Just had a phone call from a mate to say that the drivers at Alec Petch Transport at Snaith near Goole were all told to clear out their trucks on friday (26 of them) as the firm had gone bust. They were on container work out of Goole and Immingham and had decent new all white motors, Magnums/Megaspaces. I used to work there a while back and I enjoyed my time there. Sad to see them go. 
it’s always sad to see yet more transport operators closing up shop especially under the stigma of a bankcruptcy declaration but perhaps it also highlights the need for operators to regularly be reviewing their operations.
to be checking the mpg of the trucks they operate.
looking for a way to cut the costs a little.
trying to get more money for the same work especially when the price of fuel rises.
it’s so very easy in this industry of tight profit margins to take your finger off the pulse and quickly see the very tight profits turn into substantial losses.
i’m sure the drivers won’t struggle to find alternative employment - i hope they get paid what they’re owed.
johnny:
it’s always sad to see yet more transport operators closing up shop especially under the stigma of a bankcruptcy declaration but perhaps it also highlights the need for operators to regularly be reviewing their operations.
to be checking the mpg of the trucks they operate.
looking for a way to cut the costs a little.
trying to get more money for the same work especially when the price of fuel rises.
it’s so very easy in this industry of tight profit margins to take your finger off the pulse and quickly see the very tight profits turn into substantial losses.i’m sure the drivers won’t struggle to find alternative employment - i hope they get paid what they’re owed.
You mean do what the big boys do and let the accountants run the company?, thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.
It was reported on the Radio up here last week a transport company in Newton Aycliffe has also called in the Liquidators, their main customer was a television manufacturer who has awarded the contract to someone else, so it just goes to show that this company (Cant remember their name off hand as it was’nt a well known firm) had put all their eggs into one basket, needless to say the baskets been nicked and they had nothing else in the pipeline to carry on with.
Not Peter Cook by any chance,was it Davey?
They did a lot of work for Phillips at Durham.
Ken.
Quinny:
Not Peter Cook by any chance,was it Davey?They did a lot of work for Phillips at Durham.
Ken.
No Ken, he pulled out of Trucks about 2 months ago and just does Warehousing now mate, All the Owner Drivers were given the option of buying the trucks themselves wheras he had rented them out to them until around October-ish
This was a small company with about 4 trucks I think.
I know they named them on the Local BBC Radio Newcastle News last Tuesday and I thought straight away that they must of been one of these companies that just ran trucks in their customers livery as I hadn’t seen any of them on the road.
At first I thought it might of been Katem (Former owner of John Dee) but he runs under the Katem name (Kate & Emma his daughters)
Stag Furniture formerly Homeworthy in Sunderland have also called in the Receivers last Thursday or Friday, so I dont think Harker’s Transport will be looking too promising as they depended on Stag for a lot of their work, in fact, I’m sure they took over the whole transport side of the old Homeworthy company after it was bought out by the management, As they were advertising for drivers left right and centre about 6 months ago offering £495 basic for a 4 on 4 off system + Bonus etc.
johnny:
You mean do what the big boys do and let the accountants run the company?, thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.
Thats why they’re the big boys. With large fleets, a small saving on fuel can pay big dividends.
this might be old news but i heard, mcfarelane,s have gone under 
Tramper:
johnny:
You mean do what the big boys do and let the accountants run the company?, thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.Thats why they’re the big boys. With large fleets, a small saving on fuel can pay big dividends.
Please - i didn’t write that
jammymutt did.
and no i don’t think just the big boys are doing that - every operator is doing it - if they aren’t then they should be - it’s important in an industry with profit margins as low as the transport industry has to know where your money is going.
my boss runs just 5 trucks and he can tell you what each truck is averaging mpg wise at any time of the year for any of the weeks you require.
we have been running 420 scanias for over 4 years and 470 scanias for just over 3 of those years, during that time there has been no difference between the mpg of the 470 and the 420 on the average calculations.
at the moment my 470 is the top with 9.6 mpg average, beating all the 420’s and the other 470.
my boss has now decided to go all 470bhp.
this may sound strange to some but it seems the heavier the load the better the 470 performs fuel wise in comparison to the 420, this is possibly due to the gearchanges required on hills with a 420 at a heavier laden weight.
then again it could be that i regularly check my tyre pressures, always tuck the straps in on the trailers and always switch off the engine when i’m not moving or don’t think i will be moving for some time.
jammymutt:
thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.
