The hauliers taking the strain for our economy with family in the front seat

David Pollock | Scottish Photography Productions

Scotland has hit a record 356,550 private sector businesses, an increase of almost 3 per cent, according to the Scottish Government – and behind those figures are a number of successful and trusted haulage firms that keep their commerce moving.

We speak to three family-run haulage firms, who discuss how their businesses have changed over the years, and what is driving their own success forward through the generations.

Colin Lawson Transport

When Jodie Lawson passed her Class 1 and Class 2 Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) training on the first attempt last year, the then 18-year-old became the youngest female HGV driver in the UK.

Although a fashion student at the time, her entering the haulage industry didn’t come as a surprise to Lawson and her family as she grew up watching her father’s trucking company, Colin Lawson Transport, in Altens, Aberdeen, expand and thrive over the years.

Now a fully licenced HGV driver, Jodie is completing a graduate management training course at the firm, in association with Robert Gordon University, and is involved with the business side of the company, driving when necessary.

Director Colin Lawson says it is important to him that his children are showing a keen interest, and that there is an opportunity for them to do so.

He says: “The main benefit of a family-run firm is that there is peace of mind that you can take your children and give them a good career. I see opportunities to expand the firm and we take pride in our involvement with the industry.”

Lawson started the firm in 1997, when he bought his first lorry and began servicing the oil and gas and construction sectors. It has gone on to be one of the north-east of Scotland’s leading logistics companies, operating a heavy haulage fleet of more than 60 trucks across the UK and Europe.

As well as operating general and heavy haulage operations, Lawson’s 75-strong team specialises in the energy sector – and is now the north-east’s only carbon neutral transport company.

The firm’s success, Lawson says, is down to establishing longstanding relationships with its customers and being active members of the local community.

“I’m a great believer in giving something back,” Lawson explains.

“We have always been involved in charities and that is instrumental in what we do. Something I feel strongly about is the work we have been working with CLAN, which supports people across north-east of Scotland who are affected by a cancer diagnosis.”

At the end of last year, the firm supported the Aberdeen-based charity – which also has centres in Moray, Shetland and Orkney – by transporting 30 8ft-tall lighthouse sculptures from a warehouse in Derbyshire to the north-east coast, ready to be painted by artists as part of CLAN’s Light the North awareness campaign.

The company has also been an avid support of the children’s charity Cash for Kids for many years, and has delivered thousands of toys to youngsters across the region.

Meanwhile, Lawson says one challenge for the business is the level of support given to encouraging more drivers to join haulage companies, even against the backdrop of a shortage of HGV drivers in the UK.

He says: “For an individual to progress as a HGV driver they must overcome a number of hurdles, from medicals to driver training – all of which comes at a cost. There is minimal funding available and, with large excess insurance premiums for the younger drivers, there is little encouragement to employ them. Despite this, we currently have six trainees going through their training.”

And it looks like there are no signs of the company slowing down any time soon. Lawson adds: “We are here to stay and to keep local businesses in the community.

“It has been a challenging time but we are here for the long journey. We hope to remain a long-standing and sustainable company.”

Collett

Now one of the biggest names in the UK’s haulage and logistics industry, Collett has come a long way from its early days of delivering milk by horse and cart.

The Halifax-headquartered firm, which has a busy depot in Fife, can trace its roots back to 1928 when Richard Collett began transporting his and other farmers’ dairy produce by horse and cart from his farm near Keighley, West Yorkshire. By 1964, R Collett & Son had been established, with Richard junior on board to help operate 14 wagons and expand the business into heavy haulage.

Today, the firm has depots in Halifax, Goole, Dublin and Grangemouth, with more than 150 employees operating a range of heavy transport, general haulage and marine services for the renewable energy, aerospace and aviation sectors worldwide.

David Collett, managing director and grandson of Richard junior, says: “The whole working environment has changed from the old days and we have committed ourselves to continuous improvement.

“We now have to have a compliance department that certifies, checks, authorises, trains so many parts of our operations. This is an overhead in our business that we never used to have and has been brought about mainly by customer demands and industry requirements and practices.

“Although it has added cost to our operation, it is something I now strongly approve of, as it means we are now better organised and structured, with a stronger health and safety culture.”

As a company changes and grows to such a size, so do the risks.

David Collett, who joined the firm as a traffic clerk in 1978, says that continuity is the largest risk to family businesses, and increased customer expectations and requirements have been key challenges for the firm over recent years.

However, the company has viewed these as opportunities to expand and improve. “We are no longer just a transport company,” Collett says. “We offer multi-modal transport solutions, particularly for the heavy transport industry, including the loading, offloading, lifting and positioning of heavy equipment, along with the project management and engineering skills that this requires.”

The Grangemouth depot became a port operation for the import of wind turbine components, after it was launched by the firm in 2014, as a result of customer demand. A key example of successful planning and delivery of wind farm components by Collett is its involvement in Banks Renewables’ Kype Muir Wind Farm, south of Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, which included 52 metre-long turbine blades.

Collett adds: “We continually evaluate what we do, and the opportunities that we make and receive, in order to maintain the development of our company.

“We now have the fourth generation working in the company along with a strong management team that bring their skills to bear, and trust that our family philosophy will continue to be relevant in this industry.”

Hayton Coulthard

In the little village of Twynholm, near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Peter and Jane Coulthard paved the way for future generations of Coulthards to have a career in transport when they bought two horses and hauled pipes to Loch Whinyeon for Kirkcudbright County Council’s Water Division.

Named after their eldest son, they established Hayton Coulthard and purchased a 500cc Indian motorbike and sidecar, which they used to deliver newspapers around Galloway.

A key period for the company was the 1970s and 1980s, when Peter’s grandson, Duncan senior, helped the business to flourish.

His son, David, gained great success in Formula One racing and now works as a broadcasting presenter and commentator for the sport.

His daughter, Lynsay, sadly passed away in 2013, leaving Duncan Coulthard junior to take the helm.

“It was drummed into me by my father from an early age to always give a good service and go the extra mile,” Duncan says. And he believes the firm’s success is a result of being honest with people.

“I have been fortunate that I have been able to surround myself with good hard-working staff, and we always buy local if we can,” Coulthard says. “If you support your local community they will in turn look after you.” The firm has sponsored various local clubs including pipe bands, rugby and football teams as well as darts groups over the years.

It also now has offices in Twynholm, Ecclefechan, Lesmahagow and Cumbernauld and has more than 240 employees, 120 trucks and an impressive annual turnover of £25 million.

In 2010, the firm merged with Gregory Distribution to form the joint venture company entitled Hayton Coulthard Transport.

It followed 25 years of working together and allowed Hayton Coultard to remain a family-run firm, which gains from being part of a larger organisation while retaining its own identity.

While succession tends to be a major risk for family firms, Duncan Coulthard’s two sons, James and Murray, are now the fifth generation to work in the firm.

The challenge, Coulthard says, is the impact of the industry on the environment, with the cost of fuel adding a major cost to haulage firms. “We are currently trialling alternative fuel trucks, for example, gas engines, but the infrastructure is not there nationally yet,” he says.

“It is starting to gain traction but when it does become cost effective, we are keen to be at the forefront and embrace it.”

He is also certain that the company’s red tartan colours will carry on gracing roads up and down the country for years to come.

“We will continue to strive to adapt to individual customer demands while trying to remain profitable.”

This article first appeared in The Scotsman’s spring edition of Vision. A digital version can be found here.