Teenager Grant Arnold ignored his _ haulier father's advice and
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set up GA Transport. Six years later-it's still expanding: now his dad works for him.
At 14, Grant Arnold knew the route from West Bromwich to Portland Bill by truck better than he knew the route to his local school on foot.
Despite a warning from his truck driving father to steer clear of a career in road transport, at 17 Arnold bought a non-running Ford Transit and set up GA Transport in the basement of the family pub.
"My dad Barry used to run a haulage business called HT Arnold & Son," he says, "but it became JB Transport when he bought a pub and reduced the fleet to just one truck. I spent more time in that truck than I did at school."
Arnold used the experience wisely, learning the ropes and meeting the transport managers who made the decisions. Starting with "panic" work, his first load came through contact with transport managers, like the one at nearby UES Bright Drawn Steel who recognised him as the boy who used to sit in his father Barry's cab. That company's name has since changed, but it still uses GA Transport.
Driving his Transit Arnold was able to build up a reputation for reliability, delivering the goods when few of his competitors could guarantee to load.
Prospered
As GA Transport prospered, Barry Arnold told his son not to bother with 38-tonners. Once again Grant made his own decisions and two years ago the first tractive units joined the GA Transport fleet. Later this month it will be supplemented by two brand new Mercedes 1834 tractors. "He never listens to a bloody thing I say," says Barry.
Six years on, it's more a case of the father listening to the son. In the yard behind the pub is the office which accommodates both GA Transport and BA Transport. There is no doubt who is in control of things: Grant runs GA Transport and employs his father's company as the main independent haulier—and not just because of the family connection.
"I was using other subcontractors but they kept undercutting me and taking my work," he says. "I couldn't get reliable ones. I said to my dad, you buy sonic extra lorries, fund them and I'll load them'. Most days I load four or five of his and he's never going to undercut me—I hope!"
Starting from scratch has nut been easy and he has learned survival in the haulage business the hard way. "Quite early on I had a regular customer called Argosy Fencing which went bump on me, owing about L12,000," Grant recalls. "I was only running three vehicles at the time, driving one and controlling the other two from a mobile phone bought for me by my uncle. I thought the loss would take me out as well. The experience just made me hungrier for more work and taught inc to be more careful."
As the business grew Arnold found himself employing former school friends who had begun driving for other local hauliers. It meant he was now employing people who he knew well and who he could trust to look after his vehicles. Several of those drivers are still working with the company, so after only six years in the business he has built up a stable and loyal workforce.
Once the fleet grew to five vehicles Arnold moved into the office full time but felt that despite his early success, opportunities for further growth were being restricted because of his youthful appearance.
"New customers wanted to talk to me but as well as not having the time, my age was against me," he says. "They would see someone who was very young and think that I didn't have the experience to do the job well."
That's where GA's general manager, 56 year-old Bernard Price, came in. He joined the company a year ago, just as Oldbury-based Metsec Windows was about to appoint a single haulier to manage its transport activities. Price describes the early meeting: At the time GA Transport was one of a number of companies supplying vehicles to Metsec. I was sent in by another haulier to undercut GA and met Grant, who then made me an offer I couldn't refuse. We put a deal together, GA got the contract and I joined him to run it."
Price now has a dual role. Wearing one hat he runs the Metsec haulage contract based on the company's premises. Wearing his other hat he is a mature front for the GA Transport operation. "If Bernard had been with us three years ago we could have been twice the size we are now," says Arnold.
The company now runs 14 vehicles. One of the new Meras has replaced a decommissioned Scania, leaving the fleet 100% Mercedes with three 38-tonne tractors and assorted trailers; three 16-tonners; five 7.5-tonners, and three Transits which are used for parcels and light delivery work. More vehicle purchases are planned and they will all be Mercedes too, says Arnold.
Expansion
The extra vehicles will be needed to handle increased work for existing customers and planned expansion. The bulk of GA Transport's work involves iron and steel, from baling wire delivered for Birminghambased Carrington Power Steels, to manhole and access covers carried for Glynwed Brickhouse of West Bromwich. But Arnold has his eyes on work in another sector.
"I want to get more contract haulage business, perhaps move into the dry food haulage side of the industry, adding some more Tautliners to the fleet," he says. "There's a lot of work in that line around here and 1 think that some of it is not being done very well."
In anticipation of this expansion GA Transport has just taken the lease on a yard next door. The new premises include a warehouse which as yet has no roof. However, such is the determination of this 23-year-old that if a new business opportunity presents itself tomorrow morning, you get the feeling that the necessary refurbishment programme would be implemented and completed in time for a next-day start.
E by Steve McQueen