Parked next to one on Saturday at the Q8 Meer! He was doing his laundry in there! Must have been over the water some time coz he had a lot to do!
jacko22:
Parked next to one on Saturday at the Q8 Meer! He was doing his laundry in there! Must have been over the water some time coz he had a lot to do!
It’s in ‘Comical Motor’ this week that they are “re-aranging their transport operations” following a “winding up order” from HMRC!!
Just read it.
Ross.
What I have heard, from a usually reliable source, is that they have decided to pack the transport division in, rather than having gone bust. The Mortimers are farmers and potato growers who own large parts of Wiltshire and if the rumours about a winding-up order are true, then this will be because they have set up the transport operation as an entirely separate venture, and it is unlikely that a winding-up order will affect the Mortimer family.
A sad day for the drivers though, when I was on for Romac in the late 1980s, Mortimers drivers were always on the Sally Line out of Ramsgate with us and they all seemed like decent blokes.
Harry Monk:
What I have heard, from a usually reliable source, is that they have decided to pack the transport division in, rather than having gone bust. The Mortimers are farmers and potato growers who own large parts of Wiltshire and if the rumours about a winding-up order are true, then this will be because they have set up the transport operation as an entirely separate venture, and it is unlikely that a winding-up order will affect the Mortimer family.A sad day for the drivers though, when I was on for Romac in the late 1980s, Mortimers drivers were always on the Sally Line out of Ramsgate with us and they all seemed like decent blokes.
I would concur with you on this Harry and I probably know you.
There has been a lot of negative posts of Mortimers of late so I would just like to throw some positive spin into the debate.
I worked for Mortimers from mid 80’s to late 90’s. I have been driving for 37 years but this was the best job I ever had. The boss Jon Ovens was a great guy with a great sense of humour. He began the trucking side as an owner driver mostly on Italian work, known to return on the weekend " in record time" in order to milk the cows on Sunday to give his brother a day off. He was also the kind of guy who would go out of his way to help you if you came to him with a problem whether it be financial or personal. Employee turnover was non existent and vacancies only occurred when a new truck was purchased. He would only employ local drivers at that time.
The Chips came about through the fruit & veg business which was supplying council contracts.The council decided they would buy chips from a Dutch company at that time De Fritespecialist, now Aviko, and needed someone to Import them. In stepped Mortimers.
Bob Beech of journalist fame ( Hi Bob) took out the first Eat More Chips trailer after first commenting " there’s no way I’m pulling that trailer around with that written on the side."
The business flourished and grew.Jon would himself work an 18 hour day rising at 4am taking a truck to Bristol market to buy the fruit & veg and returning to run the transport and occasionally working on the farm. Many a time we would phone for instruction and he would be ploughing, cutting sileage or milking and still manage to give you reload address from the tractor cab
We had cards to pay for any eventuality and mostly booked or chose our own ferry crossings according to our needs.Contrary to recent posts the wages were good. In the early 90’s I was grossing circa £30000 with nights out and I still have the P60’s to prove it.
I am not sure what has happened in the last 10 years to bring about the current scenario but, and its only a personal opinion, around 1999 he employed a transport manager due to even more commitment with one of the milk cartels and lost touch with the core business. Employee turnover became a serious issue and I am led to believe that the Chip contract was lost somewhen in the last couple of years and this must have been a blow.
As I say this was once a great job and I worked with a great bunch of lads some of which I still bump into and others I will never forget and I could also tell you several funny stories about each and every one of them.Best time of my working life.
I wish the Mortimer family the best of luck in resolving the situation and if I know Jon Ovens who poured his heart and soul and life into this company it will rise again.
Toby Ovens,where are you mate?
