gazsa401:
I also meant to say they had a bad habit in later years in buying up good profitable companies for the contracts they had
Got rid of the experienced management put in graduates who in turn completely ruined the good work the founders did
Just look how long Ridings lasted after Tom retired
David Williams went on to set up Great Bear Distribution after the head honchos of TDG ruined his great firm
Towards the end of my time with Stirlands wherever I delivered to TDG became Transport Disaster Group because anything they touched went ■■■■ up
I believe you have summed up the later TDG history very well Gaz,I got a dose of the same medicine when I got involved with WRM who didn’t have a clue how a proper transport firm worked nor did they want to know either Cheers Bewick.
gazsa401:
I also meant to say they had a bad habit in later years in buying up good profitable companies for the contracts they had
Got rid of the experienced management put in graduates who in turn completely ruined the good work the founders did
Just look how long Ridings lasted after Tom retired
David Williams went on to set up Great Bear Distribution after the head honchos of TDG ruined his great firm
Towards the end of my time with Stirlands wherever I delivered to TDG became Transport Disaster Group because anything they touched went ■■■■ up
I believe you have summed up the later TDG history very well Gaz,I got a dose of the same medicine when I got involved with WRM who didn’t have a clue how a proper transport firm worked nor did they want to know either Cheers Bewick.
The accountants see a nice profitable firm, so they recommend purchase to the other accountants. So they buy the firm and see ‘waste’, which is actually a necessity. They also find the need for 10 new directors on £100,000 pa +. Company Beemer, then scratch their heads and start cutting further at the necessities. Saw this spiral at Amtrak. The directors then seem able to move on to the next company, giving all sorts of reasons why it wasn’t their fault.
gazsa401:
Hiya Dennis the start of the downward spiral regarding TDG began when Sir James Duncan stepped down and a certain Alan Cole took over the reigns in the late 80s early 90s
Jack Stirland was a founder group member within TDG he sold out in 1964 fearing another Labour government were considering a re nationalising of the Road Transport industry
(Jack Stirland started out in 1925 his business Robin Hood Transport was nationalised and he became BRS Nottingham depot manager
When de nationalisation came around he bought some ex BRS lorries and set up again as Robin Hood Transport later selling up to Barton Transport of Middle Eastern fame
Jack Stirland then went into partnership with Rex Marshall (A R Marshall and Sons )another well known Nottinghamshire haulier to form M and S Transport
They parted company in the mid 50s
Once again Jack started up his own transport company buying “A” licences and having some dedicated lorries contracted to Boots the Chemist in Nottingham
He built up some very good traffic within Nottingham
Boots Raleigh bicycles John Players and sons Pedigree pet foods Stanton pipes just to name a few he built up a large fleet which became well known)
Jack decided to sell out in 1964 to TDG but remained MD until his retirement in 1978
Stirlands we’re autonomous as were many other TDG companies running as separate individual companies other than when big purchases were required ie new warehousing/ depots etc
Each company had their own liveries own vehicle purchasing powers we even ran into each other’s depots for back loads and fuel
In the early 90s when Mr Cole took over he decided to centralise everything and came up with the idea of the awful scarab green livery with the even worse juggler logo
Each company was allowed to have their own name on the vehicles ie Stirland Harris Beck and Politzer Williams Distribution to name a few but sadly some good old names and liveries vanished when that happened
It got worse when the graduates starting coming in buying up long established firms such as Drapers of Thurrock McPherson of Aberlour Spiers of Melksham Tuffnel Parcels then gradually through bad management and decisions these good firms were closed down
Lucky enough Tuffnell and McPherson went on to have management buyouts and went on to thrive again
Beck and Politzer are still going strong without the graduates interference
I left Stirlands in 2003 but my Dad stopped their until our Nottingham was closed down in 2005 by the graduates after they’d gave away and lost a lot of our long established customers whom we had worked with for over 50 years
Stirlands was the second most profitable company within TDG
After that I didn’t have much to do with TDG so post 2005 I’m not to sure
Lastly I may be wrong but I think Ridings were allowed to keep their livery due to the fact that Tom Riding still owned 51% of his company and TDG the other 49%
I would respectfully suggest that if Mr.Tom had owned 51% of W&J R he would probably still be running the firm ! Bewick.
