What is your role at CCF, how long have you been with the company and where are you based? I’m an HGV driver here at CCF. I started with the business in August 2023 as a regional driver and now work from our Wandsworth branch.

What does a typical working day look like for you? My day starts bright and early — I leave home at 6am and cycle the 3.5 miles to the branch. Like most drivers, there are some daily routines such as vehicle checks, but one of the things I love about this job is how different each day can be. I deliver to a wide variety of sites, meet new customers, and navigate my way around the city.

Thanks to my licences for operating Moffetts and HIABS, I can be switched between different vehicles, so I get to handle pretty much all the products we stock. I can also drive the counterbalance forklifts in the yard, which means there have been days where I’ve picked the order, loaded it onto the lorry, and delivered it straight to site myself!

What do you enjoy most about your role? Without a doubt, the people I work with. It’s a really great group of colleagues — friendly, helpful, and supportive. Before joining CCF, I spent over 25 years in the print industry as a salesman, mostly working remotely from home. Moving into this role has been a complete change for me, but it’s made a huge difference to my wellbeing. I’ve learned new skills, I get a real sense of achievement each day, and being part of a team again has been brilliant. 

How would your colleagues describe you in three words? I actually asked them! One of my colleagues said I’m “a wise man.” The rest said things you probably can’t print... but what I aim for is professional, helpful, and conscientious.

What’s a hobby or passion you have outside of work, and how did you get into it? I played rugby all my life but eventually had to hang up my boots thanks to a few too many injuries. To stay involved with the game, I took up refereeing with the London Society of Rugby Football Union Referees.

That was a few years ago now, and somehow, someone thought I wasn’t too bad at it — they made me the recruitment and retention manager about five years ago! I now run training courses for new referees in the evenings and at weekends, and I mentor several of them through their early matches. It’s great fun and really rewarding to see people develop new skills and grow into outstanding referees.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? When I was a kid, I used to watch those old black-and-white Norman Wisdom films. The plot was always the same — Norman would get into trouble with someone who, inevitably, turned out to be important, like his new boss or his girlfriend’s dad! It taught me a simple lesson: always be nice to everyone you meet.

What’s the one app or website you couldn’t live without, and why? Whostheref.com. Without it, appointing referees to matches would be like herding cats!

What’s the best holiday or trip you’ve ever been on? That would be Japan in 2019, just before the Rugby World Cup. The whole trip was incredible — I saw a major sumo festival in Tokyo, hiked Mount Fuji, and even rode the prototype Magnetic Levitation train at over 300 miles an hour!