Saw 3 of their DAF’s parked at DAF Frome this week. Also on Friday an ex-mortimers LHD Daf passed me on the M5. It had Ralph Davies on the headboard and was pulling a RD trailer. Maybe they have taken on some of the units. I might of been mistaken but it sure looked like Mike Morrell driving-is he still with Ralph?
bristolron:
Saw 3 of their DAF’s parked at DAF Frome this week. Also on Friday an ex-mortimers LHD Daf passed me on the M5. It had Ralph Davies on the headboard and was pulling a RD trailer. Maybe they have taken on some of the units. I might of been mistaken but it sure looked like Mike Morrell driving-is he still with Ralph?
Mike is still with Ralph and has one of the two blue DAF’s.
There’s a lot of speculation here about what might be happening, but there’s zero facts about what is happening.
There is also a fair bit of putting circumstantial bits n pieces together to make ‘facts’ to fit your speculation.
Keep it to genuine facts people.
It’s like a housewives gossip-training convention in here.
I did see their transit van driving into Melksham one day last week, maybe he was delivering some veg.
Y111RDF:
bristolron:
Saw 3 of their DAF’s parked at DAF Frome this week. Also on Friday an ex-mortimers LHD Daf passed me on the M5. It had Ralph Davies on the headboard and was pulling a RD trailer. Maybe they have taken on some of the units. I might of been mistaken but it sure looked like Mike Morrell driving-is he still with Ralph?Mike is still with Ralph and has one of the two blue DAF’s.
I think if a company is restructuring or looking at their options, then any recent acquisitions may be sold as a common sense measure.
Toby and his father Jon have gone a bit mad lately and put the five new TGX’s on the road, in addition to ten new DAF XF105’s, nine 460’s and one 80 tonne 6x2 510, all with Super Space cabs. They also bought ten new Schmitz fridges and a new Faymonville four axle step frame plant trailer.
This was blogged in January 2011 as mentioned on the original post.
Wheel Nut:
Y111RDF:
bristolron:
Saw 3 of their DAF’s parked at DAF Frome this week. Also on Friday an ex-mortimers LHD Daf passed me on the M5. It had Ralph Davies on the headboard and was pulling a RD trailer. Maybe they have taken on some of the units. I might of been mistaken but it sure looked like Mike Morrell driving-is he still with Ralph?Mike is still with Ralph and has one of the two blue DAF’s.
I think if a company is restructuring or looking at their options, then any recent acquisitions may be sold as a common sense measure.
Toby and his father Jon have gone a bit mad lately and put the five new TGX’s on the road, in addition to ten new DAF XF105’s, nine 460’s and one 80 tonne 6x2 510, all with Super Space cabs. They also bought ten new Schmitz fridges and a new Faymonville four axle step frame plant trailer.
This was blogged in January 2011 as mentioned on the original post.
LOOK AT MY POST AND YOU WILL SEE ALL THE FACTS AND WINDING UP PETITION ORDER REF NUMBERS AND DETAILS…VOLUNTARY INSOLVENCY IS WOT THEY ARE UP TOO !!! THIS WAY THEY GET TO HOLD ON TO SOME ASSETS, SELL SOME,PAY OFF THE CREDITORS…NOT SURE OF THE SUMS INVOLVED BUT THEY HAVE TREATED THEIR DRIVERS IN A DISGUSTING MANNER AND SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO RUN A HAULAGE FIRM AGAIN…RECKON IF THEIR ACCOUNTING IS SO BAD THEN WHAT ARE THEY LIKE AT KEEPING DRIVERS RECORDS…VOSA SHOULD BE IN THERE AND REVOKE O LICENCE FOR STARTERS…BITTER EX DRIVER…YES…THEY OWE ME IN EXCESS OF 5 GRAND…
Jesus at 69 quid a day you mustn’t have been paid for months.
kr79:
Jesus at 69 quid a day you mustn’t have been paid for months.
all drivers are entitled to claim…redundancy is illegal without 30 day consultancy period so thats 22 days pay…£1540…last 4 weeks another £1500…holiday owed another £1000 and thats without additional claims for compensation and claim for constructive dismissalll…soon adds up…and if all 25 plus drivers claim the same then your talking a big claim…thats without the other fines and costs that could be imposed…to be fair tho the job was great…nice kit,clean work with no hassle and no loading or unloading,plenty ov rest on the ferry and night out money was excellent !!!
