Pupils keep on trucking

Yorkshire-based cold storage and transport business Reed Boardall in Boroughbridge has come to the aid of local pupils by making a surprise visit to the school with a refrigerated truck.

More than 28 children in the reception class at Boroughbridge Primary School, including three whose parents work at Reed Boardall, were waiting outside the school for the unknown visitor.

They were treated to a close-up view of the Volvo FH tractor as well as a presentation by Paul Satariano, health and safety manager for Reed Boardall and fleet engineer Frank Appleton.

They explained how almost all the food the children eat at home has been carried on a lorry and that each Reed Boardall vehicle delivers enough food to fill 400 cars each time it goes to a depot or supermarket.

The visit was part of a topic around the learning challenge ‘How can I get from here to there?’ with the five-year-olds looking at different types of transport, linked to their Maths studies.

Paul Satariano of Reed Boardall, said: “As a local business, we were pleased to be able to help the children’s learning come to life by giving them a close-up look at one of our trucks and to tell them more about how their food is carefully transported to the supermarkets.

“The children were really excited to have the chance to sit inside the truck, try out the bunk and beep the horn – not to mention the lorry driver goodie bags we gave them, complete with goggles and a hi-vis vest.”

Reed Boardall is one of the largest temperature controlled food distribution businesses in the UK, storing and delivering frozen food from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all the UK’s best-known supermarkets.

Operating 24/7, its 180-strong fleet of vehicles moves an average of 12,000 pallets a day and it stores around £100m worth of products on behalf of its customers.

It is based at a single site in Boroughbridge, which is the largest of its kind in Europe and the company employs over 750 staff.