Timber hillier Lii4Hughes lists Sit Cliff Richard milting its cueomers—and,
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yes, it really does carry logs for the bachelor boy who owns a big chunk of the neighbouring forest.
Haulier Tony Hughes carts stuff about for Sir Cliff Richard, but he's no roadie. Based in deepest Wales, he's about as far from the bright lights of hapPY-daPPY stardom as you can get, but his family firm specialises in timber haulage and Sir Cliff owns a fair slice of the surrounding forest. It's not fair to suggest it dwells in Obscurity, because LRLE Hughes and Son has a high . profile as a maior player in the industry that produces raw timber for construction, paper production and fencing. The company .,even
• . ,enjoyed its owo week of fame when one of its 40-tonners was pictured hauling full loads of logs vp a hill on the backdrop of the Scania stand at this year's Motctr,Show, demonstrating the rigours of a job that Hughes describes as the hardest in the industry. The same shot Ei can be seen in the Scania advertisements published in the 3o March
g and .-4 April issues of Clti. • . ',:.-; . All five of MT Hughes and Son's vehicles are built todo one job. i They collect the harvested tinittc■r the Forestry Commission or private . y landowners leaves by the side of the road, and deliver it to custOmers who could be based anywhere from the top of Devon to Yorkshire. g The firm's main client is a company called BSW, an antlIgarnation of • -1
,=. three timber companies based in Scotland and Wales that buys softwood timber from landowners and sells it Onto mills and timber merchants all over the country
D Each of the 41-tonne trucks two drawbar
rigs and three artics—has a 4oft bare chassis fitted with bolster systems, imported from specialist manufacturers in Finland and Sweden, which are positioned on the trailer in pairs to form bays. A 4oft trailer can hold four bays of timber to 4ft lengths for, say, agricultural fencing, or one bay of 4oft lengths. One recent job for the firm involved the delivery of 4oft timbers to Torquay, where they v.riAl be used in a new marina.
Return loads
The firm has a loaded target of 70%, which seems like a tall order for a haulier that is so specialised, but Hughes says he has never had a problem securing return loads. Forestry is big business in many areas of the UK—and that's just as well, because the mighty cranes, bolster systems and weighing equipment that are needed don't come cheap. The last vehicle to join the company's fleet cost Li r7,000 fully equipped, and they run at a thirsty 5-6mpg.
"We try to replace the vehicles after six years, and we always buy them new," says Hughes. For such a specialist job, you can't pick them up off the shelf."
Tony's father Les founded the company in 1979, with one tractor and trailer equipped with loose bolsters that were knocked up by a local blacksmith. He had been the transport manager of a general haulage company that carried a lot of livestock, but he wanted to work for himself and saw that there was an increasing amount of wood on the move. In those days the timber was loaded on to the trailer either by a machine that stood on the ground or by hand. Now all the vehides have their own cranes.
The drawbars and one of the trailers have Z-cranes. "We use Z-cranes because we have a lot of low bridges in Wales, and they fold up on themselves instead of lying on top of the load," Hughes explains. The other two vehicles have front-mounted big-lift cranes for picking up 35-4oft timbers that might be used in the construction industry or as telegraph poles. Most of the firm's cranes are manufactured by an Austrian company called Epsilon, but its latest addition caused a stir at the Motor Show, because it is the first in the country of a new Swedish design called V-Kran. "We like to keep one step ahead," says Tony Les Hughes set up the firm's yard in a small village called Abermule in the heart of the Welsh forestry industry There's room for 20 vehicles as well as a 35,000-litre fuel bunker. It also has a seven-bay workshop, where Tony and a part-time mechanic take care of all the maintenance on the vehicles. The yard is perfectly positioned, as Tony explains: "Our biggest advantage is location. More than Go% of the timber that moves through Wales passes our gate."
The firm is one of only three major timber hauliers in Wales, and is set to keep growing: the purchase of another vehicle is planned in a few weeks' time.
We are busier now than we have ever been," says Tony. "I could buy another three lorries and run them all the time. We see peaks and troughs in the industry, but they seem to balance out in the general scheme of things. For example, farmers are having a tough time, so there's been a fall-off in agricultural demand. They're receiving grants for fencing now, so that's recovered slightly. But at the same time paper production is booming because of the high cost of recycling."
The one obstacle to growth that Tony can see is recruiting the right sort of drivers. "It's the hardest job on man and machine in haulage," he says. "We pick up from very remote areas where there's little hope of a phone signal, and if an air pipe or something is broken you just have to fix it and get yourself out of there."
Hughes has been stuck in the woods once or twice himself, and has frequently had to take to the hills in a pickup to rescue drivers and loads marooned by ice. He says it's not so bad now, because with the effects of global warming there aren't the harsh winters that there used to be. But he still has a problem recruiting the right sort of brawn for the job.
"Recruitment is very difficult," he says. "I advertised a job in the summer and had 12 applicants, but only one was any good."
Les Hughes is now 64 and is still driving for the company, but his son looks for vigour in a new driver.
"I can't take anyone over the age of 45," he says. "These boys have to work in all weathers and stay highly motivated. You need to be young and a quick learner to do the job well. We pay good money—I'd pay Lioo a week over the odds for a really dedicated driver."
• by Emma Page