Fife-based Barclay Bros started life carrying charcoal back in the
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'60s. Today, the consignments are a little more varied. They could be anything from equipment for the pharmaceutical industry to vital gear for Royal Navy warships...
THERE IS SOMETHING quite distinctive about the Barclay Bros headquarters in Methil, Fife. As soon as CM drives into the firm's depot, it is struck by the character of the place: an old railway station lies in the middle of an expansive yard, and an apple tree stands just yards from the building. It is a quaint sight, and a little out of the ordinary for a haulage depot.
Inside the Barclay offices is an obsolete ticket booth which now serves as the company's administrative centre. It is easy to picture a station master strolling through the room but, here in 1999, it is Don and Alistair Barclay who are present. Don, the director, and Alistair, the company secretary, tell CM about the all-important business history.
"I sold firewood and coal," says Alistair, "and I bought a Bedford five-tormer in 1961. I used to deliver to households. I started to make charcoal, and used the lorry to deliver it to chemical companies as far away as Glasgow. The company remained the same size for two years, then a local coal merchants came up for sale in East Wemyss."
Alistair bought the coal merchants, and soon the firm had expanded from one to three trucks. He abandoned the charcoal side of the business and concentrated on coal delivery. Don joined the firm in 1965, Barclay Bros was formed, and by 1966 the fleet had grown toil trucks, including artics and rigids. "When you are young you are ambitious," says Alistair.
Telegraph poles
In the 1970s Barclay Bros started to transport telegraph poles—a consignment that is still carried today on the firm's 4o ft and 45ft flatbed trailers. But that same decade a discovery was made which would alter British industry: North Sea oil and gas. Don says: "In the mid-197os the oil industry took off. We carried oil plates and tubes, general equipment for oil rigs." And the coal merchant side of the business continued, explains Don.
CM asks Don about his reaction to transporting materials for the offshore oil industry. After all, back in the '7os it was a completely new line of work. His reply is blunt: "There is no magic in running lorries," he says. As far as Don is concerned, a load is a load which pays the bills.
"Then," says Don, 'we took on a contract carrying glass-lined vessels for a pharmaceutical company, delivering all over the UK." Throughout the '70s, '8os and '905 the consignments have remained more or less the same. Barclay Bros also transports materials for the Royal Navy from the Rosyth Royal Dockyard, near the Forth Road Bridge. These loads, which are carried in four rigid curtainsiders, are taken to Royal Navy bases the length and breadth of the UK.
In this age of smokeless fuels, and the decline of the coal industry, it is perhaps sur
prising that Barclay Bros carries on selling coal. But, as Don explains, it is a niche market. The product might not sell on the scale it once did—it now accounts for just 5% of the company's business—but people do buy it. The coal is used in feature fires, and many older people continue to burn coal rather than buy new home heating systems. The firm collects coal from open-cast mines within 5o miles of Methil, then it is brought to the Barclay depot and loaded onto a flatbed.
Shop display
General storage is another string to the firm's bow. "We bring goods here and then distribute them to all parts of the UK," says Don proudly. When CM visited the Barclay Bros depot the 800m2 warehouse was packed with shop display equipment which the firm's vehicles had picked up from factories in the Midlands. These will be distributed throughout the UK. With the coal merchant business, storage and general haulage all doing well, Barclay Bros left the East Wemyss site in 1993, moving to the present site in Methil. "We had outgrown the old site," says Alistair.
There is something decidedly convenient about the Methil depot. A couple of hundred yards from the perimeter fence lies the massive outline of an oil rig construction yard. Barclay Bros deliver loads such as steel, which is picked up from locations across the UK, to the yard. To make life easier, there is a gate between the yard and the Barclay Bros depot: access could not be easier.
To carry loads such as steel, the firm has two low-loaders in the armoury—a Kaiser and a Broshuis—which provide the valuable heavy lifting capability. Don says of the low-loaders: "This work is varied; we also carry 30-tonne glass-lined vessels from a factory in Leven to pharmaceutical factories across the UK."
Maintenance area
Before leaving Barclay Bros, CM takes a look around the depot. First port of call is the truck maintenance area. Like many family hauliers, the Barclay brothers recognise the benefits of having full vehicle servicing facilities on-site. The firm employs three full-time fitters to keep the fleet in tip-top order; work is also carried out on other hauliers' trucks. Don explains that the fitting bay gives the firm better control, making it possible to repair a piece of machinery when necessary.
CM cannot help admiring the apple tree, just a few yards from the office building. "It bears fruit and we eat it," jokes Don.
But when asked about how they perceive life in haulage, the brothers Barclay respond in no uncertain terms. There is no novelty value in the work; it is a means of income. "It is just a job," says Alistair. What does Don think? "It is a way of life."
• by Tim Maglian