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BASED: Wells-next-the-sea.

28th September 1995
Page 46
Page 46, 28th September 1995 — BASED: Wells-next-the-sea.
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Keywords : Bulk Carrier, Wells, Haulage

FOUNDED: 1926, Wells-next-the-sea.

PROPRIETOR: Brian Barker, director.

FLEET: Mixed Fleet of eight vehicles—four tippers, two curtainsiders and two flats. Buys

used; favours Volvo and ERF.

SPECIALITY CONTRACT: Bulk tipping and general haulage.

ITucked away on the North Norfolk coast, Barker's modest eight-vehicle operation belies the chequered history of this near 70-year-old company. Launched in 1926, it offered a parcel delivery service between Wells ' and Norwich for many years until in the early 1960s a family disagree' ment led to a change of direction, first into bulk potato haulage and then into general haulage. Director Brian Barker, who describes himself as semi-retired, takes up the story. "If we were to continue in parcels I wanted to move out to Norwich to establish a hub, but the rest of the family didn't." So the business has remained in Wells, on an expanded version of the site where it began.

By the late sixties the fleet was running at 18 vehicles. Two aircraft hangers were bought for storage and a small shipping company was established to bring animal feed and fertiliser into Wells on 500-tonne freighters. Then the harbour began to silt up and shipowners favoured vessels above 3,000 tonnes, which signalled the end of Wells as a commercial port. At the time the Barker group had four companies involved in shipping, storage, haulage and clearing house work. But in the 1970s an industrial dispute with the drivers led to Brian Barker taking the decision to shut down the haulage operation and concentrate on running a garage. Only a pair of six-tonners remained.

When the firm returned to haulage four years later,the four companies merged into one, with an interest retained in shipping through an office at King's Lynn.

Today Brian's sons Philip and Chris are responsible for the day-to-day operation with Philip as transport manager and Chris as a driver. The company runs four bulk tippers, two curta insiders and two flats.Three of the four bulkers work mainly on grain and one on stone but Brian is keen to move back to general haulage. A combination of the EU's set-aside policy, where farmers receive subsidies not to grow produce, and poor rates have left him despondent about this sector: 'With agricultural haulage they can dictate the rates because there is always someone, like a farmer, who will come along and do it cheaper."

Philip agrees that "things have been tight" this year. "The harvest was busy but that seems to have finished early." Like his father he is keen to move the business away from agricultural work. The office at King's Lynn, which the family has retained for 25 years, is of some help: from there the firm subs out loads in general haulage, beet, grain and timber. Its own vehicles frequently travel into the Midlands with timber, building products and pipes The tippers return with granite and stone chippings. "We manage to keep going pretty well," says Chris cheerfully. "Out of the eight vehicles we keep six going all the time, whereas hauliers who concentrate on sugar beet get stood down."

The firm is a member of Truckwatch, the scheme developed by Norfolk police to fight mounting truck theft in the county. When a vehicle is stolen the police fax details to all the operators in the area. "We get at least a fax a day," says Philip. A sign of the times, indeed.

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Locations: Norwich

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