Jonathan Welch speaks to the team behind Network Bus & Truck Parts to find out how the youthful company, which supports everything from vintage classics to the latest models, is growing its business
Anyone who has even the slightest experience of buses, coaches and indeed any other kind of vehicle will know that sourcing spare parts can be a constant source of frustration, and take up a lot of time, and sourcing good quality parts from a trusted supplier even harder. On an industrial estate on the edge of Leeds city centre, one family business is growing, with a can-do mind-set helping to deliver what its customers need, when they need it.
CBW was invited along to its premises in Holbeck to find out more, and received a typically warm and friendly welcome from founding director Di Forbes along with Sales Director Ben Williams and Director of Media Danny Forbes. Many in the industry might already know Di, either from their dealings with recently-founded Network Bus & Truck Parts, from her previous roles at Alliance Transport Technologies, or indeed from her tireless passion for the bus preservation movement, a scene in which she plays an active role in and around Yorkshire, including as a Trustee of the Dewsbury Bus Museum.
’The Clutch Lady’
Di is also the second generation of her family to work in the commercial vehicle parts industry, and might also be familiar as ‘the Clutch Lady’ from clutch specialist Truckfix. With her extensive background in heavy vehicle components, it’s little surprise that when Alliance Transport Technologies went into administration soon after she joined, she was able to turn the situation around and build a new family business in a surprisingly short time, one which she says is already going from strength to strength.
As we sat down with a mug of tea, Di was very keen to emphasise that first and foremost, Network Bus & Truck Parts is very much a family business, run by herself and her sons, and supported by husband Mick, possibly better known as the holder of a number of senior engineering roles at Stagecoach and First Bus. “I had a clutch manufacturing business until 2016,” she explained, “until I stepped back from that. After Alliance went into administration, we had some lucky breaks that allowed us to set up Network Bus & Truck Parts. We have a goal in mind, and so far we’ve been very fortunate.”
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