Richard is a Chartered Engineer and spent his early career working in local government designing, building and maintaining roads including the M1 and the Leeds and Bradford Airport. His latter career has been dominated by representing freight business interests and promoting sensible freight planning, safety and compliance. Richard has been an active member of a number of key government groups including Traffic Forecasting 1999, Road Pricing 2005, Road Haulage Forum, and Road Haulage Charging 2005.

Richard is a member of the Commission for Integrated Transport to which he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2004. He is also on the Board of the Road Safety Foundation.