Word of mouth means scrap is still big business for family
IT’S a business without a website, and is known by word of mouth – but it’s the city scrapdealing success story that has been keeping vehicles going for generations.
If you live in Cardiff, chances are you or a family member has clambered over cars at Bill Way’s scrapyard searching for that one part that could get a car back on the road.
Bill Way & Co Ltd operated from Ferry Road in Grangetown from the 1950s until the Cardiff Bay regeneration brought on a move to Tremorfa Industrial Estate in the mid 1990s.
Bill was a well-known businessman in Cardiff, famous for always wearing his suit at the scrapyard.
A young Bill started out as a carpenter building caravans in Tudor Lane in Grangetown. Eventually he began investing in scrap metal and selling it on, and even had a contract with St Athan to scrap old planes and other materials after World War II.
In the 1950s, he opened up his yard on Ferry Road and began selling car parts to the people of Cardiff.
And decades after it was founded, the business – still carrying the name of its founder Bill Way – runs from the new Tremorfa site.
With its strong foundation as a family-owned Cardiff business, the scrapyard is now managed by three of Bill’s grandchildren.
Bill’s grandson Paul Way, 55, now runs the business with his brother John, and cousin Gary.
“I’ve been here since I learned to walk,” Paul said.
“I left school at about 15, I had no qualifications and my brother and Gary started a bit later.”
Paul said his grandfather died in 1967 at the age of 54, and handed his business on to his sons John and Charlie.
They in turn passed it on to their children–
Paul, John and
Gary.
They now run the scrapyard and still enjoy a roaring trade with regular customers.
John said many of their customers have turned into “life-long friends”.
The company has grown over the past few decades largely, they say, through word of mouth.
Aside from their scrap metal, the yard was also known for the dogs that were kept there.
Paul’s daughter Emma Way said: “Big kennels were built for them down there.
“The Ways have also been massive animal lovers, and kept ferrets and other types of animals down the yard and at home.”
They have rejected calls to move online and have never set up a website, preferring to stick to their tried and tested methods of trading.
Today, Paul, John and Gary are regularly at the yard six or seven days a week stripping cars.
John said: “Daily we meet customers, young and old, who knew the older generations of the Ways and bought parts from them.
“It’s like everyone seems to send their children down the yard and then they go on to sending their own down there.
“Bill Way played a big part in the heart of Cardiff’s history and his name is still spoken around Cardiff today.”