1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
Richard Lawson starts to stretch its wings
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE NEW OWNERS of the former Richard Lawson Auto Logistics business have begun expanding its 200-strong fleet just a month after rescuing it from closure.
David Horton, chairman of the renamed Autocare Group, has agreed to buy 15 new trucks despite a six-month freeze on investment.
While business is picking up faster than expected, he says the Dundee-based company's future still lies in added-value services rather than car transport: "When we became involved in this business people took the view that we would only be interested in the value-added bits.
"I don't believe that in the current marketplace anybody will make a lot of money moving vehicles around the country, but transport is fundamental to the rest of the business."
The main areas of non-transport business are pre-delivery inspections of new cars and 'de-fleeting', where used cars are prepared for sale at the end of their hire period.
Horton says the truck maintenance division, Trans Technik, is likely to be important in reviving the business that went into administration in September.
"This does 60% of our fleet at the moment," says Horton. "We are looking at becoming totally self-sufficient and developing a new operation on a green-field site that takes on outside contracts as well." Horton is director of management consultants Grafton Associates that raised the finance to buy Lawson.