Just over a stone's throw from the back fence of Heathrow Airport, you'll find Roy Bowles Transport's Hornblower House home in Galleymead Road. Sitting behind his, ahem, 'busy' desk in an equally 'busy' office Steve's smiling face looks up to greet me as I arrive. I'm looking forward to this interview, Road Haulage has many colourful characters and Steve is most certainly one of them.

Senior Vice Chairman Road Haulage Association (RHA), haulier by day, DJ by night and a travel blog writer to boot, this is definitely going to be interesting.

Steve's father Roy didn't originally plan to be a haulier, he was in fact the local greengrocer. When, in about 1954, he borrowed money from his father to buy a car, he decided to use it as a taxi to help pay back the loan. With the relatively new and rapidly expanding Heathrow so close, many of Roy's fares were being taken to the increasingly busy airport.

One day Roy got a phone call from someone that used to work for him at the greengrocers who had left for a job at the airport. Remembering his former employer's taxi, the young man asked Roy if he'd be interested in taking parcels to Heathrow. Never slow to spot an opportunity, Roy agreed and soon found himself and his car carrying more goods than passengers.

In 1960 Roy decided to make haulage his full time occupation and he set up Roy Bowles Transport. "He and Mum ran the company until 1970 when he sold it for the first time" Steve told me, "In 1974 he started it again and later that year, after previous jobs in a Bank and a Commercial Estate Agents, I joined him as a driver - I thought I'll give it six months and see how we go."

By the late nineties Roy began to take a slightly more back-seat role and left the running of the company to Steve and his sister Julie. Unlike his father, Steve had grown up around haulage, "Ever since I can remember, Mum and Dad talked about business. I could rope and sheet a lorry by eleven, not very well but I could! Now Julie and I run the business, we're a good team - we did all our fighting as kids!"

So how does Roy Bowles Transport survive in the increasingly tough world of road haulage? "It's a matter of being in a niche market," says Steve, "Ninety percent of our business is air cargo; it's the market we know best.

"We collect goods in from Heathrow for onward destinations or, deliver freight there for delivery anywhere in the world. It's a very fast moving industry, what you collect today could be in Australia tomorrow, it's not your normal run to Bradford!"

The remaining ten percent of the company's business comes from various transport sources. "We'll diversify into pretty much anything" says Steve, "So long as we know and understand what's involved. Air cargo can come in all different shapes and sizes, so we're good at special freight with special needs. You can't rely on a parcel or pallet company to do that."

One specialist area that Roy Bowles has moved into is the transport of entertainment equipment, "Mainly corporate stuff like conferences" Steve explains, "It's through that I've done gigs for Jamie Oliver." - I was wondering when Steve's after-dark, alter ego DJ Stevie B would make an appearance!

As well as directly providing haulage services, Roy Bowles also provide short and long-term hire of specialist, roller-floored vehicles built to carry air cargo. On top of this they're also a ground-handling agent for Envirotainer; these purpose built containers all contain fridge units and can transport perishable goods such as pharmaceuticals or food, keeping them cool for up to 24 hours.

Steve's heavily involved with the RHA and has recently taken up the position of Senior Vice Chairman of their Board. "Dad was Chairman in 1989 and had had a long association with them" Steve tells me, "I've been on the Regional Council since 1993" he continues.

"I enjoy it, you get to hear about industry problems, legislation changes, all sorts of things and always first-hand from the horse's mouth.

"I decided to go on the Board so that I can perhaps put my view forward to help shape things. If Government want to change the rules then let's do it in a practical way. If I, in my own small way can help, then fine."

So, does Steve think that he and the RHA are effective? "There's no doubt that the campaign to keep fuel duty down worked. Government sat down and listened" he says.

"If you don't get involved then you can't change it. You won't move a mountain, but you can put in a dent. You'll never reinvent the wheel but by legal lobbying you can achieve a lot. The dialogue is important; I can't stand the people in Number 10 but I will work with them."

One thing that had recently puzzled me was the RHA's backing of the Lorry Road User Charging Scheme (LRUC) and I questioned Steve about this. "You weren't going to change the Government's view" he said, "You won't change it, you've got to steer them to a workable solution.

"Having said that, I don't think the LRUC was ever workable; over four hundred thousand end-users all going into one system, leave alone the twenty four million they seem to want now! In theory the LRUC would have been great as it would level the playing field, but in practice…"

As always, Steve isn't prepared to just object to something, he has own ideas on what should be done. "The easiest solution is to reduce fuel duty. That would do it full stop and then we could compete with the foreign hauliers.

"They come into this country, unload at Heathrow and load up with stuff for Manchester. By filling up with twelve hundred litres on the continent before they get here, they can get to Scotland and back. I'm currently quoting on a daily continental run. To make it viable I'm going to have to buy fuel in France!

The highlight of the RHA's calendar is the Annual Conference, held this year in Spain. I asked Steve what he'd thought of it. "It was great" he replied, "The speakers that were there were really good and it's interesting to hear their different views. Paul Frampton's speech comparing the costs of his Spanish and UK operations was fantastic, a real eye opener.

TNN has a full transcript of the speech

"I made lots of new friends and did loads of networking. It's that which starts new collaborations. Hauliers have certain collaborations that work, when we help each other on services where we're not encroaching on each other's business. You either need to be specialist and, where you're not, collaborate. That's one reason why the RHA works so well, you can network with other members."

