In the transport industry, trust is a very important value. Due to the high volume of work and the value of equipment, being able to trust members of the industry with your latest innovations isn’t easy to do.
The Gorski family have built an empire off of trust in the industry. The trailer manufacturer recently forged yet another bond in the local transport sector when it decided to trust another family business with one of its new grain trailer models.
Based out in Bribbaree, west of Sydney in the South West Slopes region, Brad and Mandi of Brad and Mandi Douglas Transport (BMDT) were the lucky customers.
“Being able to try the new grain trailer model came about when I bought a truck and needed a trailer too,” Brad told OwnerDriver.
“I called a good friend of my father’s out in Goulburn and he told me to wait five minutes. When he called me back, he gave me the number of Paul Baker from Gorski and told me to give him a ring.”
MORE OWNERDRIVER TRENDING STORIES:
- $6 million national transport fleet to be auctioned after recent administration
- TOTM: Gavin Turner’s birthday bulldog
- Inside magnificent Casino’s 2025 triumph
- Elphinstone founder reaches the Wall of Fame
- QMR welcomes statement DAF
After hopping on the phone to the Gorski Engineering general manager, the discussion soon led to an innovative idea. The Gorski team had a prototype grain trailer it had just devised, with Brad’s chassis suiting it perfectly.
“I was coming down to Melbourne that Saturday to pick my truck up and I ended up getting to take the trailer for a month to trial,” Brad says.
“Paul told me that if I liked it then I could keep it, but if I didn’t I could just bring it back. For someone to do that for someone they’ve never met is simply amazing, and it sums up how amazing Gorski Engineering is as a company.”
Just like that, BMDT became the first customer to loan the new grain trailer, with Brad quickly enjoying the quality of the model.
“The Gorski Engineering motto is built tough, and this trailer sure is,” Brad says.
“I’d never met Paul during this – I only got to meet him when I went to celebrate Gorski’s 50th anniversary at the gala dinner at Crown, but we call each other and he’s like a best mate.
“For someone to do what he did for me and my business is pretty phenomenal, and the trailer is a beauty.”
The trailer allows Brad and Mandi to continue rich trucking heritage with a fresh Gorski twist. Brad’s father was a truck driver his whole life, as were his uncles and cousins, and, while Brad was always interested, he didn’t get into the caper initially.
Instead, over time, he slowly decided to enter the transport game, and has had the BMDT business going for roughly 18 months to date.
“I’ve always been around trucks, as has Mandi, as my father-in-law has owned and run trucks his whole life too,” he says.
“My earliest memory was of my father carting grain from Bribbaree, where we are based, down to dairy farms along the south coast. I remember being in the truck with Dad going to farms and getting fresh milk along the way.”
Prior to this foray, Brad was working casually for agribusiness GrainCorp, doing transfer jobs at sites he knew well and using his father-in-law’s truck. It was a comfortable time for Brad. It all changed when he got the offer of running transfers on some of these sites if he bought his own truck and went out on his own.
“The opportunity came up to get into a couple of sites and getting my own truck,” he says.
“I rang one site afterwards and told them I was thinking of buying a truck and the manager of the site told me I could have the transfer there if I did so. A couple of other sites soon followed and I was getting multiple calls to do these jobs.”
Now, BMDT completes these transfer jobs solo, loading freight trains and carting around grain during harvest time. Brad says his favourite part about the owner driver lifestyle is being around the truck and dealing with great people. With the special Gorski trailer in tow, Brad’s bucking industry trends and enjoying his new lifestyle as an owner driver.
“I have to thank my wife Mandi first – she’s amazing and has been so supportive. I also can’t thank Gorski enough for this trailer – I tell everyone about them and that you wouldn’t find better people to deal with than the Gorski family,” Brad says.
“It blows everyone away when I tell them what they did for me – I can’t fault anything about Gorski, whether it be the gear, the trailer or the service. I haven’t had one problem.
“Gorski treats people like family. Currently I’m playing with what I have currently, but my father-in-law may pull the pin soon and then I may need another set up, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Subscribe to the weekly Owner//Driver newsletter here.