Bedfords workers are all smiles

First up is Birstall-based Bedfords Transport, whose staff offer a haulage service 364 days a year. The only time Bedfords stops working is Christmas Eve evening and Christmas morning.

The firm employs around 150 workers, including drivers, mostly for articulated 44-tonne lorries, who travel the country making deliveries for clients – mainly in the media and printing industry.

Office staff at Bedfords’ base near Junction 27, include accounts administrators and directors, dispatch managers in the transport office and people who work in the invoice department.

The family-run company, which was formed in 1927, also maintains the Leeds side of the national chain Palletforce, collecting and making deliveries in West Yorkshire.