{"id":487216,"date":"2025-10-10T02:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487216\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T02:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:30:28","slug":"from-council-estate-to-house-of-lords-and-how-tragic-accident-led-brothers-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487216\/","title":{"rendered":"From council estate to House of Lords and how &#8216;tragic&#8217; accident led brothers there"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two brothers from a council estate in Garston took a leap of faith that changed their lives &#8211; and it all started with a moment that nearly cost one of them everything<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_87382.jpg\" alt=\"Bernie and Wayne Dullaghan, founders of MCF\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Bernie and Wayne Dullaghan, founders of MCF(Image: Bernie Dullaghan)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Two brothers from a council estate in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/garston\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Garston<\/a> have gone from humble beginnings to representing their industry in the House of Lords after building one of the UK\u2019s fastest-growing logistics companies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Bernie and Wayne Dullaghan founded MCF, a third-party logistics firm, just five years ago after deciding to take a leap of faith and start their own business. Since then, they\u2019ve grown from a single warehouse to three sites, and work with major retailers such as <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/the-range\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">The Range<\/a> and Silver Cross.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Their rise has now been recognised nationally, with the pair invited to a prestigious networking event at the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/politics\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">House of Lords<\/a>, where just 40 standout organisations from across the warehousing and logistics sector have been selected to attend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Bernie, 49, said: \u201cFive years ago, me and my brother left full-time employment to set up our own third-party logistics company. Since then, we\u2019ve gone from strength to strength.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">\u201cWe\u2019ve become one of the leading independent logistics providers and to be asked to represent the industry in the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/politics\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">House of Lords<\/a> &#8211; two lads from humble beginnings &#8211; is a bit of a feather in our bow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">&#8220;They\u2019re not circles that local lads from Liverpool would normally mix in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Before starting MCF, both brothers worked in very different jobs. Wayne, 45, had experience in logistics, while Bernie was a regional manager for <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/news\/liverpool-news\/mecca-bingo-say-its-unheard-29613227\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Mecca Bingo<\/a> and Buzz Bingo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Bernie said: \u201cI\u2019d never stepped foot in a warehouse until five years ago. I nearly lost my life getting knocked off a motorbike and the compensation from that went into the business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">&#8220;That was a tragic part of my life but the money from that meant we were able to take that leap of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">MCF has won five major awards in the past three years, including three this year alone, and is shortlisted for two more in 2025. But it hasn\u2019t all been plain sailing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Bernie said: \u201cThe biggest challenge was about two years ago. We had Wilko as our biggest customer, and when they went into administration, the warehouse was half empty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">&#8220;We had to let 17 people go. That was the most challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">The brothers rebuilt the business, expanding its space and customer base. Now, they hope their story inspires others from similar backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"liverpoolecho\">Bernie added: \u201cWhere we grew up, there was quite a lot of crime and negative influences all around you. But if you\u2019ve got a vision, a dream and you believe in yourself, you can make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two brothers from a council estate in Garston took a leap of faith that changed their lives &#8211;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,2643,4884,179,16,15,126151],"class_list":{"0":"post-487216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-garston","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-uplifting-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115347523084476220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}