If they do go pop you get it from the government but I don’t think you will get that much. I know where you are coming from if they start again that pre pack administration is a joke.
I know nothing about them but buying that many new trucks in one go couldn’t have helped.
kr79:
I know nothing about them but buying that many new trucks in one go couldn’t have helped.
Wouldn’t help keep the business going!! but if they owned their old trucks & trailers they will have sold them outright bringing in LOTS of cash, then leased all the new trucks & trailers with a months up front rental, then “go pop” with virtually no assets!!! (as they’ve already ‘trousered’ the cash from the sale of the fleet months ago)
NOT THAT I’M SUGGESTING FOR ONE SECOND THAT ANYONE FROM MORTIMERS HAS DONE ANYTHING SO UNDERHANDED!!! 
Ross.
bigr250:
kr79:
I know nothing about them but buying that many new trucks in one go couldn’t have helped.Wouldn’t help keep the business going!! but if they owned their old trucks & trailers they will have sold them outright bringing in LOTS of cash, then leased all the new trucks & trailers with a months up front rental, then “go pop” with virtually no assets!!! (as they’ve already ‘trousered’ the cash from the sale of the fleet months ago)
NOT THAT I’M SUGGESTING FOR ONE SECOND THAT ANYONE FROM MORTIMERS HAS DONE ANYTHING SO UNDERHANDED!!!
Ross.
makes sense though does’nt it.
seems strange that there are 4 different threads about mortimers and toby ovens hasn’t responded to any of them especially considering he was online this morning 
maybe he just wanted to catch up on the news about his company
The truth will out… it always does in the end… But I can tell you its a very large hole…!
APOLLO3501:
Wheel Nut:
Y111RDF:
bristolron:
Saw 3 of their DAF’s parked at DAF Frome this week. Also on Friday an ex-mortimers LHD Daf passed me on the M5. It had Ralph Davies on the headboard and was pulling a RD trailer. Maybe they have taken on some of the units. I might of been mistaken but it sure looked like Mike Morrell driving-is he still with Ralph?Mike is still with Ralph and has one of the two blue DAF’s.
I think if a company is restructuring or looking at their options, then any recent acquisitions may be sold as a common sense measure.
Toby and his father Jon have gone a bit mad lately and put the five new TGX’s on the road, in addition to ten new DAF XF105’s, nine 460’s and one 80 tonne 6x2 510, all with Super Space cabs. They also bought ten new Schmitz fridges and a new Faymonville four axle step frame plant trailer.
This was blogged in January 2011 as mentioned on the original post.
LOOK AT MY POST AND YOU WILL SEE ALL THE FACTS AND WINDING UP PETITION ORDER REF NUMBERS AND DETAILS…VOLUNTARY INSOLVENCY IS WOT THEY ARE UP TOO !!! THIS WAY THEY GET TO HOLD ON TO SOME ASSETS, SELL SOME,PAY OFF THE CREDITORS…NOT SURE OF THE SUMS INVOLVED BUT THEY HAVE TREATED THEIR DRIVERS IN A DISGUSTING MANNER AND SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO RUN A HAULAGE FIRM AGAIN…RECKON IF THEIR ACCOUNTING IS SO BAD THEN WHAT ARE THEY LIKE AT KEEPING DRIVERS RECORDS…VOSA SHOULD BE IN THERE AND REVOKE O LICENCE FOR STARTERS…BITTER EX DRIVER…YES…THEY OWE ME IN EXCESS OF 5 GRAND…
I don’t know who you are shouting at, but you were paid up on the 28th September and now they owe you in excess of 5 grand, be consistent in your rants chap.
VOSA may well go in and revoke the O licence, they may also go through all the drivers records and some of that 5k may help to pay a drivers fine, unless of course those drivers have been squeaky clean for the last 6 months