Hills out as rates fall
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by Lee Kimber • Derbyshire-based lowloader specialist Hills Haulage is pulling out of heavy haulage and selling off its fleet of specialised vehicles. Director Allan Hill says heavy haulage rates have fallen so far that they no longer provide sufficient return on the costly equipment needed for the work. Some of Hills' trailers alone cost more than £100,000. "We've been undercut and undercut until we couldn't cut it any further," he says, "So we decided to close the business."
The 25-year-old business has already shed 12 of its 31 drivers, all but one of whom have found new work. The rest will be made redundant over the next few weeks. Hills' 30 tractors and 30 specialised trailers will be auctioned at its 10-acre Pyebridge site near Derby on 14 September. Hill says he decided to close the business after rate falls in his firm's core areas of Liverpool and Scunthorpe spread to London.
Hill is working with transport manager Martin Wraithe to reform the company as a low-loader maintenance, conversion and repair specialist but says it is too early to know how many people it will employ.