000 times in the first three months so the requirement for the tool was justified. 

"I suppose once I felt like I had kind of solved one problem, I then started looking at other issues that the industry and drivers faced – and again the biggest at the time and still really to this day is the communication between the haulier and the driver and vice versa. As I'm also a qualified transport manager, I got to thinking about everything else we are required to document. 

"What has always really frustrated me about the industry is organisations' failure to see the value of the driver beyond the fact that they can drive the vehicle. The truth is that whilst on the road, whatever they are transporting, whether it be cardboard or cars, everything on that vehicle including the vehicles itself is the driver’s sole responsibility.  

"Should any questions be asked of the driver for whatever reason, they are the only person at that time who is able to explain the status quo – what occurred etc, and the quicker that information is collected and stored the better it is for everyone should any of it be required for investigations that may have to take place. In my mind the driver in all of this process is key and Motorway Buddy helps them achieve this quickly and effectively. 

"So firstly, the daily walk around checks – pre Motorway Buddy they were written on a piece of paper. However, I knew we could do this on the phone where they would be dated and time stamped so everyone remained fully legally compliant. 

"We then expanded the app's capabilities into load and damage reporting. Again, exactly the same thing. I used to work for a haulier in Rochdale where I was required to call the office and explain what had happened if there was any damage to the vehicle or the load. We were then asked where possible to capture a photo of said incident on a disposable camera. With Motorway Buddy everything is reported from the driver's phone and stored in the haulage company web portal with the most recent as well as any historical data being retained. So that's essentially how it all started! All my problems wrapped up in a one stop solution."

When did you start thinking about adding extra features to the app?

"Around 10 years ago we were approached by the team from NaVCIS, a freight crime arm of the police, and TT Club Insurance to discuss freight crime reporting and the issues surrounding that.  

"My immediate response was to add this new functionality into the app and give the drivers the capability to report freight crime from wherever it occurs. This information would be stored in a database that is accessible to anyone (hauliers, insurance companies, drivers, police etc,) that adds information into it. This creates the Freight Crime Information Network. A partnership was born and for the past nine years we have mapped all of NaVICS freight crime data for all to view. 

"The issue with freight crime is that it affects everyone from the people that produce the products to the people that use them. For decades the issue of freight crime has been hotly discussed and what has always been absolutely apparent and – quite understandably so – is that there are hauliers and retailers throughout the UK that do not want their losses and security breaches published due to reputational and inevitably commercial damage.

"However, having always looked at these things from a ground level perspective as well as high level, where a large retailer may incur £1 million in losses during transit, the likelihood of them having the relevant teams to address these issues are highly likely so where it is most certainly a massive inconvenience to their day to day operation, the losses will be covered eventually. However, for the smaller haulier and their drivers I believe things are different.

"For example, should a driver have their curtain slashed at the side of the road whilst parked up overnight, in theory and depending on the severity of the incident, that driver may not be able to continue to his destination until the issue has been resolved. Larger firms can alter movements more easily but smaller ones may not have any spare vehicles to cover the route, so the load may not be delivered on time or even worse, not delivered at all.

"The knock on effect from this is that a smaller independent haulier who might be relying on these deliveries to remain solvent may suffer reputational damage and, in the worst case, the contract could be terminated. This then leaves the vehicle with nothing to do and therefore the driver no role to play, leading to redundancies and all the issues that come with it. This is the very worst case scenario but it can happen."

How do hauliers protect against brand reputation damage if reporting freight crime?

"So, with the most recent version of the app, when a driver reports a crime it sends a commercially sensitive message to all hauliers in the network with their brand remaining hidden. On the driver app a small mark will appear on the map explaining where and when it happened, but on the haulier's own website the full description and photos are visible to them. I have been developing this for well over a decade and the industry seems to be paying a bit more attention to it. Let's just say It's been a very long time coming. 

"When a crime is reported, the app will ping everybody in the network allowing them to make a far more educated decision on parking and deliveries. Then you have access to the most recent freight crime as well as historical data and massive capabilities. It's not a question of solving crime, I'm not Batman. You're not going to stop it altogether, but you can dilute it.

"You can make people's products safer, you can make drivers safer. If you have given the driver a tool which tells them that somebody got attacked recently  in an area, then you wouldn't expect them to park there, would you? You’ll know the place has suffered from freight crime recently and move on. 

What could move the dial for Motorway Buddy?

"If you think about a company of the size and influence of, say, DHL signing up, then you know, all of a sudden, they can be sharing their information with other major logistics comapnies. If you get the major supermarkets, and they say, 'right, there has been an incident here, we've lost so much of xyz product' – it’s a closed circuit, you're not telling anybody else but you’re all benefitting from the new information. The bigger companies are understandably very wary of negative PR – the newspapers saying that a certain supermaket chain's trucks are being targeted, the app retains anonimity for the brands.

"Our users are mainly just drivers, not hauliers and this is the issue with the drivers – if somebody puts something on Facebook that they were affected by freight crime in the last hour, it will be all over Facebook for a brief time and then it is gone. With Motorway Buddy, the hauliers can get the drivers to share the incident through the app and then it’s shared across the network, a huge network of, just say for example, all of Logistics UK’s haulier members – everyone will know that there was a curtain slashing incident in a specific place or when they had fuel pinched – this kind of information for people would be incredibly helpful.

"I've been to the Department of Transport with this six times in Westminster, and every time I've been, they've said… 'This is a brilliant idea, really good system'. So I said, 'right, thanks very much – what about a public/private partnership?' And they said no, we don't do public-private partnerships. Now all of a sudden, public-private partnerships are everywhere. You know, that's all that anybody talks about. Perhaps times are changing!!"

Key member benefits of the Motorway Buddy app:

• 1. Join the only freight crime network built by police, insurance and hauliers and drivers in Europe
• 2. Report copince issues from the source and store in the dedicated haulage company web portal  
• 3. With the driver well being section, you can give drivers free access to advice on health and well being  

Download the FREE Motorway Buddy app here: