The Farmers Mart Summer 2017 - Issue 51 | Page 106

Thornton Breakers
30 Years and
Still Going
Strong
» » ON A COLD SEPTEMBER DAY
back in 1987, Peter Jones
opened a small yard in Thornton,
Bradford, with a handful of
MOT failures and write-offs.
Thornton Breakers was open for
business.
Initially, Peter brought in all
manner of cars and vans and
stripped them to sell parts.
Money was tight and it was a
slow start but gradually Peter’s
name grew as word of mouth
and a fair amount of advertising
kicked in. Peter had always
been interested in 4x4s and
recognised that as there were
many breakers yards in the area
he needed to try and create an
edge. So with that in mind in
1987 he began to specialise in
4x4s, a decision that has served
him well as to this day he has
remained a 4x4 specialist and
has one of the largest yards in
the country.
Across the years the business
continued to grow and in 2010
Peter acquired the premises in
Halifax giving much more room
for both storage and dismantling.
Finally, in 2012 Thornton was
shut down and everything
was moved to Halifax. Here,
the business has two four-
post 4,000kg ramps and one
two-post 4,000kg ramp. These
have proven invaluable in time-
saving when dismantling and
supporting what is now a large
fitting operation.
Since 2012 the business has
invested heavily in its workshop
and storage area. Many of the
vehicles are now kept on large
areas of cantilever racking. The
workshop is an extremely busy
area as when they are not fitting,
team members are continually
dismantling incoming vehicles.
The fitting side is becoming
increasingly successful as the
company will fit all major parts on
site as well as general servicing
when required. This has proved
a great service to the farming
community which needs vehicles
to be running every day and off
106 Summer 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
road for as little time as possible.
Thornton Breakers will pick up
and deliver a vehicle anywhere
in the country with one of its own
liveried fleet of vehicles which
could mean problem to solution
within two to four days.
The parts side is also a
growing success story with
thousands of parts now stored
on the shelf, including engines,
axles and gearboxes right
down to body panels and light
clusters.
Back in the early 1990s, two
Asian businessmen walked into
the yard enquiring about transit
vans. Peter had quite a few and
contacts for many more and
so began his export side with
containers of Ford Transits being
shipped to Pakistan. From then
the export side has blossomed
because of Peter’s contacts,
excellent website and social
media presence. Containers
regularly go to Jamaica, Africa,
Asia and Dubai to name but a
few.
I asked Peter what was the
secret of Thornton’s success.
Teamwork, service and quality
was his reply.
Firstly, his team has now been
with him for many years. Peter
is also really pleased to have his
son Cam and daughter Hollie
in the business with him. In true
Jones style, both are workhorses
having other interests as well
as the family business. Cam has
his 4x4 off road challenge team
and Hollie runs her own award-
winning dancing school.