At one of my customers, they have a fleet of Volvo FM12 380 with 8 speed boxes. W and X reg. The W reg has 1,100,000 on it and the X regs vary between 750,000 and 900,000km. I regularly manage 9MPG with them.
I imagine you spend alot of time running back empty? 9MPG should be a breeze.
im sure mcfarlens has been bought by the guy that used to own gagewell transport but cant remember his name sorry
Conor:
jammymutt:
thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.At one of my customers, they have a fleet of Volvo FM12 380 with 8 speed boxes. W and X reg. The W reg has 1,100,000 on it and the X regs vary between 750,000 and 900,000km. I regularly manage 9MPG with them.
I imagine you spend alot of time running back empty? 9MPG should be a breeze.
at frieghtliner the fm 12 were getting 6.2 on average but the was containers but again with that one way was always empty.
macfarlanes are still going strong.
im sure mcfarlens has been bought by the guy that used to own gagewell transport but cant remember his name sorry
That is correct.
It was in CM last week.
Ken.
Conor:
jammymutt:
thats what its like at ex-hell continually on our backs about m.p.g. they have a target of 9.1 what they seem to forget is itsa big old lorry carrying a lot of weight.At one of my customers, they have a fleet of Volvo FM12 380 with 8 speed boxes. W and X reg. The W reg has 1,100,000 on it and the X regs vary between 750,000 and 900,000km. I regularly manage 9MPG with them.
I imagine you spend alot of time running back empty? 9MPG should be a breeze.
I done a run tonight and got 11 last week i done a different one it was 7.9 it all depends in what run we do, how heavy it is and what roads we use but the thick ■■■■■■■■ wont listen to us when we say its about AVERAGES, their continual strive to save penny after penny gets a bit annoying.
Although i do love driving an automatic lorry i dont think the auto route is the way to go improve m.p.g…
nother rumour i heard was that DUNNS of shildon had gone bust.along with FRANKY HUDSON.cannot confirm as it was a rumour.
and ian hay from scotland has packed up due to all the red tape an crap
ohterry:
nother rumour i heard was that DUNNS of shildon had gone bust.along with FRANKY HUDSON.cannot confirm as it was a rumour.
Dunns of Shildon went bust in October Terry, all their Assets were up for Auction in early January, by Southerlands Auctioneers in Newcastle.
Scania were renting out their Tractor Units to Coolchain on a daily Rental basis agreement back in November, at the time I thought Dunns had just upgraded the fleet as I saw a brand new Scania topliner with Dunns name on it, but then saw their Assets up for Auction under the instruction of Liquidators
Hudsons is still going strong, for some reason though the name Hawk Transport springs to mind, as I said earlier it was a lesser known company when I heard their name mentioned, so never really took much notice of it.
Terry, saw one of Dunn’s and one of Hudsons last week so it they have gone to the wall it must be recently. It was reported in the local press that the firm that pulls for Electrolux at Spennymoor as just lost the contract and laid 40 staff off and closed the depot in Milton Keynes. It was a quite a big outfit nationally so it is not just the little guys that are feeling the pinch.
Regards
Westie
saw a fare few of paul aurthurtons motors from east anglia for sale in comercial motor this week 54 and 55 plate dafs and scanias one was an r series topline.they seem a bit new for to get rid of so has he decided to pack in aswell
westie:
It was reported in the local press that the firm that pulls for Electrolux at Spennymoor as just lost the contract and laid 40 staff off and closed the depot in Milton Keynes.
I thought P&O took that over from TDG Logistics? or am I thinking of Flymo?
Either way I know the companies up in the North East are being hit hard at the moment and the ones still running must be operating on shoestring budgets because everyones fighting for the work with Southern companies getting the backloads.
I heard a Chinese Whisper that Fowler Welch in Gateshead are looking for 40 Drivers in 4 months time for day and night trunking work, but being off work on the sick I dont know how right it is at the moment and probably wont find out for another couple of weeks.
So either they are in for a big re-organisation or there’s a big contract just been awarded if its true. But at the end of the day to attract drivers they are going to have to increase the wages from the current £6.15 ph and £8.40 after 8 hrs (Regardless of Day or Night shifts) I’m happy as its just drop and swap for me, but the lads out delivering are moving pallets etc and working to the max hours.