Berkeley Transport
Robbie Robson and the team at Berkeley Transport have the responsibility for moving park homes from the manufacturers’ premises to the parks on which they are to be sited.
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When you’ve got a load to move that’s over 45ft long and weighs up to 10 tons, you’re going to require some specialist equipment and a fair amount of know-how. If you then consider that the load in question is somebody’s home, you can add a high level of care and experience to the necessary requirements.
Fortunately, when it comes to moving park homes to their new locations around the country, Berkeleyparks can call on all of these qualities and more, in the shape of Robbie Robson and his team at Berkeley Transport.
Robbie and his wife, Susan, have been managing Berkeley Transport for over 30 years, so there’s not a lot that they don’t know about moving park homes. And with son Stuart joining the team two years ago, it has evolved into a family concern that has become a much-valued part of the Berkeley set-up.
‘We move the homes from the manufacturers to wherever the customer wants them sited,’ explained Robbie. ‘In the past that has meant going as far afield as the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides and Northern Ireland. These sorts of journeys often entail anything from long motorway journeys to steep and narrow coastal lanes.’
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Half of a twin unit on a Berkeley Transport low-loader has an escort for its journey |
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Robbie went on to say that he will often travel in advance of the lorry drivers to assess the route and possible challenges that his drivers will encounter with a particular job. ‘I wouldn’t ask any of our drivers to deliver a home to a location that I wouldn’t do myself, although it’s very rare for us to be unable to get a home on to a park.
‘In the past, particularly difficult jobs have entailed removing hedges and laying metal tracks across fields. One job even required the use of four Land Rovers and a series of winches to negotiate a home down a particularly steep hill. Fortunately, however, the jobs are generally far more straightforward.
‘We operate a fleet of seven lorries, all well equipped for the job and driven by experienced drivers. The DAF trucks we use are very powerful, generating up to 430hp and equipped with 16 gears. If any of the loads that we carry are over 15ft wide, we have to have an escort on the motorway. To deal with this, Stuart has set up our own escort side of the business, an area that has proved a great success for us.
‘We would like to see the transport side increase even more over the next few years,’ predicted Robbie. ‘Alongside the park home work, we also transport all sorts of loads for other companies. It’s a service that we are very proud to offer, something we demonstrate in the smart appearance of both our drivers and our lorries. After all, for our customers this reflects the professionalism of the service that we offer.’
Some wording courtesy of Park Home and Holiday Caravan Magazine.