GB Transport has branched out into the external hoist business. It’s a radical diversification, but one that makes sense according to the company’s owner James Brown. Steve Jordan dropped by the company’s premises in Windsor to find out more.

GB Transport was founded by Greg Brown (James’ father) in early 1969.  It was his intention to become a pig farmer and, although he did lease farm premises, it was to removals that he turned to fund his passion for animal husbandry.

In the early days Greg made a living doing whatever he could.  He bought a small van and made a living doing small deliveries.  One major contract he had was delivering trouser presses in Europe for Corby and it was this that gave him a taste for European removals.

“I decided I had to specialise in something,” said Greg. “I have always believed that it’s wise to become good at doing things that other people find difficult.  So I chose Spain where the paperwork was a nightmare.”

Greg’s business did well and soon he was running regular household goods services to Spain and bringing back return loads of shoes from Alicante.  “It was very profitable in those days,” he said.  For the best part of 20 years Greg and his son James trunked to Spain and back in a variety of vehicles including a 100 cubic metre DAF 3300 road train.

“But when the import regulations were removed for Spain everyone started to do it,” said Greg.  “The business more or less died overnight so there wasn’t any point in doing it anymore.” The business closed in 1997.

James, meanwhile, was training to be a mechanic working on heavy plant. But, eventually, the call of the old business got the better of him and, in 2003, he resurrected GB Transport.  This time he concentrated closer to home. “The local removals market around Windsor is very good,” he said.  “It was only later that we started going into Europe again.” 

James used his engineering talent to build his first truck himself from an old chassis. “It was a twin axle so it wouldn’t be overloaded.  I finished building it and took it to Marbella for a test drive.”  Today, James is focussing a little closer to home: Switzerland.  It’s all part of the principle of doing the harder things.  Switzerland has more restrictions than EU countries and there is plenty of good quality work there.  “The plan is to use small vehicles to handle exclusive consignments.  That way I don’t need to use the services of a local agent for the final delivery. It makes a sensible alternative to airfreight.”

The hoist idea came to James when he realised how much he was paying in hire charges.  “There are not many companies in London that have their own hoists so having my own means I can quote for the more difficult jobs and hire out my services to other companies,” explained James.  He is also keen to use the hoist service as a way of demonstrating his own capability as a problem solver.  James is very practical and prides himself in always being able to work out a solution to a tricky situation.  On one occasion, for example, a mover had got stuck lifting a very heavy piano out of a window in Windsor.  Rather than use the gantry, which was overloaded, James just took the floor out of the scaffolding and lowered the instrument down that way.

So James is not stepping aside from moving in favour of hoist hire – quite the opposite. He will be using his hoist as a way into new accounts to demonstrate his ingenuity for doing things that other people find difficult. It’s the family way of doing things.