Samuel’s flying high in prime operation role

Sky’s the limit for ambitious 21-year-old who joined firm at 15

High-flying Samuel Milne has been put in charge of operations at one of the country’s largest courier firms at the age of only 21.

Samuel has taken over as Operations Manager at Eagle Couriers after working his way up through the business which he joined as a 15-year-old schoolboy.

The Bathgate-based firm prides itself on being an inclusive employer – supporting young people to grow a career regardless of their age and background.

Eagle Courier Managing Director, Fiona Deas, saw Samuel’s potential and took him under her wing on a work experience placement, and he subsequently joined the firm and progressed through several roles.

Samuel, from Glasgow, said: “My favourite part of school was home time and I left as soon as I could, but I was very fortunate to be offered a role at Eagle after doing a seven-week work placement when I was 14.

“Eagle has always felt like a family business. I’ve spent one third of my life here and have effectively grown up with many of my colleagues.”

Samuel is part of the management team who have 120 staff working in the core courier business division and now more recently fast-growing offshoot, Eagle Aviation, which has developed into one of the UK’s largest lost airline luggage handling firms.

Serving 33 airports and 120 airline groups, Eagle Aviation handles and returns more than 350,000 bags a year to their owner-travellers and clients include Emirates, Jet2, Virgin Atlantic, Loganair, Etihad and Ryanair.

A typical working day for Samuel revolves around problem-solving and working with staff located around Eagle Courier’s extensive depot network and Head Office to ensure customers are receiving the best possible service.

He said: “I am the go-to person when there is a complicated or delicate issue which needs to be resolved and I also have a business development role, working very closely with Fiona to take the business forward.

“The company has changed massively in the time I have been here and working with Fiona I’ve been able to help in building the infrastructure as we grow. I love working here and I am determined to take every possible avenue and opportunity to help Eagle succeed and grow.

‘’Eagle Aviation was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic following the winding up of THS Couriers, a company acquired by the Eagle Group in 2018. This allowed us to rebuild from scratch which was a fantastic experience to work on the launch of a new business and to use the experience I gained over the years at Eagle to design the operation just the way we wanted it.

“It can be challenging but I get a huge amount of job satisfaction and I want to grow and continue to learn about the business as we grow the brand.”

Eagle Couriers, established in 1985, has continued to go from strength-to-strength, providing vital lifeline services for Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and Police Scotland, as well as a customer base of over 3000 private organisations.

Fiona Deas said: “Samuel has grown up personally and professional with the business, and has developed from a young inexperienced school leaver, into a highly valued member of the Eagle Couriers team.

“Attracting, nurturing and retaining the next generation of young talent is something we’re really passionate about – and Samuel is a great example of how this can work effectively.”

Eagle Couriers is Scotland’s largest independent courier firm and safely collects and delivers thousands of time-critical goods each day throughout the UK. Supporting local authorities, government departments and private business, Eagle also played a pivotal role during the Covid-19 pandemic delivering vital medicines to patients and test kits to care homes on behalf of the NHS.

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