“It’s the venue that’ll make it this year”

27/06/2024

A regular on the truck show circuit, Callum Anderson is bringing his magnificent 70th-anniversary edition Next Generation DAF to Full of the Pipe 2024. The current proprietor of third-generation family business ‘A’ Transport in Athy is confident the show will be a major success for a variety of reasons.

Piloted every day by Callum Anderson and spec’d to the highest standards, ‘A’ Transport’s spectacular 2022-reg 70th-anniversary New Generation DAF XG 530 6x2 is a thing of true beauty, never failing to turn heads both on the road and at truck shows the length and breadth of the country. It’ll be presented in all its glory once more at Mondello Park this weekend and Callum – grandson of company founder Leslie – will also be displaying at least two other units from his striking and immaculately-maintained DAF fleet.

The Kildare operator knows Mondello Park inside-out, having attended truck shows here going back a quarter of a century as well as last October’s Full of the Pipe appetiser, and is adamant that Mondello Park and Full of the Pipe is a match made in heaven:

“I’m looking forward to the show and it’s the venue that’ll make it this year, same as it did last year. It was absolutely fabulous in October and this show is going to be even better. I said to Colin and Kevin afterwards that given that it was organised so quickly and with so little planning, that it was superb.

“All the shows last year were wash-outs and turned into muckfests but Full of the Pipe in Mondello was fantastic. It was the show of the year, by far, even though it was put together so quickly. This year there has been a much bigger lead time and better preparation and that’s going to enhance it even more. The venue is top class and that makes all the difference.

“I remember years ago when I was still at school, in the late ‘90s and early ‘noughties, Mondello was the truck show to go to. We had new DAFs in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and we brought them to Mondello; it was the place to go. It’s the best venue in the country for a show and the two lads have years of experience behind them now running Full of the Pipe. All the ingredients are there for a brilliant show.”

Being from Athy, Callum can get his trucks from the yard to Mondello in 25 minutes. He has been going to Mondello Park for years and proof of this is provided by a photo of the young Callum captured alongside the family fleet’s 2001 DAF CF at a show in Mondello Park published in Irish Trucker magazine that year!

“Any time there was ever a show in Mondello, we made the effort to go. You like to support local, you like to support the industry and you like to promote the industry every chance you get. If you have something to be proud of, then why not take it to the show?”

‘A’ Transport’s flagship vehicle - the 70th-anniversary New Generation DAF – will be at FOTP again for sure – which other lorries will Callum and his team bring? “I have two more Next Generation DAFs and we’ll definitely bring them, and maybe one or two of the XFs as well. It all depends on how many of the drivers want to go and how many of them we can take off the road for the weekend. We have a lot of weekend work and that has to come first.”

Since adding the 70-aniversary truck to the fleet in 2022, Callum purchased further brand-new DAFS in 2023 and also this year. “They are all similar looking to the untrained eye. The new ones aren’t much different from the 70th-anniversary one but of course they don’t have the air-brushed image of my grandfather on the back of the cab,” says Callum, who recently paired a matching new Stas tipping trailer with his truck. “My one has a few extra bits and pieces but they all look more or less the same from a distance.”

‘A Transport runs a fleet of eleven trucks and up to 25 trailers at present, working both nationally and internationally. “You could find us anywhere. The majority of our work is in Ireland but there would be barely a week that goes by where we wouldn’t take a load over to England or Scotland.”

‘A’ Transport delivers prompt and professional transport solutions to many different sectors, including bulk, curtainside, tipper, container and refrigerated transportation. Clients range from Smyth’s Toys and Ken Black Toys to seafood and fruit wholesalers, while the family business also has many clients in the agri feeds and fertiliser sector, including CR Wynne in Athy, Grennan’s of Rath, and Glanbia.

While the resplendent fleet is at the heart of this long-established, industry-leading business, Callum concedes that lovely lorries would be worthless without great drivers: “I’m very happy with the crew of guys we have. We have a lot of long-serving drivers – one lad has been with us for 40 years and other for 20. We also have sons of drivers who worked for us years ago. There’s a very solid core group of drivers here who keep things moving.

“No more than with any transport company, you will always have guys who come and go – and we’ve had some who have let us down by not keeping their word – but for the most part we have an excellent crew of drivers and we appreciate what they do every day.”

Fair to say they are spoiled with the quality of vehicles they get to drive? “I definitely wouldn’t phrase it like that – they are not spoiled, that’s the wrong word. To the contrary, they deserve the trucks they drive. Those trucks would never have been bought if the drivers weren’t worthy of them. The drivers in our yard deserve the best and that’s what I try to provide.

“What comes around goes around – they look after me and I look after them. It goes full circle. We believe in looking out for one another around here. If a driver has a personal problem or an issue they want to discuss, then they can come to me any time and I will offer then a friendly ear and it will never go any further. You don’t get that with the bigger companies. We are more of a close-knit, family-orientated operation.”

Full of the Pipe Truckshow Ireland returns to Mondello Park over the weekend of July 13th and 14th.