THE Bowker family's international haulage empire can trace its roots back to the end of the First World War, when a Blackburn-born driver with the Ambulance Corps was demobbed.

William Bowker was one of thousands of young men returning to peacetime East Lancashire, wondering what the future held.

His driving skills, however, gave him the edge and, in 1919, he bought an ex-army truck on which the Bowker family's fortunes have been built.

Today, the Bowker Group is one of the North West's leading international freight hauliers. From its headquarters in Bamber Bridge, the company employs more than 320 people and has an annual turnover of more than £67 million.

Its fleet of 130 trucks are based at depots in Lancashire, Hull and Zeebrugge, delivering goods throughout Europe for companies such as Kelloggs, Baxi, Graham & Brown, BP and Chapman Envelopes.

The business also incorporates BMW and Mini dealerships in Accrington and Preston.

Ken Bowker, William's son, is the current chairman. He takes great pride in the family's achievements over the past 80 years.

He joined the business when he left school at the age of 16. "I never saw myself doing anything else," he said. "I was brought up with trucks and couldn't wait to become involved."

Ken, 58, said the family's links with transport go back even further than his father. "My grandfather used a horse and cart to sell fruit, vegetables and fish from his shop in Craig Street, Blackburn," he recalled.

Bowker's early success in the 1920s was built on the back of the textile industry. Wagons collected raw cotton from the docks at Liverpool for Blackburn's mills and took the finished products to Manchester for distribution worldwide.

The General Strike of 1926, which paralysed the railways, proved to be a major breakthrough. "The road haulage industry was very much in its infancy in those days," explained Ken. "The strike caused major problems and freight moved from the railways to the roads. My father spotted the opportunity and started long-distance deliveries to London, carrying perishable goods."

At the outbreak of the Second World War, William Bowker was appointed transport co-ordinator for the Blackburn area, responsible for the movement of 750 vehicles.

Nationalisation of the transport industry in 1949 was a major disruption and when William brought the business back into family ownership in 1952, he started building up the fleet.

William's death in 1955 brought about a change at the top and eldest son Bill came home from university to run the business.

"Bill was the driving force behind the growth of the business," said Ken, who took over from his brother as chairman in 2000. "We started deliveries in Europe in 1962 and we later opened our depot and warehousing in Hull as a springboard to the continent. At the time, Zeebrugge was just starting to grow and today it is a major port."

The move into selling cars came in the mid-1980s when the road transport industry was going through a hard time and the Bowkers decided the time was right to diversify.

In what Ken describes as the best business deal the company has ever done, it bought the Clock Garage BMW dealership in Accrington and relocated to a custom-built site in Hyndburn Road. In 1989, it acquired the Kinders BMW dealership, in Preston, and has continued to grow both businesses under the Bowker brand name.

The arrival of the new Mini last year led to new showrooms being built in both Accrington and Preston and the new model has helped to increase annual new car sales in the group to 1,000, with a further 800 used cars also changing hands.

The international road haulage business is intensively competitive and Ken believes the secret of Bowker's success has been to find niche markets where customers are willing to pay for quality and service.

"We are competing against companies which are employing Eastern Bloc drivers who are paid just £160 a month," he said. "They are driving down the price, so we have to compete by providing a value-added service.

"One of our customers, for example, is an American soft toy company. They have a sales and marketing section, but we provide warehousing services as well as looking after their transportation needs."

At the age of 58, Ken is still passionate about the business and the next chapter in the Bowker dynasty is being planned. Eldest son Neil manages the warehouse operation and sales and his brother Paul is responsible for the BMW and Mini dealerships. Nephew Bill junior manages the UK domestic transport division and Ken is happy to see the third generation so closely involved.

"Bowkers has always been a family-run business," he added. "We have no wish to be as big as Eddie Stobbard. We have a good name in the industry and long may that continue."