Location may indeed be everything, if TV property show presenters are to be believed, but for firms at the far end of these isles location often means a long drive before arriving at a destination and a fight for backloads when it’s time to head home.

Holiday and property programmes portray Cornwall as a rural idyll, yet for truckers it’s a case of constant hard graft to stay in business. Few transport firms have stood the test of time down West – but one that continues to transport loads up the A30 and beyond is Dennis Oates & Sons.

The Oates story starts back in 1951 when 22-year-old Dennis Oates purchased a four-wheeler rigid together with a valuable operator’s licence. ‘I’ve still got the receipt for the first load of broccoli I did back then,’ he says. ‘It was for £2 11d and it was on my Commer Q4 tipper, collected from a local farm.’ He says he’s never believed in sending the trucks out on the road for little reward. ‘I’ve been called a lot of things in my time but I’ve never been called cheap,’ he laughs.

(For full story see June's T&D).