Page 5 - GAP 50th Anniversary Book

Celebrating 50 years of GAP /
One of Gordon’s earliest jobs was running a riding school
in Kirkintilloch. He then served in the army during the war,
helping to train soldiers and perfecting his stunt of riding a
motorcycle while standing on the seat, which he later proudly
displayed to the delight of his young children.
In 1947 Gordon joined Scottish Land Development, a plant hire
business launched by Niall Hodge. Through time he became a
Director and minority shareholder, but SLD also played a much
more significant role for Gordon - here he met Joyce Taylor
who joined as his secretary. Gordon and Joyce married at
Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s Church in Pollokshields in 1952.
Exceptionally driven and highly respected for his integrity and
fairness, Gordon was a pioneer of the plant hire and earth
moving industry in Scotland during the post-war period of
reconstruction in the early 1950s. With his contemporaries
Frank Lilley, Willie Logan, Willie Whyte and Niall Hodge he
also founded the Scottish Plant Owners’ Association in 1950,
serving as President between 1966-68.
In February 1967 Niall sold SLD to the Wiles Group, which later
became the Hanson Trust. Gordon remained with the company
for around 18 months before taking the decision at age 50 -
and with encouragement from Joyce - to start out on his own.
/ Chapter 01
In April 1969 Gordon purchased property in Linwood, near
Glasgow, and started trading as Gordon Anderson Plant Ltd.
The hire fleet at this first depot consisted of large operated
and non-operated plant, including excavators, JCBs, dump
trucks and rollers. The larger equipment was supplied with
operators, although it was a constant challenge to recruit
skilled drivers and to match their skills with the equipment the
business operated.
To complement his hire fleet, Gordon quickly acquired
the Glasgow based Clyde Diesel Ltd, which specialised in
compressors and welders. In the first 12 months of trading,
Gordon Anderson Plant’s turnover was £150,000. Impressive
as this was for a start-up business, not even Gordon could
have predicted what was to come, nor realised that he had just
established the foundations for the largest independent plant
and tool hirer in the UK.
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