Meet the Dartford Team

Colin Payne – Branch Manager

Colin has spent all his working life in the lift service industry and currently heads the team of forty personnel who make up the busy Stannah London & South East Service Branch. He joined Stannah in 1990 as a Service Engineer at the Branch based in Newport Street and then subsequently moved to Dartford in 1991. In 1995 Colin moved into a Technical Sales role before becoming Branch Manager in 1999. Life is extremely busy in this competitive business but Colin finds a little time to relax by supporting his beloved Arsenal.

Dave Franklin – Operations Manager

In 1980 Dave was close to gaining his Engineering Apprenticeship, working in London Docks, when there was a downturn in work and he was made redundant. Luckily, he was able to transfer the apprenticeship to Stannah Lifts Ltd where, in 1981, he became part of the passenger lifts installations team. In 1983 he extended his experience by taking on the role of Tester and later became the company’s Senior Test Engineer, covering the whole of the UK. In 1991 Dave moved to Stannah Lift Services as a Small Repairs Supervisor based in London and then, later, Dartford. In 1992 he became Service and Repair Supervisor, developing the Repair Department to cover major commercial installations. In 2002 Dave became Service Manager and currently manages a team of three Supervisors and nineteen Service Engineers.

Steve White – Sales Manager

Steve joined Stannah in 1990 after eleven years in the retail sector. Initially joining on a temporary contract, Steve has been with the company ever since. In 1993 Steve qualified as a Lift Fitter and worked in the City of London area as a Service Engineer. In 1997 he joined the Dartford sales team as a Technical Sales Engineer. Steve was promoted to Sales Manager in 2004 and currently manages two Sales Engineers in Dartford and three Sales personnel for the National Contracts team.

When he’s not working, Steve finds time to have a golf handicap of seven and walk his Labrador.

Sharron Barnes – Office Manager

Sharron joined the Dartford team in 1997 as a Call-out Administrator. At that time the Administration Department comprised just Sharron and a typist. In 1999 Sharron was promoted to Office Supervisor. As Office Manager, she now has the support of five full-time administrators, a strong and reliable team who are key in ensuring that all of the Branch’s strict deadlines and targets are met each month.

Sharron thoroughly enjoys working for Stannah and has undertaken many different training courses, achieving an NVQ Level 3 in Customer Service, an NVQ Level 3 in Management and an NVQ Level 4 in Business Administration, along with many other key skills.

Steve Skingley - Repair Manager

Steve joined Stannah in 1985 as an Apprentice in the Passenger Lift Service Department. He later took on the roles of Repair Fitter, then Service Engineer and Call-out Engineer. In 2002 he spread his wings and left Stannah to be a self-employed Engineer. Circumstances led him back to Stannah at Dartford where he worked as a Service Engineer, then later joined the repair team. In 2005 Steve became the Supervisor of the minor repairs team, and now as Repair Manager he manages two small teams of Stannah Engineers and Sub-contract Engineers when required.

Steve has completed an NVQ Level 3 in Management and an NVQ Level 4 in Testing.

Rob Thurnell - Field Service Manager

As the Field Service Manager he currently manages a team of ten Service Engineers and the repair team who are busier than they have ever been maintaining and repairing lifts all over the region. He knows all of their problems, having worked as a Repair and Modernisation Engineer for ten years from 1992 -2002. Before that Rob worked as an Engineer’s Mate in the same team. He joined Stannah back in 1988 as a Mate in the construction team at Stannah where he completed an NVQ Level 3 in Management.

Graham Shields – Field Service Manager

Graham has been with Stannah since the early 1970s. He joined the company as a Mate and trained to become a Lift Engineer. He worked on the service and small repairs team before later taking on the job of Call-out Engineer for the London Branch. In 2002 he was appointed as Engineering Supervisor, and now as Field Service Manager he gives his ten-strong team of Engineers the benefit of all his experience.