Fryin' Machines

Richard Fryer has built an impressively sized fleet packed with smartly-specced Volvos in just over two years since setting up his own transport business, seeing his hard work ethic pay off

- Dan Parton

At a glance

Make & model Volvo FH 500 Globetrotter XL

Engine 12.8-litre D13K six-cylinder Euro 6d

Power 500hp @ 1400-1800rom

Torque 2500Nm @ 1000-1400rpm

Gearbox I-Shift 12-speed auto

Operator Fryer’s Transport, Ipswich

When Richard Fryer was driving trucks for the Royal Logistics Core in Iraq in 2005 trying to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he little thought that 15 years later he would be sitting pretty as the owner of his own haulage firm that has gone from zero to 15 owned trucks in just over two years.

“I was out in Iraq for six months on operations, driving through the centre of Basra with a petrol tanker – it was frightening stuff,” he remembers. “When I look back, I think I must have been bloody crazy.

“Sometimes I was driving through Basra on the dual carriageway and sometimes had to drive on the wrong side of the road towards the oncoming traffic to avoid the IEDs on the other side of the road. You had to have a lot of nerve, especially if you had seen some bad events and had to go out the next day. It made you think twice a little bit. But when you’re young, the consequences of such events don’t sink in too quickly. “It was a fantastic experience and it made me grow up quickly and it is probably why I have been so driven to do well for myself.”