Across the globe
December 30, 2010Since being established 12 years ago, the company, which is situated on the Armagh/Louth border at Unit 9 Centrepoint Business Park Carrickcarnan, Dundalk has gone from strength to strength.
The business was established by Arthur McParland, who revealed to the Wee County Yearbook how the business has grown over the years since he first began selling trucks.
"I used to be a cattle exporter and I had a few trucks on the road, but then the foot and mouth epidemic struck and that business was brought to an abrupt end. I had the trucks sitting idle so decided to sell them off and that's really how I got into truck sales, it just took off from there," said Arthur.
Since being established in 1998, Arthur has built up a huge network of contacts both here and the U.K where he sources the vehicles for his large customer base.
Thomastown Trucks have been sourcing trucks all across Ireland and the U.K, which are then been sold in Africa where there is a large demand for HGVs.
"Yes the demand for right hand vehicles is great because there are not too many countries that use them, so we have to source the majority of them in Ireland and the U.K."
"I would travel all over for the trucks; they are all second hand and can range from 1997 onwards. We started small having just a few here, but now there could be anywhere between 50 and 60 trucks at the yard here."
Due to the current economic recession that has gripped Ireland in the last eighteen months or so, Arthur has been forced to diversify somewhat and now the majority of his business focuses on exporting trucks to far away as Africa.
"We would export a lot of trucks to Zambia where we have a branch. The great thing about Zambia is that it is an English speaking country and they are right hand drive there, so it is easier to do business there than it is in some of the African countries.
"There would also be a number of non-nationals that would come into the yard here and buy trucks. We would have customers from Poland, Latvia and other EC countries that would buy their trucks here and ship them back home, then they would have to be converted to left hand drive, but they still feel that they're getting value for money.
"We appreciate that the haulage and construction industries have suffered greatly in recent years and hopefully things will start to pick up in the near future. More and more people are buying second hand these days and through our large network of contacts, we have the capabilities of sourcing whatever a customer may need.
"We would have a lot of repeat custom. All the products that we buy are checked out thoroughly so the customer knows exactly what they will get when they make the purchase.
"It is in our best interests to sell quality used vehicles, the simple fact is that if we don't we won't be in business for too long. People are paying out big money and they demand a good service which they are entitled too."
Thomastown Trucks have cornered a niche in the market and through their network of contacts; they have become the leading supplier of second hand trucks in the north east.
"We would be fairly well known at this stage. We can ship or drive the vehicles abroad depending on what the customer prefers and through our location here, we are close to the M1.
"Warrenpoint is only up the road as is Dublin Port so we are very central from that point of view. The economy here is poor, but it is a big world and there will always be a demand for trucks.
"It was important to diversify at a time when there is so much uncertainty within the banks here. The fact that they are just not releasing money means that no one will be buying much in Ireland for a while."
Arthur currently employs four people, one of whom is his son Dominic, who lined out with the Armagh minor footballers this year, while his nephew Gavin was part of the Orchard county squad that lifted the All-Ireland minor title in 2009.
Supporting the Ballymacnab Round Towers club and Armagh footballers, Arthur keeps a keen interest in the GAA and being situated on border with Louth, he watched in astonishment as the Leinster final was taken from their grasp earlier this year.
"It was a cruel way to lose a provincial final, especially as they hadn't won it in so long. I know a lot of Louth people and they were left shocked and who can blame them."
Louth's year wasn't all doom and gloom as through star midfielder Paddy Keenan, the county picked up their first All-Star and confidence is high that they can go one step further from this year's performances.
Tweet
