I was going to say that they didnt look very aerodynamic but in your latest pic, i feel for the Bedford driver following one of your vans. Frec driving that in a high wind.
Suedehead:
I was going to say that they didnt look very aerodynamic but in your latest pic, i feel for the Bedford driver following one of your vans. Frec driving that in a high wind.
Here is another photo of the Ford showing a bit better example of the writing on ribbed aluminium
Talking of ribbed vans all the fords were ribbed bodies all the sign writing was done as you see in the pic,another lot of christie Tyler associated upholstery their vans all ribbed bodies and sign written on them
DEANB:
Been quiet on here lately ■■Pickfords,back in the day…
Credit where credit’s due Dean, you don’t half know how to wind us lot up 
Dennis Javelin:
In respect of them “only being used once” I think you could apply that to any removal company. After all how many people need to use the services of a removal company on a regular basis?
Fair point, although I would say that “word of mouth” did (does?) count for a lot when it comes to picking up new customers. I also agree that in the case of big outfits, much of the “customer experience” depends on the local depot - if you deal with a good one, it makes a lot of difference (as does dealing with a dud one).
smallcoal:
http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/download/file.php?id=316934&t=1
That is NOT something I would’ve volunteered to drive, especially over the Severn Bridge in a westerly gale.
All the best to you blokes and your families for this year. The last 12 month has been a horrible slog but if you’re healthy and sound (and still in business) things could be a lot worse.
I want to thank everyone on this thread who’s contributed to it and especially those regulars who’ve kept it going. I’m not in a position to do regular posts on TN these days, but on my infrequent and irregular visits it does please me to see this thread still on the front page. When I kicked this thread off (years ago now) I thought it might run for a few pages… here we are 97 pages and 9 years later, and it’s all down to you lot.
Be well, and thank you.
We all know what the worst tip you got off a removal (it’s a nice round figure) but what your best tip?
For reference, once upon a job in the mid-80s, the three of us got all the tea we could drink and sandwiches laid on plus a tenner… each. I could relate a contemporary tale of one of my workmates involving an Isleworth to Basingstoke job and the young lady’s bubble bath and some alcohol, but in the interests of public decency I shall merely say that he was always known thereafter as “Champagne Ray”.
ParkRoyal2100:
All the best to you blokes and your families for this year. The last 12 month has been a horrible slog but if you’re healthy and sound (and still in business) things could be a lot worse.I want to thank everyone on this thread who’s contributed to it and especially those regulars who’ve kept it going. I’m not in a position to do regular posts on TN these days, but on my infrequent and irregular visits it does please me to see this thread still on the front page. When I kicked this thread off (years ago now) I thought it might run for a few pages… here we are 97 pages and 9 years later, and it’s all down to you lot.
Be well, and thank you.
Not too regular on here ParkRoyal2100, collect a few when looking at other stuff(flickr in tray) and having served an apprenticeship with a house furnisher(early '50s) did quite a few flittings with a ‘30s Bedford luton van, so a passing interest looking in now and again. Money tips 
, unheard of in rural Aberdeenshire and beyond tho’ got fed a few times.
A fine looking outfit from Salisbury snapped in Europe somewhere all credit to Peter Schöler.
Oily
oiltreader:
…having served an apprenticeship with a house furnisher(early '50s) did quite a few flittings with a '30s Bedford luton van, so a passing interest looking in now and again.
It’s funny how you get involved in the removals game. I started much later than you (1979) with an antiques shipping/ moving company which also did a lot of business refurbing Victorian bow-front chests-of-drawers. We used to ship 40’ containers of (mostly Victorian) furniture to the US from a depot in (wait for it)… Somerton (Somerset) - these days the contents of that 40’ container would be worth hundreds of thousands if not more. Then again, we’d do pick-ups at auction houses of glorious pieces like 12’ yew-wood refectory tables and walnut burr inlaid occasional tables and grandfather and grandmother clocks and…
I’m sure you (and many others here) remember BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. My favourite parts were always about furniture - walnut burr, oak-lined drawers, gate-leg tables, bureaus, marquetry, knowing what a claw-foot meant…
ParkRoyal2100:
Dennis Javelin:
In respect of them “only being used once” I think you could apply that to any removal company. After all how many people need to use the services of a removal company on a regular basis?Fair point, although I would say that “word of mouth” did (does?) count for a lot when it comes to picking up new customers. I also agree that in the case of big outfits, much of the “customer experience” depends on the local depot - if you deal with a good one, it makes a lot of difference (as does dealing with a dud one).
