20 Years - Est. 13th March 1993

Same business, Same Company, More Product. Faster Service, Lower Prices  

Back in 1993 the two partners operated from a small office who's entrance was shared with a taxi company, the rent was £27 per week! There was no internet and orders where typed onto headed paper and faxed to suppliers. A 40-page black and white price list come brochure was the first offering to customers. Each page would be photo-copied 100 times into 40 bundles, the partners would then walk up the 40-page line taking one page from each pile before stapling it ready to send. This time consuming labourous task was more often than not a job for weekends or evenings. Both partners had another two jobs each, Mark worked as a building labourer some days whilst Tim held the office.

At night time both partners would be pizza delivery drivers and Tim also worked 3-nights as a Chef. Most of the money from those other jobs went into the 4x4 business which lost money for the first two years. Working 70-80 hours and 7-days a week with barely any wage was an experience and one that saw girlfriends come and go recalls Tim. The only holidays consisted of a two week Christmas shut-down, parts were stored in a store room at Mark's parent's house located a mile away. Money was so tight that after a few Saturday night beers the pair would walk the 6-miles home instead of paying £8 for a taxi. In the third year we made a profit, took on our first member of staff affectionately named gangles, gangles was fast and reliable and fortunately for us loved driving as we often collected goods from our suppliers then in Nottingham.

Mark recalls one occasion when gangles had failed to return from the store room after 2-3 hours though he'd only been sent on a 15-minute errand. Mark's mum had heard some muffled yelping from the store room and gangles was found buried under a stack of tyres that had fallen on top of him, pinning him to the floor helpless. He was soon released unhurt and we all had a good laugh about it. Sunday's were spent packaging trucktops for sending as the duo had started an operation in Mansfield Notts assembling the Texas supplied Brahma trucktop. This carried on until 1998 when a land purchase in Leeming Bar saw the 2-man band (Gangles didn’t fancy the move) build its own warehouse on the trading estate. Actually it was Mark's dad who built the warehouse.

One part time warehouse man and a tyre fitter soon followed as did two sales advisors over the next 2-3 years, Mark still raised every invoice himself and Tim would deal with ordering and after hours with girlfriend Jayne (now wife) would 'do the accounts'. Expansion saw another two warehouses built and several more staff were taken on. There are now 5-warehouses across the 2-acre site at Leeming Bar, these are all bursting with accessories, tops and tyres, and staff number 25 in-total. A sixth warehouse is in the planning process now. 

4x4 Accessories & Tyres Ltd (4x4at.com) are the UK's largest 4x4 centre based on the A1 at Leeming Bar North Yorkshire. Established in 1993 the company initially traded from a small office premises in Ripon, North Yorks. Sole UK importers for Alpha Hard tops , Alpha Trucktops , ARB Truck tops, Proform branded pick-up load bed liners , Mountain top chequer plate tonneau bed covers , Roll and Lock bed covers , Trux range of 4x4 accessories including car mats , window visors , bonnet guards , stainless steel side steps , cargo liners , stainless steel sports roll bars.  

We are now clearly established as Europes leading distributor of 4x4 Accessories , including trucktops , bed liners , 4x4 wheels and 4x4 tyres, . Based at the side of Junction 51 on the A1 motorway at Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, UK, we are the 4x4 superstore and the UK's premier 4x4 centre. With warehousing of circa 75,000sq ft and 25 staff dedicated to 4x4 Accessory supply, sales and service. In June 2008 we purchased the business of Formula4 www.formula4.co.uk formerly based in Stone Staffordshire. Formula 4 had a good range of 4x4 accessories and were particularly strong with SUV accessories from Cobra 4x4, Mach and EGR , 4x4 side steps , front bars , Aeroklas truck tops , wheel covers and body plastics including window visors , bonnet guards, window deflectors , head lamp covers and lots more parts such as Hardtops and bed liners. The Formula4 business continues as before only the location has changed. July 2011 saw another acquisition, this time Proppa.com of Dragons Den fame. Proppa had been struggling to finance its operation in Worcestershire, unable to obtain increased bank funding and after the promised Dragons Den funding failed to materialise, Proppa turned to us to help them.

Products include: 4x4 trucktops canopies - 4x4 pick up bed liners - 4x4 side steps - 4x4 front A-bars - 4x4 window visors - 4x4 alloy wheels - 4x4 steel wheels - Pick up Hard tops  - landrover steel wheels - stainless steel side bars - wood trim kits - spare wheel tyre covers -