Haulage firm expands southwards with Yorkshire Bank

21st May 2012

Lancashire-based road haulage and warehousing company, Fagan & Whalley Ltd has opened a new transport hub in Coventry after receiving a £1.5m finance package from Yorkshire Bank.

The company, which has a turnover of £17m, has purchased new premises on a four-acre site near Coventry City Football Club’s Ricoh Arena that will allow it to better serve customers in the midlands and the south of England.

The family business, which has its head office and control centre on Shuttleworth Mead Business Park in Padiham, currently employs 240 people, operating 140 vehicles and 300 trailers.

The new midlands hub has the capacity to hold 60 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and will create a number of new jobs for drivers and operations staff as it grows.

Simon King, business partner at Yorkshire Bank’s Manchester Financial Solutions Centre, which provided the funding, said: “Fagan & Whalley is a hugely successful road haulage business with a clear strategy for expansion. The new operation in Coventry will offer greater efficiency for the business as it looks to grow its operations in the south of England.”

Stephen Fagan, commercial director of Fagan & Whalley, added: “Our customer base in the midlands and south of England continues to increase and to provide the high levels of customer service we are known for, increased capacity and flexibility in our operation was required. The funding provided by Yorkshire Bank has been integral to our plans to acquire this new transport hub.”

Fagan & Whalley was established in 1927 when Thomas Whalley and his son-in-law, Sam Fagan, bought a coal merchants business in Burnley and began collecting coal from the local railhead to distribute around the village of Hapton by horse and cart.

Over the years, the business boomed on the back of Lancashire’s textiles, manufacturing, defence and aerospace industries and today the company is a recognised name in the road haulage industry across the UK and Europe.

The company is a specialist in palletised and non-palletised distribution, and also has a large warehousing operation at its Lancashire headquarters.

Stephen and his brother, Graham Fagan, operations director for the company, are the fifth generation of the family involved in the business. Their children are also now working for the family firm, which celebrates its 85th anniversary this year.