Moving Matters

In this episode, Jordan Bignell , Managing Director of Britannia Quickmove discusses how he began his career in the industry some 10 years ago as an apprentice, and only 2 years ago became the proud owner of Britannia Quickmove , just in time for a pandemic to arrive! Quickmove was originally started by Peter Monk in the early 70’s , where some twenty years later he joined Britannia Movers Interna...

In this episode David Strank , Director of Stranks Removals & Storage discusses how he became a third-generation remover after beginning his fulltime career in the industry at the tender age of 16 ( although he helped in his father’s business from the age of 11! ), even after being told not to join the family business. Stranks Removals & Storage was started by David’s grandfather in Thornt...

In this episode Angus Russell , General Manager of Britannia Lanes of Somerset & Bristol discusses how he began his career within the industry some 34 years ago after responding to an advert in The Times for a Trainee Manager at Hoults . Although Angus wasn’t born into the industry, he does believe he was born to be in this industry having spent most of his youth as an expat, relocating from c...

In this episode Pauline Collins , Partner Relations Manager of The Voerman Group discusses how she began her career 33 years ago in the International Moving market, starting in a Sales Support role at Anglo Pacific – Pauline too is a fellow lifer of this wonderful industry . The Voerman Group were founded in 1986 , their headquarters are in The Hague , The Netherlands , and they have with location...

In this episode Darrel Baker , Director of Humphreys Removals discusses how he began his career some 30 years ago, even though his passion was to be a professional footballer. Starting as a warehouse picker and progressing to forklift driver, operations manager, and estimator at Humphreys Removals , before he and his wife were given the opportunity to purchase the company in 2019 . Today Humphreys...

In this episode Wesley Bourne , Managing Director of Bournes Moves discusses how he began his career at the tender age of 15 , where his first payroll date was August 22nd, 1994 and became a 5th generation removal man. Bournes was established back in 1875 by Thomas Bourne , starting as a coal merchant and general haulier. In the 1960’s brothers Eric & Roy Bourne joined the business ( sons of S...

In this episode John Payne discusses how he began his illustrious career of over 40 years within the industry, starting at Davies Turner in Battersea, London at the tender age of 18 . John has worked in a variety of roles within several organisations during his time within the industry, including Britannia Movers International , AGS , Anglo Pacific and more recently EuroGroup . Today John has star...

In this episode Rachel Houghton , Managing Director of Business Moves Group discusses how she began her career in the industry joining BMG in 1998 as the telesales girl in the Birmingham branch. Business Moves Group (BMG) not only move businesses they also do the technical distribution, consisting of; installing and decommissioning ATM machines, installing medical equipment into hospitals and gami...

In this episode Damien Pahulu of Frontier Packers discusses how he began in the industry after relocating from New Zealand to Australia in 1999 , starting as an offsider ( porter ), and then a driver and now is a contractor for a large moving company in Brisbane , Australia . As a contractor Damien is purely operations based and does international, domestic and government moves, where he and his t...

In this special episode of Moving Matters we have 18 funny moving stories to re-share from the early episodes of the Podcast. Featuring in this episode are; Nigel Shaw of Specialised Movers Anthony Groves of D.C. Groves & Son Geoff Archer of P.W. Archer & Son Paul Bullock of PHS Teacrate Ian Studd Director General of BAR Ian Palmer of White & Co PLC Greg Wildman of Basil Fry & Co T...

In this episode Alan Bennett , Director of Britannia Bennetts of Malvern discusses how he began in the industry some 40 years ago at the tender age of 16 , for Ernest Batty Ltd ( a 5 vehicle BAR member ) where he remained until the company went into liquidation in 1985 . We discover that Bennetts of Malvern Limited ( prior to Britannia Bennetts of Malvern ) started on 27th March, 1987 and today is...

In this episode Warren Leggett , Director of Warren’s Removals & Storage discusses how he began in the industry only 7 years ago, in 2014 to be precise, working at the weekends and hiring vans due to not owning his own. But at the end of 2015 Warren made the leap to go alone and leave his secure full-time employment ( as a medical supplies delivery driver ). We discover that today Warren’s Rem...