gazsa401:
Hiya Dennis the start of the downward spiral regarding TDG began when Sir James Duncan stepped down and a certain Alan Cole took over the reigns in the late 80s early 90s
Jack Stirland was a founder group member within TDG he sold out in 1964 fearing another Labour government were considering a re nationalising of the Road Transport industry
(Jack Stirland started out in 1925 his business Robin Hood Transport was nationalised and he became BRS Nottingham depot manager
When de nationalisation came around he bought some ex BRS lorries and set up again as Robin Hood Transport later selling up to Barton Transport of Middle Eastern fame
Jack Stirland then went into partnership with Rex Marshall (A R Marshall and Sons )another well known Nottinghamshire haulier to form M and S Transport
They parted company in the mid 50s
Once again Jack started up his own transport company buying “A” licences and having some dedicated lorries contracted to Boots the Chemist in Nottingham
He built up some very good traffic within Nottingham
Boots Raleigh bicycles John Players and sons Pedigree pet foods Stanton pipes just to name a few he built up a large fleet which became well known)
Jack decided to sell out in 1964 to TDG but remained MD until his retirement in 1978
Stirlands we’re autonomous as were many other TDG companies running as separate individual companies other than when big purchases were required ie new warehousing/ depots etc
Each company had their own liveries own vehicle purchasing powers we even ran into each other’s depots for back loads and fuel
In the early 90s when Mr Cole took over he decided to centralise everything and came up with the idea of the awful scarab green livery with the even worse juggler logo
Each company was allowed to have their own name on the vehicles ie Stirland Harris Beck and Politzer Williams Distribution to name a few but sadly some good old names and liveries vanished when that happened
It got worse when the graduates starting coming in buying up long established firms such as Drapers of Thurrock McPherson of Aberlour Spiers of Melksham Tuffnel Parcels then gradually through bad management and decisions these good firms were closed down
Lucky enough Tuffnell and McPherson went on to have management buyouts and went on to thrive again
Beck and Politzer are still going strong without the graduates interference
I left Stirlands in 2003 but my Dad stopped their until our Nottingham was closed down in 2005 by the graduates after they’d gave away and lost a lot of our long established customers whom we had worked with for over 50 years
Stirlands was the second most profitable company within TDG
After that I didn’t have much to do with TDG so post 2005 I’m not to sure
Lastly I may be wrong but I think Ridings were allowed to keep their livery due to the fact that Tom Riding still owned 51% of his company and TDG the other 49%
I would respectfully suggest that if Mr.Tom had owned 51% of W&J R he would probably still be running the firm ! Bewick.
Berwick ■■?
You are correct - Tom Ridings father sold the business to TDG 100per cent then Tom became CEO and ran the business very successfully untill his retirement.
Jim Lockhart. I think originated from Midland Storage where David Williams went as a trainee and then Jim L was a non exec in Great Bear
I was CEO at a TDG co for 10 years Harris Road Services had a great relationship with the MD of Stirlands working on joint venture with Boots doing the Scottish trunk work
Books could be written on TDG the rise and fall - it started life as General Lighterage and warehouse company on the river Thames
In the 1950’s a chap called Haold Pallin was the depot manager for BRS Northwich - he arranged the denationalisation of the branch back into Harris Road Services as part of TDG - the first one in Northern England - Pallin then went on to be the Northern area executive arranging the aquisition of many family bussinesses across Northern England including. Williams Bros Wales, Liverpool Warehouseing, Runcorn Transport, Buckley Tankers, Manchester Warehouseing, Nova Cold, W J Riding, Parkers of Bolton, Cleveland Stankers and the list goes on, when he retired another chap took over but became very ill with one of those awful deceases, then Alan Binks and the finally John Cole( not the Alan Cole)
Could go on with loads more!!!
Cheers Bewick.
Bewick.