ALTHOUGH G&S International's mixed marque artic fleet runs on Dutch plates, the company relies on fast, efficient truck and trailer servicing both in Holland and at its modern, high security warehouse complex in Bellshill.

And with a view to stepping up fleet efficiency levels in his Scottish operation, G&S boss George Brown has opened his doors to Ayrshire based DAF service dealer Ian Gordon Commercials to run a fully fitted service bay with a wrecker service and parts operation all on site.

So what triggered this ground breaking initiative? "We had problems with servicing on a couple of new DAF tractor units so I entrusted them to Ian Gordon Commercials at Stair,' revealed George Brown. 'I was delighted with their response. They carried out all servicing and repairs in Ayrshire and our Bellshill depot, and in a short time their customised service for DAFs became a full service and parts programme on all our truck makes, with the exception of those covered by repair and maintenance contracts.

"The next step was obvious. An 'in house' workshop and service bay was created within our secure warehouse complex at Bellshill, capable of taking any truck or trailer rig, even PSVs at night if that suited IGC who by now had fleet management rotas in place for all G&S trucks and trailers, listing all vehicles for servicing on specific dates while taking in other local work and carrying extensive parts stocks."

Ian Gordon is equally enthusiastic. "With two outlets now, at Stair and Bellshill, we can increase quantities in our all-makes parts purchases from TRP."

"We are delighted with our new location. It's modern, with a huge hard standing area, the highest possible security and we're placed at the epicentre of the 'golden triangle' for Scottish road haulage. Now we have plans for a full day and back shift coverage with a coordinator and two mechanics on site, one of which is PSV qualified.

"It's a good partnership. We are providing a comprehensive service for G&S International and we are aware that our quality of work must match that in the Dutch base, so we sent staff over the North Sea to take notes.

"In many ways it's a 'full circle' scenario. Here we are, a DAF service dealer in Scotland linking with a top Scottish haulier whose trucks are registered in Holland, the home of DAF."

To which George responded, "It is now possible that we will increase the number of DAF tractor units in our fleet because of the confidence in the aftercare provided by IGC."

This innovative approach by G&S International to pioneer this move away from running their own workshops and using local dealers for external servicing has already shown benefits, says George. "We get a higher quality of service, no time is lost due to vehicles having to be collected and returned from a dealer and, as a consequence, our truck running graphs show greatly reduced downtime.

"It really is a Just In Time servicing operation we now have at Bellshill. For instance, if we have an urgent repair required on one of our daily fish freight rigs due to leave at 6pm, we now have a maintenance team on hand to have it fixed.

"The IGC service also links with our own all-makes tyre fitting service which we began for our own use, but soon found ourselves responding to demands from other hauliers within a capped 20 mile radius."

And in a similar vein, the workshop and service bay run by Ian Gordon Commercials will also take in other repair and maintenance work outwith the G&S fleet and will provide a central Scotland base for two service vans, two parts vans and an impressive wrecker fitted out on a Scania rigid chassis.