Given that Roy Bowles predominantly works out of the largest port in the UK, how have they been coping with the other big new piece of legislation, the Working Time Directive? "Erm, yeah, I think it's an absolute joke" says Steve. "If Government was so worried about health and safety why didn't they change the drivers' hours' rules, not just pile up another layer of beaurocracy!

"Outside of haulage I think it's unenforceable, I think that Basil Fawlty thought it up!"

I was interested to hear what Steve had planned for Roy Bowles' future so I asked him what he was hoping the company would achieve in the coming years. "We have to go forward or die. I don't know where we'll be in five years time; I don't know what will change. For example, after 9/11 airfreight pretty much packed up for six months.

"You have to go with the flow, that's the secret, that's the thing with family businesses".

Snapshot

As with all TNN 'Spotlight' interviews, before I went to meet Steve I sent him my standard set of certainly-not-haulage questions so that TNN readers could gain a better understanding of what makes him tick. As you'll see, he likes his music - so long as it's not Abba!

Who, or what makes you laugh?

- Peter Kay's 'Pheonix Nights', Danny Baker, Max Miller, Round the Horne, The Goons, Little Britain and the Government's and EU transport policies. My 21-year old daughter Sophie always gives me a contented smile of happiness and my wife Angela is a riot, once met never ever forgotten.

What CD / Tape have you got in your car at the moment?

- What isn't in my car is a better question. Currently in the CD changer I have Norman Jay's Good Times 4, Soul Heaven Featuring Blaze, Café del mar 11, Nina Simone's Baltimore CD, John Legend's CD Get Lifted and the latest Hed Kandi. In plain English that is Soul, House and Chillout. I am a CD and Vinyl junkie of the very highest order.

What are your three favourite films?

- Lawrence of Arabia, but it must be viewed from a 70mm print and at a really grand cinema in London, visually stunning. The Commitments, the funniest film about a band that has ever been made and any of the Back to the Future series, I have watched them many times and always find another visual joke.

What's your favourite program on television?

- When my wife lets me loose with the clicker then I like Top Gear. Clarkson's view on life and motors makes me crack up. Mostly I love to surf the box. You find some amazing documentaries and music programmes on Sky. There was a recent James Brown concert on BBC4 recently that was totally off the hook. Basically anything but football and sport in general.

What's the last book that you read?

- 'The Way We Wore' by Robert Elms. Bit of a biography and history book charting Robert's youth through clothes, music and growing up in West London during the 70's and 80's. I would recommend it to anyone who is into Soul music and 'yoof' culture of 70's.

If you were stranded on the famous desert island, what would your luxury item be?

- My entire music collection, a 10000-watt sound system to blow my ears off and a 100-megawatt transmitter. I will then entertain the world with music. You better build an airport to take the 747 freighter needed to carry this lot.

What can't you live without?

- Apart from Angela it has to be music. On my first date with Ang, I introduced her to my other 'lover'; the music collection and the 5000-watt sound system. She understood and mentioned and she knew of Ennio Morricone and the drummer Steve Gadd. That was it, I was hooked. She still tells me to turn it down.

You can put one item into Room 101, what would it be?

- Abba's Dancing Queen, the worst piece of 70's kitsch that was ever released. I judge how bad a gig will by what time the audience request it. Early requests mean it will be a bad night. How that piece of chewing gum became one of the nation's favourites I will never understand. If I can expand the thing I want to put in 101 then Bjorn, Benny, the girls and their entire body of work can join it.

If you were hosting a dinner party for six guests who would they be?

- Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Max Miller, Hauliers Jim Dodd and Paul Frampton and one of my clients - 3 jokers 3 realists. I admired Paul for standing up at the RHA conference and really telling how our industry is badly treated in the UK. Jim always says it straight and a client to give them a full picture of the supply chain. Truthfully I hoped that Blair and Brown would listen to two hauliers who really know the state of the industry and what needs to be done. Max can just sit there and read us jokes from the blue book or the white book.

What's your favourite food?

- Thai, Indian or Mum & Dad's Barbeques. Don't get me started I am supposed to be on a diet.

I'm ordering drinks at the bar, what would you like?

- A pint of Stella or Bass depending on my fancy. At the dinner table, pass the wine list; I love Fleurie, Broilly or Chablis.

How do you relax?

- Being a DJ, Cooking and Fishing. That will give the psychoanalysts something to work on.

Where would you go for your dream holiday?

- If the bank account is full then Muang Kulaypan Hotel, Koh Samui, Thailand. Ang & I went there for my birthday last year. Totally blew us and my credit card away, a designer hotel on the ultimate tropical island. Lovely people, fabulous food and views that will remain in my mind forever. If we are on a smaller budget then a bed in Mallorca, close to Portal Viells beach the most peaceful bay anywhere in the world, that makes you realise there is more to Mallorca than the "here we goes" 3 miles up the coast in Magaluf.

Do you have any pets?

- I have a step cat called Madison. When I got married 7 years ago, I also gained on 2 stepchildren Steve & Leanne, who are great, and Madison who totally ignores me except when there is no other alternative.

What question that I haven't asked you do you wish I had asked and what would your answer be?

- I couldn't do it without my sister Julie beside me keeping me in order.