Hard work has never fazed Paul Hamilton, our regional manager of the South & Midlands – his strong work ethic must come from his former profession as a brick layer.

Paul worked in the construction industry for 10 years before joining SRL as an operative in November 2018. He was a diligent member of the team from the very beginning and it wasn’t long before he was promoted to supervisor and then area supervisor. He excelled in each role and went on to become one of our regional managers last year.

Paul manages a large area that covers North Wales, Telford, Birmingham, Exeter, Bristol and Swansea and he works hard to make sure that any customers in his region have all the temporary traffic management equipment they need. 

Keeping our roads safe

“Customers come to me for everything, whether that’s arranging callouts, customer visits, new hires, battery exchanges or repairs,” says Paul. “It is a very busy role and I get hundreds of calls a day from my colleagues and customers, but I really enjoy playing a part in keeping people safe on the roads. It is an important job.”

Paul jokes that he spends so much time on his phone that he has to charge it constantly throughout the day. “I am on the phone for several hours a day and I never go anywhere without my phone charger – I’d be absolutely lost without it!” 

With the support of nine operatives, four supervisors and one administrator, Paul is responsible for six depots and he works round the clock to make sure SRL’s equipment is where it needs to be and that it’s in full working order. 

“We have 8,000 signals and 850 trailers in our fleet and 98% of it is in use at any time, so there is a great deal of equipment out there,” says Paul.  “There’s a lot of logistics involved in moving it around, but I enjoy the challenge. I’m constantly in touch with the other regional managers and we arrange a lot of RVs, where we meet to transport SRL’s equipment. I can find myself in Birmingham in the morning and Bristol in the afternoon making collections or dropping off kit.”

Delivering what customers need

Paul needs to be responsive to urgent requests from customers, which can come in at any hour of the day or night. “I had a recent case in Birmingham where a car had crashed into a set of traffic lights and the client needed some temporary traffic lights to manage the busy junction. We were there within two hours with a full 20 headed system and the road was back to normal soon after. It’s a really rewarding part of the job to be trusted by customers to deliver what they need.

With SRL rapidly growing, Paul has been tasked with opening more depots to serve our expanding network of customers. He launched D25 in Telford last year and is set to open another depot in Bodmin in the summer. The new depot will enable SRL to better serve customers in the south west.

“Opening a new depot is an exciting part of the job and I get involved at the very beginning by finding a suitable building,” he adds. “When we’ve secured the site, we then kit it out with office equipment and battery charging stations and recruit new people to run it. I get a real sense of satisfaction from this, knowing that it will help SRL to offer an even better service for customers.”

Over the last 18 months, Paul has observed the impact of Covid-19. Rather than hampering business, he has seen a marked increase in hire volumes. “The last year has been very busy indeed at SRL and we have brought many new customers on board. Demand for all of our products has definitely increased during the pandemic,” he says.

Paul has settled into his role and sees a long career ahead with SRL. “The people at SRL are remarkable. The team has unrivalled expertise and is dedicated to delivering superb customer service – I’m proud to be part of it. I really enjoy my job and I’ve been rewarded with rapid progression - I’m so pleased that our senior managers Malcolm Johnstone and Alison Spooner believed in me.

“Going forward, I see SRL achieving further growth and becoming a household name and I’m planning on being here to see it happen.”

Due to rapid expansion and growth, we have opportunities for more exceptional individuals to join the team. If you’d like to get in touch, please email recruitment@srl.co.uk.