Celebrating its fifth anniversary this coming summer, Stirling Trailer Centre – a main dealership for Ifor Williams – is reaping the benefit of its change of location to UA’s mart at Stirling.

Owned by Robin Gray – managing director of H and R Gray Haulage – Stirling Trailer Centre is a family run business which has been dealing Ifor Williams trailers since June, 2015 – following the retirement of McKenzie Trailers – and covers the areas of Fife and central and west of Scotland.

Since taking on the dealership and moving to the new purpose-built premises in June 2018, the business has gone from strength to strength.

“We were previously based in Throsk operating from the same premises as H and R Gray Haulage, which worked initially but we quickly realised the potential for growth and this triggered the move to Stirling. This was a £1m investment and two years in the planning,” commented Sean Cooper, general manager at the centre.

“The location is perfect – with easy access from junction 10 on the M9 motorway and being situated right next to UA’s market, it allows us to be in close proximity to our farming customer base and provide an all-round better service,” added Callum McRae, salesman at the company.

“It’s not unusual for farmers to drop their trailers off here for a service whilst they are at the market, during the day, and then pick it up again on their way out. We try to be a one stop shop for everything trailer related.”

Since the move, the business has grown vastly, with staff numbers now sitting at 15 – nine extra since taking on the dealership in 2015 – and the new premises allow the stocking of over 200 trailers at a time, which has resulted in an increase of 40% in sales.

As well as the sale of new and second-hand trailers, Stirling Trailer Centre provides a wide range of other services to fit the needs of their large customer base.

“We specialise in all varieties of trailers including horseboxes, livestock, motorcycle and fridge freezer trailers, as well as trailer hire, same day servicing and the sale of parts. However, we recently introduced towbar fitting and trailer testing, which have both proved extremely popular with our customers,” said Sean.

“We offer a two-day training course for the trailer testing, as well as refresher and beginner courses and offer a 10% discount to young farmers. This has proved so popular that we are usually booked six weeks in advance,” commented Callum.

“We have recently partnered with Overlander Vehicles securing the dealership for Scotland, we are stockist of their premium R160 3.5T horse boxes, we are delighted to offer such a quality product to the Scottish market and excited to see how it is received”

It has also been appointed as the National Trailer and Towing Association’s (NTTA) official training centre for Scotland, where towbar fitting and trailer maintenance training courses all take place.

“We are delighted to be appointed the title as we are huge promoters of trailer safety. NTTA recently identified that 95% of trailers on the road are not in road legal condition, so we offer free road worthiness checks to try and combat this,” Sean stated.

As one of six Ifor Williams dealerships in Scotland, Sean said:

“We have a close knit team here with youth and experience on board and the team always generate a good atmosphere in the shop, which I think comes across positively with our customers. We understand the importance of repeat business and value our customers – both new and existing,” he added.

The company has recently sold trailers to destinations as far away as Iceland and Norway, as well as regularly travelling to the west coast delivering trailers to Oban and the surrounding islands of Scotland.

The team is continuing to develop their advertising methods:

“We are very active on social media and we find it a great tool for keeping in contact with our customers – our facebook page has more than 10,000 followers,” said Callum.

“We also run digital marketing campaigns to direct traffic through our website and advertise through our local agricultural markets – UA and Caledonian Marts – where we will sponsor local sales and events, as well as supporting our local YFC and Stirling Rowing and Rugby clubs,” he added.

With such a large number of returning customers, the business believes its foundation products from the Ifor Williams trailer brand, is one that cannot be beaten. “Ifor Williams trailers are Europe’s leading trailer manufacturers. They have a superb build quality and are extremely reliable – with a fully galvanised chassis and body,” said Callum.

With Brexit rearing its head and livestock numbers on the decline as a result, the team at Stirling Trailer Centre are certain that they will stay afloat in the industry, and will remain to back their farming customers.

“It’s uncertain how Brexit will affect our business as trailers are driven by the success of local business and industries. Luckily for us, Ifor Williams are a UK-built product, however, we imagine it may impact the price due to the cost of materials,” added Sean.

“We are not too worried about it, though, we need to think positively! We haven’t seen a decline in livestock trailer sales so far as we caters to such a diverse variety of industries so we believe the brand isn’t in any danger of failing,” added Callum.

Commenting on the future, Sean concluded: “We have plans to expand further – at this rate we’ll have to! We are always looking to push the business and we think we’ve struck the balance right with keeping all of our products trailer related and fitting with the ‘one stop shop’ theme. Watch this space!”

FARMfacts:

A family run business, owned by Robin Gray, of H and R Gray Haulage.

Moved to Stirling Agricultural Centre in 2018.

Staff numbers now at 15.

Stocking over 200 trailers at one time, selling 1000 per year.

Services – sale of new and second-hand trailers of all varieties, trailer hire, same day servicing, the sale of parts, vehicle tracking equipment, roofboxes and cycle carriers, towbar fitting and trailer testing.

Have a mobile repair service for breakdowns.

Appointed the NTTA trailer training centre in Scotland.

Trailers are built in Wales and STC receive 3-5 loads of trailers per week.

Recently taken on a dealership with Overlander.