Category: News

As the UK’s leading national line marking company, Riggotts are always on the lookout for ways to make our roads safer. Recently, the Netherlands tested an innovative, cost-effective and more environmentally friendly way of marking their roads at night – glow in the dark road markings.

Dubbed the “Smart Highway Project”, the design is the product of Daan Roosegaarde, who focuses on innovative road design. The glowing green lines, painted with photo-luminescent paint, absorb light during the day and then glow bright green at night. Not only are they more eco-friendly, conserving energy that would otherwise be used to power street lights at night, they also improve safety and visibility on the roads.

Roosegaarde’s future design plans also include weather markings such as snowflakes that would appear when the outdoor temperature dipped to a certain level. All of these ideas are part of his desire to make driving a more interactive and sustainable driving experience. Though the test glow markings in the Netherlands have proved too sensitive to moisture, and have since been faded out, civil engineering firm Heijmans has taken the design back to the lab to undergo more testing.

Riggotts are excited at the prospect of new and improved ways to line the UK’s roads, particularly if they lead to improved safety and a cleaner world.

Here at Riggotts, we’re always interested in innovation that has the potential to make road travel safer, cleaner and more efficient. Recently, world-renowned Dutch construction services company and Riggott’s client, VolkerWessels, has designed a road surface made entirely from recycled plastic salvaged from oceans and incineration plants. In addition to being environmentally friendly, it is also more durable, less sensitive to extreme temperatures, and would require less upkeep.

VolkerWessels’ plastic roads will come in prefabricated sections that can be fit into place onsite, greatly reducing construction time. Best of all, using recycled plastic will save the atmosphere up to 1.6 million tons of CO2 released by asphalt each year.

Though the plan only exists on paper, there’s proof that replacing asphalt with plastic is a viable solution. A city in India has paved close to 50 kilometres of roads with a mixture of recycled plastic and asphalt, which has been a safe and durable solution to roads that would otherwise need yearly maintenance.

So, what would plastic roads mean for Riggotts? Well, any raw road surface would still need lining and marking to ensure drivers and pedestrians are as safe as possible. Though adhesion of pre-existing marking paints and materials to a non-asphalt surface may differ, we’re always ready for the challenge of modifying the way we work to keep up with technological evolution. And when an industry development means a safer and less-polluted world, we can’t think of a better reason to adapt our technology accordingly.

Travelling on roadways is such a normal occurrence that many of us fail to realise how dangerous it can be until tragedy strikes. Every year, millions of UK drivers take to the roads on a daily basis – that’s 31.4 million cars last year alone. Worryingly, a study in 2012 found that over half of the UK’s roads weren’t meeting acceptable safety standards. Research carried out by RSMA in 2014 found that road markings on 52% of motorways, 42% of dual carriageways and 48% of single carriageways were so worn, they needed replacing. And these road markings aren’t just for aesthetics – EuroRAP says highway authorities could save 20 fatal or serious injury accidents over three years by simply re-lining junctions. The evidence stands: in 2011, seven of the ten most dangerous roads underwent road marking treatments, reducing fatal and serious accidents by 74%. Experts have claimed that white lines ‘cut more accidents than cameras’, with motoring organisation The AA even claiming that road markings are ‘one of the best safety tools we have’. Best of all, road markings are a cost-effective investment – for as little as a tin of paint, eight times as many lives can be saved. Riggotts is the UK’s premier road marking company, with over 42 teams operating throughout the country. With 21 years of experience in the road marking industry, Riggotts is the best choice for your road marking needs, for everything from traditional to completely bespoke lines.

Riggotts are extremely proud to announce that we have been awarded the Altius award for CDM assurance for our work as road marking contractors and other line marking and surface covering services. Altius are an independent company consisting of industry experts who assess vendors for excellence in various fields including asbestos removal contractors, security companies, building services and refurbishment companies, commercial waste removal companies and, in our case, road and line marking contractors.

The directors and staff members have all worked in a multitude of different sectors and have over nine decades of combined experience so they have a very wide range of skills and plenty of industry knowledge. The aim of Altius is to assess vendors in a way that is fair to both vendors and clients alike so that clients know who to use to get excellent service and vendors know what they can do to further develop and improve their businesses.

As national line marking specialists, we uphold a very high standard of excellence both in the quality of our work and the level of service we deliver so our clients can be assured that their line markings, road surface preparations, road markings and other projects are delivered on time and to a fantastic standard.

Altius offers tailored assessments which means that the assessments are not only fairer for vendors but they focus on areas of importance that are specific to each different sector. For example, as Riggotts are in the road and line marking industry, they have tailored their assessment of us to cover specific factors that affect our industry. This prestigious award is a real testament to our focus on great results and fantastic service.

