MAN UK

Markus Nüßlein and his MAN TGS

MAN TGS Nuesslein
Trucker's World

This yellow four-axle truck is hard to miss

Markus Nüßlein's bright yellow MAN TGS 35.400 is parked in Wimmelbach, a small farming community in Upper Franconia. The 50-year-old is passionate about transporting sand, gravel and bulk goods – in addition to his main job.

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"I work part-time as an industrial foreman at Scheffler, a large automotive supplier. I do the driving job more or less as a hobby, on a freelance basis," explains Markus Nüßlein. His website sand-kies-schuettgut.de enables him to offer container services, construction site transport and minor excavation work.

The connection to commercial vehicles runs in his family: "Like probably 80% of all truckers, way back then my father was also an HGV driver involved in construction site transport. MAN as a brand was always a given for him."

The eye-catching maize yellow of his second-hand four-axle truck has now become his trademark. "The colour of my truck is quite unusual, it definitely stands out. As a used vehicle, I had no choice – but my colleagues and customers always remember it," laughs Markus. He has now got used to the colour. "I then even painted three new skips in this maize yellow."

His lion is the ideal vehicle for him in construction transport. "MAN is predestined for construction sites," he says. "The overall concept is convincingly simple – performance and robustness. My vehicle was manufactured in 2011, I've only been to the MOT twice and haven't had any major faults. It's simply reliable."

Trucking as a hobby

As a trained commercial vehicle mechanic with experience at Meiller Kipper, Markus has the ideal qualifications: "I do everything on my vehicle myself – you can't save more money than that."

His customers benefit from the flexibility that Markus has as a one-man business. "It makes me much more flexible than other companies," he explains. He thinks a lot more in terms of possible solutions to problems – and therefore builds valuable, long-term customer relationships. "The unique difference to normal providers is that I can come late afternoon or on a Saturday." Despite his passion, Markus also recognises the challenges of the job:

For him, it's all in the mix. Industrial foreman and driver, mechanic and entrepreneur – a combination that allows him to say: "My advantage is that I don't have to do it purely for the money. Because you need to have passion for the job."