How Road Transport Serves the Woollen Mills
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PROMINENT among those concerns which serve the woollen mills of Bradford is I. W. Holdsworth and Co., Halifax, which, with its associated companies, has a large number of A.E.C. lorries constantly engaged in the carrying of raw and finished wool to and from the docks at Liverpool, Goole and Hull. The company also 'maintains regular services between Halifax. Bradford and London, and although wool figures largely in the consignments, it is parcel piece goods which form the mainstay of these particular services.
Begun in 1868 by Mr. I. W. Holdsworth, who had a strong belief in the future possibilities of road transport, the concern has grown up under the direction of his two sons, Charles and Oliver Holdsworth, and has expanded by acquiring several other transport businesses.
In the immediate post-war years, several incursions were made into the passenger-transport field, services being established in the Harrogate and Halifax areas. These were, however, abandoned, and all efforts concentrated upon the development of goods transport.
In 1930 the company took over J. W. North and Co., Ltd., of Bradford, and brought into being its first regular ser
vices to London. Another concern, J. W. Berm and Co., also of Bradford, n30
as acquired about the same time, which made it possible to create daily "shipping' services to and from Liverpool and the Humber ports. Messrs. W. Burrill, of Littleborough, was another concern to come under the gis of I. W. Holdsworth and Co.—a particularly useful acquisition, because the smaller firm had built up a reputation in the textile trade for its guaranteed
daily runs to Manchester, Birkenhead and other northern centres.
An interest in Poulter and Son, Ltd., of Bradford, was acquired last year, principally with a view to developing the daily " smalls " services between Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Manchester, etc.
To-day the company has 74 motor vehicles in regular commission, of which 27 are A.E.C. petrol and oil-engined Mammoth and Mammoth Majors. The A.E.0 .s actually represent 95 per cent. of the heavy-class long-distance vehicles. Over 63,000 tons of goods are now carried each year, and during that period the company's vehicles cover some 1,290,000 miles.