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GAM Two HALV

9th February 1995
Page 44
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Page 44, 9th February 1995 — GAM Two HALV
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F4, ngland's failure to qualify in last summer's World Cup finals cost William Kirk money. The previous summer the Macclesfield-based haulier had prospered as a result of the release of Jurassic Park and the marketing of merchandise associated with the blockbuster movie; in this case, footballs. "We shifted millions of 'em," says William Kirk's traffic manager, John Whittaker.

By contrast the lack of England's presence in America dampened the home market for footballs, proving that haulage, too, can be a game of two halves.

William Kirk won the football contract three years ago, distributing leather and plastic balls manufactured in Italy by Mondo. The business is worth 10 loads a week in the busy season between March and September. "We won it by recommendation," says Dennis Kirk, managing director for the past 33 years of the firm which bears his father's name.

The balls arrive in England flat, are inflated at a warehouse in Lancashire and packaged in dozens. Then the tricky bit begins. "We had to work out how to carry them," says Kirk. A trailer load weighs little more than a couple of tonnes.

Woolworths sells so many that its orders are delivered in cages. Kirk's vehicles are all curtainsiders so hauling a full load of footballs along a motorway in a high wind can present handling problems, "At least if you go into a lake you'll float," chuckles Kirk.

In the pre-war clays when William Kirk set up in business as a coal merchant the old lace-up and leather footballs would have been a heavier commodity, hut Kirk senior wasn't in the entertainment business. A former coal miner, he got fed up with digging coal and took to selling it—first with a horse and cart, later with a Model T Ford van. Dennis Kirk remembers his father ignoring the advice of a doubting Thomas: "A friend of his said, 'You don't want to buy lorries. Bill, they'll never catch on'."

The 1.25-acre site by the Macclesfield Canal cost £300 in 1939. A second-hand F.RE bought in 1943 averaged 14mph in third and took 11 hours to reach London. Dennis Kirk joined the company after the war following a three-year apprenticeship at ERF and a spell in the RAF as a motor mechanic. The business switched from coal to general haulage in 1934, carrying cloth and paper for local mills.

Expansion came in 1970 with the purchase of the transport operation of a nearby paper mill. Backhouse and Coppoc taking the fleet from eight to 15 vehicles. It continued to work for the paper mill until its closure in 1985, by which time artics had been introduced and the fleet stoo at 26 vehicles.

Since then Kirk has diversified-from carrying packaging for supermarkets it has added a groupage service supplying most supermarket regional distribution centr with non-fresh foodstuffs such as preserves, teabags, soft drinks and bread concentrates for in-store bakeries. With Easter not far off, crossing paste for hot-cross buns is in demand. The loads are held in a 3,7001112 warehouse where the company minimises the frequency of deliveries to the sam address by collating customer orders from number of suppliers.

It delivers empty cartons for Londo.. Rubber Company, manufacturers of Dire and for Hamlet Cigars: it wouldn't do for t

products in the two types of cartons to get mixed up. On the day of CM's visit most of the snow in the north was falling on William Kirk's depot—the kind of afternoon when any soccer fixture would have been abandoned, yet the warehouse hummed as forklift trucks busily loaded two curtainsiders with a variety of goods including cartons of Strawberry Fluff, an American delicacy destined for supermarkets up and down the land.

The fleet has grown to 39 tractor units and 60 trailers. Most units are ERFs with a couple of Seddon Atkinsons and a couple of Fodens for good measure. The pride of the fleet are two new Volvo FH12s which Kirk says have performed impressively, running at 8mpg—good for curtainsiders: "They suffer a lot of wind resistance," he points out.

been accredited to IS0900021BS5750 standard.

After 40 years with the company Kirk is taking a back seat, coming in two to three days a week, offering advice where needed to directors such as son Robert (pictured, above left with his father), in charge of maintenance, and to Peter Kirk, his nephew and warehouse director.

Over those 40 years Kirk has been active in the Road Haulage Association, for a time as regional chairman. He represented the North West employers in industrial relations when a Joint Industrial Council still existed and recalls the bad old days of the 1979 drivers' strike, when for every militant shop steward he met there were "three or four lousy haulage contractors". He prefers people to work with him rather than for him.

Last year his employees accepted a switch to profit related pay which offers the incentive of being partly tax free. Based on operating profits, the quarterly payouts are adding about 3% to wages. Directors and shareholders are excluded from taking part by Government regulation.

If it doesn't work out he will be there to listen: "I like to turn the penny over and look at both sides," he says.

by Patric Cunnane


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