10 YEARS OF TRAFFIC DATA!!!

Apologies for the debatable egotistical nature of this article, but I wanted to reflect on 10 years in the Traffic Surveys/ Transport industry with Tracsis. And what a ride it’s been…

Where to start? Well, it wasn’t always Tracsis, I started work for a small but strong company based in Tadcaster called Sky High Traffic Surveys, founded and run by one of the best characters I have ever met, Mr Mark Anthony Mattison. As many people do, I owe Mark a lot, mainly the fact that Mark made work fun and made, let’s face it, what can be a fairly mundane subject really exciting with his quirks, mad cap ideas, and of course the ideas that ended up being fantastic business decisions. My Manager at that time was Steve Hanson, another guy I owe a lot to. Steve taught me everything I know about traffic survey operations and managing people. Like me, Steve doesn’t take himself too seriously, has fun doing what he does, and does well at it too. A true inspiration. These two guys gave me a job as an out of work graduate, so a special thanks to them. 

Not leaving other important people out, I can truly say that all (most) the people I have met over the last 10 years at work have been brilliant people, these include (and if you are reading this you will know who you are!)

·      A legend of a Health and Safety Manager

·      A mother figure

·      A father figure

·      A South-African

·      Some crazy Scots

·      An understanding HR Manager

·      A right hand man

There are more, I have been lucky that I have been able to work with so many great people, from so many over the decade. 

Sky High evolved in to Sky High-Count on us as we acquired our main competitor at the time. From there we became Sky High Technology as our service offerings grew and we felt comfortable enough to lose the Count on Us name!

There were many ups and downs during this time, the recession leading to a 4 day working week, the acquisition, office moves, name changes, expansion, cut backs, promotions and demotions, but all of these have made us, and myself, into what we are today.

In March 2013 we were acquired by Tracsis PLC, led by John McArthur, another inspirational guy with an already impressive business history under his belt, times were exciting.

Over all of that time, I have been lucky enough to work across a wide range of roles covering many disciplines. Jack of all trades, master of none some might say! These included Trainee Graduate, undertaking quotes and following up on quotes, Project Manager, Senior Project Manager, Coordinating Project Manager, Regional Manager, Chief Operating Officer and Business Development Director. I have worked for our Leeds, London, Wales and Midlands offices’ and moved our London offices twice as we grew. I even got a bit “Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen” designing our recent refurbished office, all good fun. 

I am honoured that I have been able to work in all these roles and pick up both operational and sales/ business development experience along the way. To spend my time visiting our valued clients who I have worked with for the last 10 years is a great job and one that I am very grateful for. I am really enjoying learning a new skill in marketing too, never thought I’d be one of those guys!

Last week I had a timely student seminar in Leeds, at the Leeds College of Building with my old Lecturer and good friend Dr Paul Firmin.

It was a fitting marker of 10 years of working in the industry, in the City I studied in all those years ago, and almost felt like I had gone full-circle.

The Apprentice Consultants in that group were a very impressive bunch, far more advanced than I was at that time, Dr Firmin and team are doing a fantastic job there, as are ITS Leeds who set me on this path from the start, so a huge thanks to everyone that was involved in my education.

What does the next 10 years hold? Who knows? Technology is changing, the industry is changing. Change is good, can be bad? One thing is for sure, transport data collection- it’s in my blood.