Before this Worthington had been working in his father's transport firm, running the fleet and overseeing the warehousing. "I was promised an increase and didn't get it," he recalls, "so I said 'I might as well start my own business, considering the hours I'm working for you'. He said 'if you're that cocksure, start on Monday'. So I did".

Because he couldn't sell much door to door on Tuesdays and Wednesdays unless he gave credit, he started filling in by doing work for Manchester-based freight forwarder Davies Turner. Furthermore, the prospect of spending the winter knocking on doors had little appeal: "March was freezing and it was raining non-stop, and I thought, I've had enough of this," says Worthington. "So when I had the chance of a bit of transport work it didn't take me long to come back into the business."

He sold the LT31 and bought a Leyland Terrier, and soon one freight forwarder become six. "I had been trained early on as a dock runner," Worthington explains, "So I knew my shipping and forwarding, and it was quite natural for me to progress into that market."

Today that £30 investment has grown into a transport and warehousing group which is predicted to turn over £12m this year. His transport depot and the associated World Freight Centre warehousing complex occupy a prominent site on Manchester's Trafford Park, the largest industrial estate in the UK. On the haulage site there are 7,500m2 of transit sheds on nine acres. The warehousing business occupies a further 10 acres, and offers more than 22,500m2 of accommodation. It's 9,000m2 canopy sports red and white stripes in honour on Manchester United, whose Old Trafford ground is a stone's throw from Worthington's depot.

Strategic Partners
The Man United theme is carried through to the company's livery. "When you see one of my trucks you immediately know which team I support, because it's red, white and black," says Worthington. "And the cabs are silver and grey to represent the trophy we win every year."

Corporate entertainment at Old Trafford is an essential part of Worthington's networking. He works in a strategic alliance with seven other haulage companies based in towns and cities throughout the UK - trailers for each other's areas are loaded and trunked through the night. Local distribution is handled by each company on its own patch. When visiting team plays at Old Trafford, Worthington ships in his strategic partners from the club's hometown and entertains them at the ground.

Worthington is also a founder member of the Fortec pallet network, which has been operational for three-and-a-half years. This is an important part of his business: it represents 9% of the total volume going through the hub. "We've matched the pace of Fortec all the way through its growth," says Worthington. By this summer the network will have expanded to take in 42 members.

With his strategic alliance taking care of the larger loads and Fortec handling the express business throughout the country, Worthington has no need to have trucks on overnights. "None of us wants to have nights out, because the trucks have to be back to earn more money," he says. "The truck doesn't need a sleep: only the driver needs a rest."

Three years ago he decided to split the warehousing operation off from the haulage side. As he sees it, the two businesses demand a totally different management approach. "Even though everyone takes storage and distribution to be linked, they're not," he insists. "Warehousing is a totally separate business from transport. In distribution you are under real pressure all the time. I'm not saying you're not under pressure in warehousing, but it's a different kind of pressure. It's a controlled environment."

On the haulage side there's almost nothing Worthington won't touch: "I'm a bit of a tart like that. If you want to pay us the right amount of money we're interested. One of our strengths is we don't say no."

Higher land values
However, although he takes in Ireland via his network connections, Worthington is not particularly interested in international work, "It seems a tough game to be in," he says, "but that's not to say we won't be doing it next year. If someone wants me to send a vehicle to Italy, for the right money I will do it."

Worthington feels that being in the North-West affords him some protection from foreign competition. "I'm not in the full loads market - that's where the real pain is being felt," he says. "That's not to say that we aren't feeling pain. Our running costs have risen at a phenomenal rate this year." Costs aren't helped by Worthington's location. "Land values in Trafford Park are getting to be like Bond Street," he says. Being located on the inside of the park has its compensations, but there are problems. "We're surrounded by the congested M60, which makes the M25 look like a racing track, and we've got the city centre on the other side of us, so if you want to get in and out of Trafford Park it's quite difficult, "he says. But once inside all the hassles disappear: "We can move within it quite easily, so it gives us an added strength." Worthington is also impressed by the investment in infrastructure that has been made during the past few years. "It has really come to fruition now, and it's a joy to work in Trafford Park," he says.

Worthington used to buy a mixture of new and used vehicles, but now the 90-strong fleet is mainly on contract hire. "We don't want the maintenance and servicing, "he explains. "We look after our own trailers and the older rigids - the local delivery fleet, as we call it."

His trailers are mainly Lawrence David with some double and triple-deckers on Crane Fruehauf chassis specially designed for the Fortec network. "We need the deck space," says Worthington. "You want pallets weighing 200-500kg, and predominately our clients don't want to have them topped. We have double and triple decks in different heights. It's a fast-moving environment in the hub, and you haven't got the time to see what will go on top of what."

After 20 years Worthington has seen a pretty good return on his £30. He is proud of what he has achieved, and looks forward with optimism. "I have been growing steadily year on year, and if you're not growing you're not going anywhere," he says. We just keep having the same phenomenal success as Man United - it must be the colours. As United grows, so do we."