The company was first formed in 1936 by operating as Heanor Coal & Haulage, delivering bagged coal to the domestic market.The business continued up to the outbreak of World War II, when the government of the day compulsorily acquired the vehicles for military purposes.
After the war Jack Searson, newly demobbed from the army,
with elder brother, Ken, bought the dormant company with
its three 'Open A' licenses and five 'Short Term B' licences and
the Heanor Haulage Company Limited was born.
It operated from behind Ken's butchers shop Langley, Derbyshire
and progressed steadily, mainly engaged in bulk tipper work. Facilities were primitive with maintenance being done outside and mostly by the drivers themselves. The base became inadequate and so in the early 1950's they moved to the rear of the Social Club owned by Jack Searson, on the Marlpool Estate at Heanor, Derbyshire.
About this time Ken's son, Peter, decided to abandon a motor
engineering apprenticeship to join the family haulage business
as its Fleet Engineer, a position which he was to be involved
with for more than fifty years. Assisting him was friend and
'engine man' Kenny Booth and between them, they set about
transforming an old skittle alley into a workshop. They even
dug out and concreted and outdoor inspection pit themselves.
What luxury ! No more laying on their backs under lorries in pools of water. They were now able to stand up in deeper pools !
Peters influence saw the Company progress from tippers
and become engaged in six wheeled rigid flats. The main
work was pipe haulage and towing earth scraper boxes
around local opencast coal sites. An opportunity arose
for the haulage, by road, of bulldozers which towed the
boxes on site and so a brand new Dyson low loader was
purchased. The traction being provided by a fifteen year
old six wheeled Scammel rigid flat lorry which Peter and
Kenny converted sucessfully into a 4 x 2 artic tractor unit.
A heavy haulage company had arrived in Heanor, Derbyshire !
A few years on, expansion was the watch word, but to
obtain additional 'Open A' licences through application
was virtually impossible. This could only be acheived by
buying out not so successful hauliers for their licences.
The first acquisistion Heanor made was Buckland Haulage
increasing the fleet by four artics. Business prospered
steadily resulting in a local engineering company being
commissioned to build 40' long trailers desigend by Peter.
They were an ovation considering the longest trailers
for general traffic was only 24' long. The introduction
of these trailers proved to be the beginning of a very
successful and lucrative period culminating in a high
increase in business and so in 1963, it was decided to look
for larger premises. At the time the National Coal Board
announced the closure of the New Langley Colliery which
was only 150 yards from Ken's buthchers shop where it
all began. The colliery was duly purchased and with its
28 acres remained the main operating centre until 1996.
The new yard lent itself to open storage and it wasn't
long before every conceivable square foot of space was
used to store gas pipes prior to the arrival of North Sea
Gas. Managing this huge storage facility was to be the
introduction into the transport world of Jack's enthusiastic
16 year old son, Ian.
'Open A' licences were still very difficult to obtain and
so the decision to purchase Graham & Brown Transport
of Coventry and Thamesmouth Transport, along with
surplus British Road Services licences were vital additions.
During the 1970's the introduction of the present 'O Licence'
system played a major part in the moulding company
structure as we know today. Gone were the days when
hauliers were restricted to what they could do. Professional
expertise and proven ability was the passport to a new era in
Road Haulage.
The Company acquired two 6 x 4 Scammel Contractor tractor
units plated at
tons. These were followed by an eight
axle modular trailer with a capacity of 200 tons. Nowdays
the Company can boast 23 axles which operated as one
unit has a capacity of 460 tons.
Following legislation limiting axle loading, Peter then
converted both 6 x 4 Contractors from their easily
recognisable Scammel look to his own specification to
be known as H.H.T (Heanor Heavy Transport). He did
this by introducing a fourth axle, replacing their Commins
engines with (GM and CAT) power, and replacing the old
cramped contractor non sleeper cab with a spacious
Volvo sleeper cab giving them a new look - the Searson look !
In all
several tractor units were subject to this ambitious and successful conversion. Conversions were not limited to tractor units, many basic low loaders were subjected to Peter's imaginative ideas, resulting in their becoming sophisticated Specials.
1978 saw Heanor enter into a joint venture with Zahid
Tractors, who hold the main Caterpillar franchise in
Saudi Arabia. A heavy haulage company known as
Zahid Heanor Heavy Transportation Company emerged
with Ian Searson appointed the resident Operations
Manager in the Kingdom. The venture is still alive at
present but Ian has returned to the greener pastures
of the Derbyshire countryside.
In 1996 the company moved once again, this time to
its present site at Wesley Street, Langley Mill,
Nottinghamshire and although the postal address
implies a substantial county to county move, in actual
fact the new depot is only a mile from the New Langley
Colliery site. Like the old site the new premises have
outdoor storage but now boasts the added luxury of
excellent heated indoor storage complete with modern
facilities for easy handling.
What does the future hold ?
Ken
and Jack are no longer with us but their sons,
Peter and Ian are following in their footsteps keeping
their feet on the ground and quietly building on
previous
success.
With thanks to Mr Sam Towle (Retired Traffic Office) and Mrs Krystyna Tilston for their work in
the above article, and special thanks to Mr Adrian Goodman for providing us with the above photographs.