At Riggotts we have spent the last 21 years building a sterling reputation as national road lining experts and deliver top quality road marking and lining, including yellow lining, chevron lining, car park lining and graphic line marking. As well as being passionate about high-quality results and excellent customer service, Riggotts are dedicated to safety and road markings play a large part in increasing road safety for drivers and pedestrians alike.

Road linings are important for safety on all kinds of roads, from tiny country roads to vast motorways for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons is probably that they give instant instructions to motorists; highly visible white and yellow linings separate traffic lines to keep drivers safely on the correct side of the road, indicate areas where other lines of traffic merge into main roads, can be used to indicate speed restrictions, mark out specific cycle and bus lanes and give various instructions such as where to give way and where there may be potential hazards. Certain road markings indicate where it is safe for pedestrians to cross the road, for example, zebra crossings and others such as single and double yellow lining show where parking isn’t allowed, helping drivers to avoid fines.

Due to the nature of their purpose, road marking and linings undergo a lot of wear and tear on a daily basis from vehicles and the elements so Riggotts use the latest technologies, high-quality materials such as thermoplastics and expert techniques to ensure that all our markings are hard wearing and durable. According to a recent survey by safety company LifeLines, the most dangerous roads in the country are those with worn-out road markings as it is so much harder for drivers to know when and where to safely leave the road. Our road linings, including our white and yellow linings, remain highly visible and easy to identify with minimal maintenance and are applied in a minimal amount of time without sacrificing quality, ensuring as little as possible disruption to everyday service.

As the need for safer, more efficient roads grows, Riggotts always adheres to strict safety guidelines and are affiliated with the Road Safety Markings Association to create any form of road lining necessary to keep everybody safe on the road, both inside and outside of vehicles.

If you walk through any town or city you are sure to come across a zebra crossing at some point or another. Although the exact origins of the zebra crossing are disputed and not verified, it is believed that the original idea for these road markings was the brainchild of MP James Callaghan in 1948 who was working on new ideas for pedestrian crossings when visiting the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory. The following year, these crossings were painted on 1000 test sites around the UK but, instead of the bright white lining we recognise today, they were actually blue and yellow.

These line markings were soon changed to black and white for better visibility and became widespread in 1951. In 1971, they were added to the Green Cross Code and they replaced the previous ‘kerb drill’ that was used to safely cross the road. The most famous zebra crossing both in the UK and around the world has got to be the one in Abbey Road, North West London that is featured in the iconic cover art of The Beatles album of the same name. This particular zebra crossing is now Grade II listed!

The contrast of thick white stripes against the black tarmac, sometimes black paint when necessary, make zebra crossings one of the most easily recognisable and visible road markings. They often have ‘Belisha beacons’, the amber coloured light orbs, either end of the crossing to add further visibility at night time or in adverse weather conditions. As line painting contractors, we can provide highly visible, non-skid zebra crossings as one of our services.

The zebra crossing is simple, easy to use and low maintenance but over the past few years more than 1000 have been removed in favour of pelican and puffin crossings, which use traffic lights to direct both drivers and pedestrians. There has also been a rise in pedestrian accidents which road safety accidents believe is because zebra crossings do not actively slow vehicles down and give priority to pedestrians, leading to unsafe behaviour from both. In New Zealand, they found that adding a speed bump before a zebra crossing can reduce these accidents by 80%, perhaps a measure that should become widespread in the UK.

It has been said that Riggotts will go to any length to ensure that a job gets done and now we have the proof.   At the beginning of December, a Riggotts team set sail from the Scottish port of Oban bound for the Outer Hebridean island of South Uist where fresh road markings needed to be laid.   It wasn’t long before the boat started getting buffeted by the strong gales that had been forecast to hit Scotland.

With the weather rapidly deteriorating the ship’s captain had no option but to dock at the island of Barra and remain there until conditions improved.   The Riggotts team ended up being stranded on windswept Barra for two nights before finally continuing by boat to South Uist where they successfully marked the lines of the one road that runs the length of the island.   “It was like being on a rollercoaster for six hours,” says Andy Johnson, a member of the marooned Riggotts team, of the crossing from Oban. “When we got to Barra it was carnage. All the power was down so there was nothing working at all.

But at least we were on dry land so no one was complaining!   “When the weather eventually calmed down we were able to continue on to South Uist and start work. The whole trip took a little longer than planned but we got the job done. That’s the main thing.”

Riggotts achieve I.B.M.S. (Integrated Business Management System) for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 Certification. Proving once again the company’s total commitment to customer service, Riggotts is the first line marking company in the UK to achieve the three highest levels of the ISO accreditation.

