His fleet got a bit ropey over the last few years which reflected the standard of drivers he was using. Things have been improving of late, fleetwise anyway.
Can remember when i used to be tipping RDCs and cash and carrys in the earl 90s down the smoke, there was always one of MJDs scania p cabs and F10s and 12s. Then they got the red Scanny topliners and trailers on a P plate in cocoa cola livery. They were smart !
R.I.P Mick…
Wheel Nut:
Funny you should have so much praise for the man. I have heard good things about him too, a driver from Ontime used to do weekends for him and always said he was old school and treated his troops well.See you later Mick
I drove lorries for him, worked in the office, learned a hell of a lot about transport from him and also counted him as a friend 
Like I said, credit where credit is due, from very humble beginnings (in a corner of a scrapyard, we couldn’t tell which lorries were ours and which were being scrapped 
) to the fleet size it is now, that takes a lot of doing, especially when you consider the location, every major supermarket has an RDC within the area, over the river you have the Oil Companies, so competition for drivers is fierce, that’s one of the reasons he went Polish, the other one was to make more money of course…
Kev, I hear that they’ve been on the straight and narrow for a while now.
Spanky, yes, that was the one, the ex Pat Pallet one.
I heard they had a VOSA visit and were on the Red light with them till they addressed the drivers and vehicles! From a Tottenham man who works for them! 
I worked for them, fairly briefly…out of Edmonton on the Coca Cola contract.
We fell out when i refused to do nights out in December in a FL10, with no curtains, no working night heater and a mattress that looked it had spent most of its life as a doormat!
Apart from that, they were an easy going enough firm to work for…didn’t worry about things like services, or hours…just “keep going drive…”!
DonutUK:
We fell out when i refused to do nights out in December in a FL10, with no curtains, no working night heater and a mattress that looked it had spent most of its life as a doormat!
Incredible that in the 21st Century, firms still treat a driver like that. I doubt Mr Dole would live in a house with no curtains or heating.
newmercman:
Wheel Nut:
Funny you should have so much praise for the man. I have heard good things about him too, a driver from Ontime used to do weekends for him and always said he was old school and treated his troops well.See you later Mick
I drove lorries for him, worked in the office, learned a hell of a lot about transport from him and also counted him as a friend
Like I said, credit where credit is due, from very humble beginnings (in a corner of a scrapyard, we couldn’t tell which lorries were ours and which were being scrapped
Kev, I hear that they’ve been on the straight and narrow for a while now.
Spanky, yes, that was the one, the ex Pat Pallet one.
i remember sitting in the cafe at Thamesport dock, waiting for the pager to go off so i could go in and swap boxes, i was sat with a few other drivers that i knew, when i heard a voice behind me, didn’y know who he was, saying about the Volvo, he was saying that he had paid for all the ‘extras’ on the truck, such as the artwork and lightbars, and it cost him a lot of money for them
unfortunately for the said driver, i have an allergy to bull crap
he wasn’t too comfortable with his mates when i pointed out to them that i knew the truck and its previous owner and it was infact, them who had spent all the money on the ‘extras’
also, the truck looked like it hadn’t been washed for the last 6 months 
It wasn’t me Spanky I only did Coca Cola work with that motor
I know a few candidates that it could have been though, one of them is Bullitt’s brother, he is the biggest, loudest BS’er ever, the brother, not Bullitt
As for the ministry attention, hardly surprising given the state of the motors, but they used to have a really good reputation with VOSA, I won’t make any assumptions as to how they managed that, but I put MJD stickers on my 143 as it was only a 4x2 and I may have been a little heavy now and then, it was a guarantee never to get a pull into a checkpoint, it worked too
Because of my history there, I was a blue eyed boy, which I took full advantage of, so I never had to contend with FL10s like lesser mortals 
newmercman:
It wasn’t me SpankyI know a few candidates that it could have been though, one of them is Bullitt’s brother, he is the biggest, loudest BS’er ever, the brother, not Bullitt
As for the ministry attention, hardly surprising given the state of the motors, but they used to have a really good reputation with VOSA, I won’t make any assumptions as to how they managed that, but I put MJD stickers on my 143 as it was only a 4x2 and I may have been a little heavy now and then, it was a guarantee never to get a pull into a checkpoint, it worked too
Because of my history there, I was a blue eyed boy, which I took full advantage of, so I never had to contend with FL10s like lesser mortals
Noted and saved for future use.
You wouldn’t put there name on you motor now. I got pulled in to gale st on the a13 and two of theres got pulled in behind me. The vostapo wheeltappers were wetting there selves with excitement when they see them. I remember one had no brakes on the trailer and the other had something fairly major too.
Sad to say, but Mick Dole, founder and owner of MJD has passed away, RIP Mick
They have a bit of a bad reputation and the motors are a bit knocked about, but it hasn’t always been that way, at one time it was a very good job, but the firm grew so quickly that anyone with a licence could get a job there, the result is what you see today, but even though the motors are knocked about the company does a very good job, they took over the Coca Cola contract because they did it better than BRS, since then they’ve been the main London haulier against tough competition from Eddie Stobart and credit where credit’s due, not many have fought the Stobart empire and won.
I also have a personal reason for not being among the haters, I started my career at MJD over 25yrs ago, first of all as a night man ( well night boy really) driving the Berliet that Mick himself drove during the day, I returned there prior to leaving the UK, I needed a bit of casual work for a few weeks and all I did was pick up the phone and the next day I was smoking around in their FH16 610, so as well as starting, I also finished my UK driving career with MJD and Sons.
RIP Micky Dole
RIP sad news
Funny you should have so much praise for the man. I have heard good things about him too, a driver from Ontime used to do weekends for him and always said he was old school and treated his troops well.
See you later Mick
RIP Mick 
NMM, that FH16 610 that you used to fly around in, was it a green one with some airbrushing on it?
All changed there now Mark they mainly have new renaults and ivecos. Rumor has it they had to sort the motors or lose the o licence. Called them the other day about a job but he only had some casual but I need a bit of security.
Still RIP to the man.