Dominic Perry interviews Johnathan Bulmer- Click here to read
Hmm. Double edge sword. On one hand, it appears B.L was yet another victim of banks suddenly withdrawing funding on viable businesses. There have been sufficient perfectly good firms who have been closed by a withdrawl of lending that the government were prompted to step in.
On the other hand, starting up in the same name was just a kick in the teeth to a lot of people. If it had been a different name then I don’t think the backlash would be so great but by using a variant of the original name, it just looks like the usual Ltd company trick of racking up a load of debts, declaring the company insolvent then opening up under a slightly different name but with the same offices and staff - in effect the same company.
his only “defence” seems to be saving jobs, which really would just have transferred to other operators who would have picked up the work surely 
it amused he can go off on a skiing holiday in the middle of what’s been happening, don’t tell my missus for god’s sake 
Without wishing to sound like I’m defending the man (already had someone assuse me of writing a “Mills & Boon love story” this morning) I guess the argument h’e’s putting forward with regard to saving jobs is that more likely other hauliers would have used Bulmers’ collapse to pick up the slack in their own operations and not necessarily taken on any new drivers. Whether that holds up to close scrutiny is anyone’s guess.
I suppose the other distinction to make is that it wasn’t an exercise in asset stripping or deliberate mismanagement, just a result of some extremely poor decisions being taken. As more than one person has pointed out - it was an accident waiting to happen.
Dom Perry
Motor Transport
Can I be cheeky and ask who approached who to do the article?
I approached him. We were both due to go to the same event anyway, so if he hadn’t agreed I figure I would have ended up badgering him throughout dinner.
Dom
Although i admire the effort to save 300 jobs, it’s of little comfort to those left out of pocket. I’m sure that everyone is glad that he had time to go on a skiing holiday. I haven’t had a holiday in 4 years, but then i haven’t allowed my business to fail and cause hardship to others. Maybe i should ignore my financial obligations and go on a cruise? No, i think not. If this man is suffering thru tiredness and hardship,then thats just tough
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
Cheers for the reply. I just wondered if it was a “damage limitation” move initiated by him.
Ha well thats ok then, just as long as you were not left with the unpaid parcel
I think Mr Vain has summed it up. I’m sure his creditor’s who never got paid out weren’t thinking of a skiing holiday.
If he was that good why did he let the original company fail !!!. Seems like he didn’t know his own business.
Never could understand logically why his company was selling off year old Scania’s just over a year ago, when there was none available from dealers.
bedgar047:
If he was that good why did he let the original company fail !!!
Looking at the article, it wasn’t actually failing but like a lot of businesses, relied on borrowing from the banks to maintain an operational cashflow. This facility was withdrawn by the banks so faced with a lot of bills, the business had to finish, despite outstanding invoices that most likely covered a large proportion of those bills. If you can’t pay the fuel bill or the wages, you can’t operate.
I used to speak to Jonathan quite regurlarly when I was at TRUCK magazine, he was running Turbo-Compound Scanias & the then new 16 litre V8s & was also running at the recently increased 44tonnes GVW & these were all relevant to the drivel I was putting in the mag each month, in all my dealings with him I found him to be very enthusiastic about the industry & someone who was involved through passion rather than just in it for the money, I’m sad to see that Bulmers Logistics failed, with hindsight perhaps he wouldn’t have expanded so quickly, but as he said it was customer driven, so in fact the ultimate failiure came as a result of his success as a transport company, unfortunately the low margins within the industry do not allow significant growth through profits alone & as a result as the fleet increased so did the borrowing & then the banks, through their own greed & incompetence found themselves in the brown stuff & called in the loans, I can’t see how any company can survive this, if you budget to pay x amount per month in repayments & suddenly you have to increase that amount then you’re bound to be in trouble.
Let us also not forget that Jonathan Bulmer & Bulmers Logistics have paid a lot of peoples mortgages, fed their kids etc for a number of years, yes Jonathan probably doesn’t/didn’t have a mortgage on his house & has been living the good life with skiing trips & the like, but surely he was due some rewards for the responsibilities that came with running his company.
He also has taken the time, through Dominic Perry to tell his side of the story, he didn’t run & hide, I for one hope that his new venture succeeds.
Personally I don’t buy the “saved 300 jobs” stuff. At the end of the day, there is a given amount of freight to be moved, which needs a given amount of trucks which need a given number of drivers. That number of drivers is the same regardless of who goes into administration or who doesn’t. He might have saved 300 jobs at Bulmers but assuming as I am that the total number of drivers required is fixed that will either have stopped others putting extra wagons on or in some cases meant they have had to lay off. The total number of drivers in work will remain much the same, only this way they carry on with their old trick of helping push down the rates for everyone.
I feel a bit sorry for the bloke, after all he’s worked his backside off for most of his life to build the business up, but I still don’t necessarily think what he has done is right.
Paul
Repton, I hear what you’re saying & as you’re a local you probably have a pretty decent idea of what really happened, but at the end of the day circumstances have led to the current situation, now the Phoenix is about to rise from the ashes once more, it’s not the first time in history & it won’t be the last, but at least some of our fellow drivers aren’t facing the dole this morning, admittedly some of them would’ve found jobs elsewhere, but I’m sure there would’ve been more than a few who didn’t.
Let us also remember that the Jonathan Bulmer’s of this world are entreprenurial to their very core, as much as I like the bloke, I’m not saying he is doing this just for the ex Bulmers Logistics employees, at the end of the day he is starting the new company for selfish reasons, namely for personal gain/success, but we, as employees, depend on people like Jonathan, our success depends on them too, for that reason I hope his new plan works.
And while I’m on the subject, mistakes & bad decisions were made leading to the collapse, but the only way to guarantee you don’t mess things up is to not attempt them in the first place & if we all did that then we’d still be living in caves.
hold your head high jonny youre not the first and u wont be the last best of luck
I found him to be very enthusiastic about the industry & someone who was involved through passion rather than just in it for the money,
I think you hit the nail on the head there newmercman. This industry always has, and always will suffer from too much passion and not enough hard headed “if it doesn’t pay, don’t do it!”
newmercman:
Repton, I hear what you’re saying & as you’re a local you probably have a pretty decent idea of what really happened, but at the end of the day circumstances have led to the current situation, now the Phoenix is about to rise from the ashes once more, it’s not the first time in history & it won’t be the last, but at least some of our fellow drivers aren’t facing the dole this morning, admittedly some of them would’ve found jobs elsewhere, but I’m sure there would’ve been more than a few who didn’t.Let us also remember that the Jonathan Bulmer’s of this world are entreprenurial to their very core, as much as I like the bloke, I’m not saying he is doing this just for the ex Bulmers Logistics employees, at the end of the day he is starting the new company for selfish reasons, namely for personal gain/success, but we, as employees, depend on people like Jonathan, our success depends on them too, for that reason I hope his new plan works.
And while I’m on the subject, mistakes & bad decisions were made leading to the collapse, but the only way to guarantee you don’t mess things up is to not attempt them in the first place & if we all did that then we’d still be living in caves.
well said 
bulmer what a load of crap. you might have saved 200 plus jobs, how many companys have put out of business along the way by walking away from your 10 million pound debts. How can you start up a new company under a new name in Malton on the 23rd of DECEMBER 2008,THEN ON THE 13TH January 2009 change to Bulmers Transport. To hold an O lICENCE YOU NEED TO BE OF GOOD REPUTE. ( LEGALISED FRAUD )
read commercial moter no ones been put out of business explain how its a load of crap