Truck & Driver UK – September 2019

KNIGHTS OF OLD & MAN

(^70) August 2019 Truck & Driver
also a Scania V8, like
Pete’s. “I was given that
on length of service and
because I’ve got a bit of a thing
about polishing,” he laughs

• Paul is a big laugher, by the
  way, a genuinely cheery bloke to
  chat with. “Being ex-military, I like
  everything to be in its place –
  when my partner gets in she’ll
  pick things up and I’m all, ‘That
  doesn’t go there! Put it down!’.”
  We ask him to tell us honestly
  how he reacted when he found
  out its replacement was a TGX.
  “I went, ‘A what?’ ” he admits
  with a chuckle. But there’s a twist
  in the tale here, because it
  wasn’t another Scania Paul was
  coveting. “I’ve always been a
  Volvo fan,” he says. “He had to
  drag me out of a Volvo to put me

behind the wheel of the Scania!”

Even then things weren’t plain

sailing. “Scania actually took us

to Holland to pick it up, and

showed us round the factory,

which was nice,” Paul

remembers. “But then on the way

back I broke down before I even

got on the boat!”

Now he’s settled into King

Arthur, however, he has

something to tell those of you

who would have had a similar

reaction to being given an MAN

to drive. “To be honest with you,

they have come on really well,”

Paul tells us, deadly serious for a

moment. “I’m very impressed

with the way it goes – this

actually pulls better than my V8.”

While you’re scraping yourself

up off the floor, there’s more. His

son, Martin Bunce, drives a

530hp Daf, also new.

“He was boasting that he’d

got more horses then me, so I

told him it’s not about horses, it’s

torque,” Paul says. Martin wasn’t

convinced, but the proof of the

pudding is always in the pulling,

preferably uphill. “Next thing, I

went past him! ‘That’s not right!’

he went, so I said ‘Told ya, it’s

about torque!’.”

Prefers variety

The new MAN will be doing all

manner of work – unlike some

who claim the title, Knights of

Old really is still a general

haulier. “I do all different jobs, we

don’t have one we stay on all the

time.” Paul prefers it that way. “I

did a shunting job at one point,

just to help them out, backwards

and forwards between

Peterborough and our place, four

loads a day,” Paul tells us. “But by

the time it got to the fifth week I

was bored. I’d rather just go off to

different places all the time.”

One place Paul doesn’t go so

much these days, however, is

mainland Europe – although

Knights does still have runs

going over there, which are

allocated on a rota basis. “We’ve

got some lads who do it, mainly

short runs to Germany, Holland

and France. I don’t mind going

now and again,” he assures us,

“but when I used to do it all the

time, that was one of the reasons

I ended up getting divorced.” Paul

has been with his current partner

for 16 years, and she knew what

From left: Group fleet manager Scott Mason;

driver Paul Bunce; group director Paul Abbott