In this episode Chris Magee , Managing Director of CrissCross Removals & Storage of Belfast discusses how he began as a man and van 5 years ago ( buying and selling furniture from Gumtree and Facebook ), before branching into Removals & Storage in mid-2019, citing that he wanted to compete on service rather than just price. We discover that today CrissCross Removals & Storage primarily...

In this episode Paul Tracey , Managing Director of Squab Removals & Storage discusses how he began in the industry some 29 years ago, as a trainee manager for Pickfords , and at the time thinking he was joining a travel company! We discover that the Pickfords management training scheme was a 3-year program and you learned everything to do with removals, from sweeping the yard, making the tea,...

In this episode Miranda Hyder , General Manager of BAR Services discusses how she started working within the industry for BAR Services some 34 years ago, part time for Tony Allen to begin with before progressing to full time around 1994 . We discover that BAR Services is a trading arm of BAR ( British Association of Removers ) and was setup in 1977 to be a bulk purchasing organisation after a succ...

In this episode Mike Andrews , Managing Director of Britannia Bradshaw International Removals & Storage discusses how he began in the industry in 1995 after leaving university where his friend James invited him down to London for a few weeks to do some portering for Britannia Leatherbarrows which consequently led to David Trenchard offering Mike management training. We discover that Britannia...

In this episode, John Burridge , Managing Director of Richardson Moving and Storage discusses how he started in the industry 41 years ago with the same business. We discover that Richardson Moving and Storage was bought by John’s father who started in the industry as a clerk at Pickfords in Newcastle . In 1963 John’s father ( together with his brother Morris ) brought a bankrupt company called Ric...

In this episode, Ed Davis , Director of Davis & Mac discusses how he became involved in the industry after helping an old friend who ran a successful hourly rated man and van business but was snowed under with work. It was suggested to Ed that he get a van to take on the excess work, so after pitching the idea to Dan Mac ( who Ed had previously worked with in a recording studio ) and the indus...

In this episode Georgina Berry of Richard Healey Removals discusses that after finishing her financial services exams where she was to become a financial advisor, she joined the family business on a temporary 6 months basis – that was in 1999 and she is still there to this very day! We discover that Richard Healey Removals was started by her father ( Richard ) in 1965 , who was a painter and decor...

In this episode Mason Heasley , Managing Director of Extra Mile Movers discusses how he started in the industry at the tender age of 18 , which was only 4 years ago, after discovering his friends were earning more money than he was as a window fitter at the time, so he joined a local removal company and his passion for the industry just grew from there. We discover that during that time Mason lost...

In this episode Paul Fox , Managing Director of Fox Group (Moving & Storage) Ltd discusses that his father Roy ( formerly a Pickfords man ) started the company in 1971 ( and this year celebrate their 50th year anniversary ) when he had an opportunity to purchase a small valley’s company. We discover that after 8/9 years Paul’s father had built the company into Fox The Mover building a couple o...

In this episode David Trenchard , Chairman of Britannia Leatherbarrows discusses that he may have been born in a tea chest in 1946 ! David joined the Trenchard’s family business when he was 16 , which was started by his grandfather. We discover that today’s company is Leatherbarrows ( Britannia Leatherbarrows to be exact ), which David and wife Diane bought from Aubrey Appleton in 1981 and was bas...

In this episode Mark Chudley , Director of Chudley Moving & Shipping discusses how he started in the industry some 44 years ago ( 1977 ), when he met a girl at 17 whose father was Derek Blatchford of Blatchpack of Exeter . We discover that after 18 months full time in Exeter, Mark was sent to Stockport for 4 weeks to manage John Bradshaw , which was jointly owned by Derek Blatchford and Burt W...

In this episode Mark Ratcliffe , Director of Mark Ratcliffe Moving and Self Store discusses how he started in the industry after relocating from Nelson , Lancashire to Eastbourne , East Sussex in 1982 , where after collecting scrap metal and clearing rubbish in an old truck he saw an advert in the local newspaper and got a job as a removal man at Edwins of Eastbourne , where he learnt his craft, f...

In this episode Richard Webster , Director of Tonks Removals , discusses how he became involved in the industry some 30 years ago, as a porter on the trucks straight after leaving school at the tender age of 15 ! We discover that Tonks Removals was formed by the Tonks family in Scarborough back in 1820 and today celebrates its 201st year in business. Tonks Removals was put up for sale in 1995 by t...