The Celtic connection

12/07/2016

The haulage industry both here in Ireland and the U.K has gone through  some turbulent times over the course of the last decade. There is no doubting that it is a stressful industry to be working in and one that leaves little downtime for owners and drivers to relax and unwind. However, the ever increasing popularity of truck shows both sides of the Irish Sea afford hauliers and truck drivers the opportunity to indulge in their passion for trucks, while also taking time away from the stress and strain of everyday on the road.

At the end of the day, the haulage industry is a tight knit community and although it is a very competitive sector to be involved in, the respect amongst their peers can be seen at trucks shows all over.

The Waterford Truck Show has only been running three years, but it has already become an integral part of the haulage industries calendar. Not only do trucks come from all over Ireland, but many came from the U.K as well including Griffiths Waste Management, Recycling & Plant Hire, which is a company based in Swansea, Wales,

Gavin Griffiths is MD of this business which was set up seven years ago and he is a truck show enthusiast to the extent that he is involved in the organising of the All Wales Truck & Transport Show which was held on July 11th and 12th this year.

This show has been running for the past eight years now and is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers and its main aims were to provide the hauliers of Wales with a truck show and raise funds for charities in the country. Over £50,000 has been donated to the various charities and as chairman of the show, Gavin knows what it takes to organise and successfully run such an event.

“There is no doubting the time and effort that has to be put into these shows and there is a lot of organising to be done every year,” said Gavin. “I travelled over to the Waterford Show this year for the first time and I have to say we received a fantastic welcome from the hosts and indeed everyone there. I would go and support a lot of truck shows, especially the smaller ones and I have to say Waterford is up there with the best of any of them. “I can’t stress enough how impressed we were by the show and I’ll certainly be recommending it to many of my colleagues over here in Wales. It was very family orientated and it was a relaxing weekend. We brought over a couple of trucks and there was actually a good few from the U.K over at it. We couldn’t fault one thing about the show and we actually probably learned a few things from it.”

Gavin also sent an open invitation to all Irish truckers to attend the 2016 All Wales Truck and Transport Show. “Certainly, they would be made feel very welcome and having received had such a reception in Waterford, we would be more than happy to facilitate hauliers from Ireland.”

As stated, Gavin has been in business for the past seven years and there are three strands to the company waste management, recycling and plant hire.
“The recycling of wood is a big part of our business. We can collect the wood or it can be delivered to our yard and it is processed and then exported to other countries for use again,” added Gavin.

“We can offer factory site clearance services or provide customers with a 15, 35, 40 or 50 cubic yard skip if required. A High speed Shredder is used to process the material which is then screened before it is supplied to their customers. As the process for wood recycling is specific, they have to ensure the material used is acceptable for recycling. 

In addition to wood recycling, the site is also licensed to accept plasterboard waste, Green/Garden waste, general waste and hardcore at their facility to be recycled.

They also offer a wide range of waste management and recycling services including the collection, treatment, recovery, recycling and disposal of non-hazardous waste streams, in addition to dealing with all aspects of hazardous waste, including contaminated land waste, clinical and healthcare waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). We also offer additional services including special event waste management and industrial cleaning services along with having a wealth of experience in specialist site clearance projects across the UK and Europe. We currently supply outlets across the UK and Europe with various recycled material which is used as fuel reducing the amount of natural resources such as gas, coke and coal required to produce energy. 

Griffiths operate a fleet of 15 trucks and a wide range of machinery including Articulated Walking Floor trailers, Ejector trailers, Curtainsiders, Flat beds, Low loaders, Tippers, Hook lift Vehicles, Skip Loaders, Roadsweepers, 35 people are employed to ensure the smooth running of the business.
“All the trucks are either Scania or Volvo and we have recently purchased a new Volvo and 2 Scania vehicles, one being a Scania tractor unit tag axle V8, with the other being a Scania 8x4 tipper G cab plated to 44 tonne for use with plant carriers which is the first of its type to be put into use within the UK. We carry out a lot of our own maintenance work, whilst new vehicles are purchased with an R&M contract based over either a 3 or 4 year period depending on the application of the vehicle.

Gavin revealed that the plant hire end of the business was kept quite busy as they have a wide range of equipment of offer.
“We are committed to providing the very best service available for machine hire. We offer a range of equipment which are offered for hire nationwide. This is backed up by high levels of service and attention to detail that we pride ourselves on. We offer for hire anything from 4 X 4 pickup trucks to shredding and screening services, trommels, decksreens and powergrids along with a vast range of plant equipment ranging from 1.5 tonne excavators to 45 tonne excavators, loading shovels and 50 tonne shredders to name but a few.
“With years of experience in the Plant Hire industry you can trust us to deliver high quality machinery and level of services. We generally run Doosan diggers and front end loading shovels, we find them to be reliable, efficient and strong machines with great parts support in the UK. We offer very competitive self drive or with operator rates on flexible terms short or long hire options.”

Griffiths Waste Management, Recycling & Plant Hire
Head office: Beechwood House,
Bryntywod, Llangyfelach, Swansea, SA5 7LP
Waste Deliveries: JR Works, Bryntywod
Llangyfelach Swansea, SA5 7LE
Tel 01792 795829 Fax 01792 790812 


Taken from Irish Trucker & Light Commercials magazine, Vol 18 No 8, October 2015