Riggotts has achieved the following awards:-

ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management System – Incorporating National Highways Sector 7 Quality management systems are designed to help organisations ensure customers’ and stakeholders’ needs are met. The National Highways Sector 7 Scheme is for the application of road marking materials and road studs.

ISO 14001: 2004 Environmental Management System Environmental management standards exist to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b) comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmentally oriented requirements, and (c) continually improve all the above.

BS-OHSAS 18001: 2007 Occupational Health and Safety Management System Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems provide businesses with the confidence that their employees are adequately protected. It also ensures that the business is operating according to strict health and safety policies.

These awards highlight Riggotts’ total dedication to providing the very best for their customers and staff.

Graham Bell from QUENSH GB said, “The successful outcome of this assessment is the result of a significant team effort from all employees, there was an enthusiastic commitment to the quality system from all personnel. There are few companies of this nature, Riggotts undertake a continued commitment of energy, time and resources to achieve the highest standards for quality management, across the spectrum of services that they offer.

They should be applauded for this endeavour and lead the way for others to follow.” Nick Riggott, commercial director for Riggotts explains: “This marks a fantastic result for our 30 Line marking crews nationwide, as well as the management and office staff at our head office in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire. It reflects their determination to prove they are the very best in our industry. “OHSAS 18001 proves we have passed the ultimate test in occupational health and safety practice.

We are able to consistently identify and control health and safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents, aid legislative compliance and improve our overall performance. We are committed to maintaining and improving our health and safety – we have set our target to zero accidents. “This pays dividends for customers, it helps to minimise operating costs, while ensuring the best working standards for our staff. This award, together with ISOs 9001 and 14001 demonstrates our full compliance with standards, and shows our complete commitment to excellence throughout our business in quality, environmental and health and safety.”

Leading line marking company Riggotts has invested £60,000 in a bid to become the safest road and surface marking company in the UK.

The Nottinghamshire-based firm, which specialises in line marking for car parks, airfields and roads, is carrying out an overhaul of its health, safety and environmental policies. Riggotts aim to achieve a level of accreditation which no other UK line marking company holds. As part of their investment, the company has taken on Graham Bell CMIOSH, MIIRSM, RSP, DGSA, a quality, health, safety and environmental consultant.

He has more than 20 years of experience across the transport and distribution, engineering, oil, chemical, quarry and construction industries. Graham said: “Riggotts already has an excellent Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental record, but we want to take it to the next level and make it even better by achieving the highest levels of ISO accreditation possible. “Riggotts work can be dangerous, they deal with heavy equipment and flammable/toxic paint.

It’s vital that the very best health and safety policies are in place in order to avoid any incidents occurring.” Explains Darren Riggott, director for Riggotts: “The company is introducing rigorous new health/safety requirements and quality standards, these take into consideration the environment the teams work in. We’ve brought in new rules and regulations throughout the whole business, all staff from management level down will be re-trained.

“Manuals detailing the changes will be issued to each and every person working for the company once everything is in place. We’ll be carrying out regular, unannounced site inspections to make sure that our new high standards are maintained across the UK.

“It’s about ensuring our employees are safe, as well as the people and environment around them.”

The company’s work is being carried out in line with the Integrated Business Management System (IBMS) framework, a prestigious accreditation that combines the ISO9001 (Quality Management), ISO14001 (Environmental Management), OHSAS18001 (Occupational Health and Safety) and the COPC Rel.4.0 (Customer Operations Performance Centre) standards. Graham continued: “We’re making these changes with the aim of achieving the IBMS accreditation early next year.

It’s a hugely coveted certificate which would prove Riggotts’ unrivalled dedication to quality health, safety and the environment. “We believe we would be the first line marking company in the UK to hold such a high level of accreditation, so we are working extremely hard to ensure we get there!

“Our motivation for doing all this is simple, we care about the people who work for us, the people who we work for and the environment we all work in.” Riggotts already boasts a number of health and safety accreditations, including the sought after Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) gold medal, Safecontractor approval, CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) and CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) gold certification. For more information about Riggotts call 0800 848 84 14.

Riggotts, Nottinghamshire’s road marking and Car park marking specialist has achieved the highest accolade possible in an industry quality benchmark. Riggotts has achieved a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) platinum certificate for enabling more than 90 per cent of its employees to carry CSCS cards.

This recognises the quality of work done by individual employees, ensuring that all workers have substantial health and safety knowledge. Introduced in 1995, CSCS is designed to significantly improve working standards within the construction industry, a crucial factor which has led to a reduction in the number of construction accidents. Riggotts’ dedication to training its line marking teams has seen the company’s CSCS certification increase from silver to gold and then platinum within the space of 4 months.

