In road haulage the Hartley name goes back more than 80 years, but it’s not always been a straightforward transition between generations, discovers
Lucy Radley.
LOOK AT the corner panels of any Des Hartley & Sons tractor unit and you’ll find a stylised version of the initials GHS. That’s because this Birstall, West Yorkshire family has been in transport for three generations now, the first leaving a legacy the current will never lose sight of.
First there was Gerald Hartley (& Sons, hence the initials), who set the ball rolling over 80 years ago. Then came his sons, Michael and Des Hartley, after which their sons took part in a veritable whirlwind of Hartley owned transport activity, with several enterprises bearing the family name. A proper transport family, if you will, one where, for as long as anyone can remember, if the phone rang during Sunday dinner with a rush job on, half the plates would be in the oven to keep warm five minutes later.
The two men at the helm of Des Hartley & Sons itself, have given arguably the longest and most consistent service. Phil Hartley and his younger brother Matt have brought the whole thing back together as one entity now, though not for the first time.
