Durham City Transport has joined United Pallet Network (UPN) to replace former member NDL Darlington, which called in administrators last month.
Durham City Transport began distribution for the pallet network across the DL and TS postcodes on Monday 10 May.
Les Coatman, MD of the family-owned firm, which runs 38 HGVs, says: "We had the facility available to become part of a pallet network because our site at Melsonby was under-utilised owing to a slump in the construction sector. This was an opportunity to take advantage of higher volumes across a large area."
He says joining UPN is the first stage of the company's expansion plan: "We are keeping general haulage and warehousing at our Durham site, but want to try out new things that could push our sales up. After pallet operations have been going for a while, we will look to open a training centre at Melsonby to deliver Driver CPC, forklift training and crane driving courses."
Operations in the UPN areas were previously run by local business Newton Aycliffe-based NDL Darlington prior to P&A Partnership being appointed as administrator to the firm on 26 April.
NDL directors Gary and Trevor Willans are moving to Durham City Transport to manage UPN movements.
Trevor Willans says NDL was crippled by the loss of Leeds-based client Europa Sofabeds, which went into administration at the end of 2008. "We were owed £130,000 by it and it accounted for 40% of our turnover. We were never really able to catch up with this lost business, while high diesel costs and lower volumes left us with no way to move forward."
As a result, the firm's 35 HGVs were sold and all 24 employees were made redundant.
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