Nick Riggott, Commercial Director at family-owned Riggotts, said: “Platinum is the highest level of CSCS commitment certificate available and for us, this recognises the importance of our employees and keeping them working safely. “It is also a commitment to our customers that we only operate teams who are fully trained and capable of offering a professional and safe service.”

A revolutionary software system that has more than doubled Riggotts’ turnover has led to the company being shortlisted for a prestigious IT award. The company’s bespoke ROADS software system has been nominated for the annual Computer Magazine Awards for Excellence. Riggotts commissioned a local software house to build the programme in 2003, to automate a significant amount of the line-marking company’s business processes and to deal with the extra paperwork.

The software resulted in the company’s turnover doubling – without the need to employ additional members of staff. Darren Riggott, managing director, said: “Without this system we would have had to employ at least another five or six people, simply to cope with the increased paperwork. “It enables us to generate and track quotations quickly and convert them to orders with a single click. We can also produce detailed job sheets for field operatives, input return sheets from the installations and generate invoices. It’s invaluable.” The software also manages HR data, vehicle and plant assets and maintenance, purchase ordering and stock control – as well as staff training and health and safety records.

Darren added: “It has helped the company to control its expansion and it has allowed us to reinvest the revenue generated from increased sales into more plants and equipment to service our growing customer base. “We’’ve also been able to take on more customer service staff at our Tuxford head office to ensure our clients receive the best customer care, both before and after-sales. A recent innovation to the system came in the form of an electronic planning board, devised to match the company’’s old magnetic white-board system as closely as possible. The result is a self-scaling matrix screen with columns for each lining vehicle and rows for seven days of the week.

The display integrates into the order records and maintains colour-coded cells for each truck’s operations on a weekly basis, allowing greater forward planning and reviewing than the previous manual system. The system also ties into the company’s use of the Masternaut vehicle tracking system, which enables the planning department to verify that each job is on target in real-time.

Family-run line marking company, Riggotts, has been awarded the RoSPA gold medal at the prestigious Coutts Prize for Family Business Awards. The company, set up by brothers Nick and Darren Riggott in 1994, took home the prize in the small business category for its health and safety policies, attention to detail and contemporary approach to the industry. Darren Riggott said: “Sadly the white lining industry has attracted a ‘poor boys from the black stuff’ image over recent years, but we like to think that we are rising above that and that our company has a fresh and highly professional approach to all aspects of our operations. “

Unlike many of our competitors, we only use our own trained staff, vehicles and equipment to ensure that we have greater control over quality and safety. “We are delighted to be presented with gold by such an acclaimed company as Coutts & Co.

We take enormous pride in the running of our business, the quality of our work and the development of our staff and we are hugely excited about the future.” Riggotts has extensive health and safety programmes in place, as well as operational training schemes for staff, including NVQ qualifications – a rare opportunity in the white lining industry.

A road marking specialist is meeting the increasingly tough requirements of internal and external line marking and surface coating contracts with a range of state-of-the-art products. Riggotts, which services a blue-chip customer base for complex line marking and surface coating projects, has developed its own Esseline range of products following industry demand for high quality, increasingly durable materials.

Commercial Director at family-owned Riggotts, Nick Riggott, said: “Our investment in the development of the Esseline range has been demand-led. “Our customers require line marking and surface coating on a variety of surfaces ranging from warehouses to retail car parks and school playgrounds. “However they all share common demands, requiring high-quality products at cost-effective prices, assurance that the work will maintain its aesthetic appeal for the maximum duration and that treated areas are returned to traffic or pedestrian use as soon as possible. “Although each product in the Esseline range has particular features for specific applications, they all fulfil these key requirements.” Riggott’s Esseline line marking and surface coating work is only carried out by an in-house team of specialists or supplied to contractors who have been trained and quality assured by the company.

The Esseline Range includes:

Esseline SM – a revolutionary surface coating specially designed to rejuvenate and extend the life of traditional asphalt surfaces Esseline SF – a pure epoxy resin line marking and floor coating for concrete, metal and wood

Esseline SC – a premium quality reactive cold hardening plastic surface, ideal for car park bay colouration and line marking

Esseline LM – with unique reflective, non-yellowing and skid-resistant features, which make it ideal for all external line marking applications.

Esseline PU – a range of revolutionary polyurea based fast-set surface coatings which work in an array of demanding protection applications

Riggotts’ Facilities Maintenance Services division also includes specialist cleaning and car park and grounds maintenance services throughout the UK.