A boss who believes customer service and teamwork are the key to success has seen his firm grow five-fold in the past ten years.

Pat McCann set up his tipper hire business ten years ago and now has a growing fleet of distinctive painted wagons bearing the slogan Pat McCann the Tipper Man.

For most of the time since he started the firm in 1989, Mr McCann worked on his own with one tipper wagon. But about two years ago, he had built up enough business to expand rapidly and increase the number of trucks to six.

Some 18 months ago he saw his firm's turnover rocket from £70,000 a year to £350,000.

Mr McCann, whose business has been supported by the NatWest bank in Bradford, has recently added two new tippers to his fleet as a mark of the success of the firm.

He said: "I put my success down to delivering a high quality personal service to customers and believe that teamwork has been essential all along the way.

"We have a professional approach to what we do - but having said that, we are not finance experts or accountants," he added.

The firm started as a one-man band from next to Mr McCann's home off Tong Street. It now employs a total of seven staff and has a yard in Lessarna Court, off Bowling Back Lane.

He said: "I started the business because I got sick of working for other people. I still drive lorries and do not make my lads do anything I haven't done."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.