Driving ambition
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Two lorry-driving brothers clutching redundancy cheques, a second-hand Scania 113 and plenty of ambition were the key factors needed to start A&D Logistics in 1995
Words / Images: John Henderson Brothers Alan and Drew Bolsworth
have a life-long association with vehicles and engineering. This interest in all things mechanical was instilled at an early age by their late father who accrued an impressive 30-year-plus service as a foreman at Albion Motors in Scotstoun. The brothers have since followed a parallel career path, initially with the Royal Corps of Signals and then afterwards driving HGVs for Scottish Pride at Govan. In 1995 a major restructure at the Glasgow dairy base saw these siblings take advantage of a redundancy scheme and buy their irst truck, in the shape of a Scania 113 6x2 tractor. Driving and maintaining the motor created plenty of work, but not enough for two full-time incomes, so the roles of owner-operator and agency driver were shared equally until the partnership had the inancial momentum for the arrival of a second vehicle.
In the early, days the brothers’ business was labelled A&D Trucking, and the pair logically used their connections at Scottish Pride for work. This usually involved hauling refrigerated trailers as subcontractors for the Hayton Coulthard operation. The search for a suitable depot took some time, so short-term operating centres at the local DAF and Scania dealerships were used until a yard in Meadowside Street, Renfrew came onto the market. The brothers’ dedication to delivering the best possible service, combined with a continual emphasis on high standards and backed up by a personal attention to detail, allowed steady expansion. In addition, their skills caught the attention of a number of well-known companies in the west of Scotland.
Today A&D Logistics runs around 50 tractor units that haul around 150 trailers on container work, and the leet operates from the irm’s spacious Gas Street premises in Johnstone. They moved there in January 2004 and the four-acre site includes an ofice block adjoining a large workshop, while outside there’s plenty of room for storing containers of all sizes. In addition to the R&M requirements of their own vehicles, the team of seven mechanics here also provide a service, repair and MoT preparation package for third-party customers.
Ex-demonstrators
The A&D Logistics leet has been dominated by Scania and Volvo trucks respectively over the last 16 years. “Initially the Reliable Vehicles Scania dealership in Renfrew supplied a good number of tractors and in 1999 the irst Volvo FH arrived,” says Alan Bolsworth. Since then, plenty more Gothenburg-built products have followed and knowing their own requirements inside out, Alan and Drew now standardise with Volvo FH Globetrotter XL 6x2, I-Shift prime movers powered by either 460 or 480 engines. The policy here is to buy nearly new, low-mileage examples with one-year’s warranty, and the brothers report that Volvo salesman Alan McGregor can be relied upon to bring relevantly speciied ex-demonstrators, or similar ex-large leet examples to their attention.
Almost all the trailer types run are Dennison sliding skeletals, while these are complemented by some lats, curtainsiders and box vans. A substantial investment in load-carrying equipment in the last two years has seen 42 new Dennison trailers arrive, with several older skeletals traded in against the recent acquisitions. The very nature of A&D’s mainstream container work sees a lot of trailer swapping in a normal week and this helps to keep the average mileage down on most examples. These mass movements also allow the mechanics to keep a close eye on every single type, and it’s fair to say the condition of all trailers and also the tractor units here is excellent. To meet customers’ requirements, trailers are occasionally stored off site at customers’ premises, so a fully equipped service van, itted with a compressor and a scrutineer system, among many other useful tools, looks after any leeting depot absentees. Few hauliers have such a short drive to their local VOSA station as A&D Logistics, with the testing facility located right next door at the Malcolm Group’s Linwood HQ.
Soap and polish
A&D Logistics expects a full working life from every vehicle. Their high standards of maintenance and care are a small price to pay with such a good return from these investments. This practice, alongside careful measurement of running costs is a key factor in the company’s success. The importance of keeping a clean, presentable leet is always high on the agenda at Johnstone and responsibility for the appearance of the A&D trucks and trailers is entrusted to valeting specialist Motor Manicure of Greenock, which applies soap and polish to the entire complement every weekend.
Long-distance work across the UK and Europe was commonplace in the irst few years of operation, however load patterns have changed in the last decade or so. Although there’s still regular UK-wide work, these days most of A&D’s two-tone blue trucks usually ind themselves on shorter routes, albeit with a couple of nights out a week not being unusual. The irm’s location close to the urban M8 has its advantages at certain times of the day and the irm is often quite happy to overnight drivers at relatively local loading points to save time and fuel in Glasgow’s extensive rush hours. “It makes more inancial sense to pay a driver night out money than having him stuck for hours consuming diesel in the daily motorway trafic jams,” says Alan, adding: “This policy is also part of our environmental focus.”
Business opportunities
As with all hauliers in these challenging economic times, A&D monitors work patterns closely to spot any peaks in trading and identify new business opportunities. The company handles a full range of container sizes from 20ft to 45ft, with most cargoes today now palletised before being packed into boxes – this factor has decreased loading and unloading times substantially. Major Scottish food and drink producers make up a substantial percentage of the irm’s client list and the end of October coincides with the start of the seasonal increase in related box movements. These blue-chip customers naturally require just-in-time collections or deliveries and detailed logistics solutions for national and export loads. Building materials and waste paper for recycling is another growth line in trafic.
A&D’s team of 54 full-time drivers includes a small percentage of nightshift men, supervised by 10 ofice staff. The busy trafic ofice beneits from a Roadrunner computer system and Minor Planet C Track satellite tracking, with the latter device referred to constantly by the trafic controllers.
Alan and Drew’s personalities are noticeably different, but their combined qualities and areas of interest complement each other. On any normal working day, Drew will be found controlling the smooth operation of the tidy, well-organised ofice, while Alan will be outside, busy with either the running of the workshop, directing drivers or customer liaison.
Training is always high on the agenda at A&D and Alan Bolsworth outlines his Driver CPC progress. “We’ve completed our second annual syllabus and Eric McLeod, our full-time driver trainer, collected a Scottish national award last year.” Thanks to ADR training, several drivers are now in possession of their CPC qualiication cards. In addition, the best use of every last drop of diesel is maximised by extensive learning packages. Alan Bolsworth is also quick to praise his team who embrace the reasons for ongoing learning. “Their positive attitude is crucial to our success,” he says.
Despite the economic challenges of the last three years, A&D’s impressive rate of expansion during that period has seen an increase in tractor unit and trailer numbers by 60% and almost 50% respectively. All road-going equipment here is purchased outright and the brothers report a good long-term, working relationship with their bank. Alan Bolsworth cites service levels as the sole driver for A&D’s success. “It’s all about developing a detailed understanding of our customers’ requirements and delivering on time, every time,” he says. This increase in business is through either new business gained by recommendation or extra trafic requested by existing customers. ■