I would agree that “word of mouth” can play a big part in any decision that you make. In respect of removals - in my experience - Pickfords would be used by people re-locating a fair distance. Local companies did not want this business so tended to price themselves out of the job. Most times when the van is being loaded the customer is out of the way so doesn’t see what is going on. However, when you get to the delivery point they (the customer) are standing over you watching every move (normally under the guise of waiting for a particular box to be unloaded). Big firms like Pickfords would not send any porters with the driver and would get them from the local branch. Again, from my experience, the branch would not normally have a lot of spare staff sitting around so the would cross hire porters from smaller local firms. In my opinion familiarity is crucial with staff. A removal carried out in full by the same driver and porter(s) will always be better done than one that has required “strange” staff to work together. Customers would pick up on this and this is the memory they would have of the move. They weren’t particularly interested in the collection as they would be desperate to get to their new abode. That changes when you get to the re-delivery - and that is what customers will remember, whether it was good or bad. It’s the old maxim that 1 bad review is worse than 99 good ones.
Another thing I would mention is that a lot of the moves we carried out were paid for by a company rather than the household. How many people chanced their arm claiming all sorts of problems to try and get a bit of compensation - which of course would be paid direct to them. We had a claim from a woman who had moved up to Scotland from the south-east and had put in a claim for all sorts of damages. Normally this would be paid out without too much hassle but we decided to challenge her on this and I went to visit her even though she was a considerable distance away involving a trip by ferry. I can only guess that she thought that no-one would make the effort to visit. Every one of her supposed damages turned out to be false and I wanted to have her prosecuted but this was over-ruled by the powers that be. God only knows how much we must have paid out over the years in spurious claims.
Dennis Javelin:
ParkRoyal2100:
Dennis Javelin:
In respect of them “only being used once” I think you could apply that to any removal company. After all how many people need to use the services of a removal company on a regular basis?Fair point, although I would say that “word of mouth” did (does?) count for a lot when it comes to picking up new customers. I also agree that in the case of big outfits, much of the “customer experience” depends on the local depot - if you deal with a good one, it makes a lot of difference (as does dealing with a dud one).
I would agree that “word of mouth” can play a big part in any decision that you make. In respect of removals - in my experience - Pickfords would be used by people re-locating a fair distance. Local companies did not want this business so tended to price themselves out of the job. Most times when the van is being loaded the customer is out of the way so doesn’t see what is going on. However, when you get to the delivery point they (the customer) are standing over you watching every move (normally under the guise of waiting for a particular box to be unloaded). Big firms like Pickfords would not send any porters with the driver and would get them from the local branch. Again, from my experience, the branch would not normally have a lot of spare staff sitting around so they would cross hire porters from smaller local firms. Now, in my opinion, familiarity is crucial with staff. A removal carried out in full by the same driver and porter(s) will always be better done than one that has required “strange” staff to work together. Customers would pick up on this and this is the memory they would have of the move. They weren’t particularly interested in the collection as they would be desperate to get to their new abode. That changes when you get to the re-delivery - and that is what customers will remember, whether it was good or bad. It’s the old maxim that 1 bad review is worse than 99 good ones.
Another thing I would mention is that a lot of the moves we carried out were paid for by a company rather than the household. How many people chanced their arm claiming all sorts of problems to try and get a bit of compensation - which of course would be paid direct to them. We had a claim from a woman who had moved up to Scotland from the south-east and had put in a claim for all sorts of damages. Normally this would be paid out without too much hassle but we decided to challenge her on this and I went to visit her even though she was a considerable distance away involving a trip by ferry. I can only guess that she thought that no-one would make the effort to visit. Every one of her supposed damages turned out to be false and I wanted to have her prosecuted but this was over-ruled by the powers that be. God only knows how much we must have paid out over the years in spurious claims.
Dennis Javelin:
Dennis Javelin:
ParkRoyal2100:
Dennis Javelin:
In respect of them “only being used once” I think you could apply that to any removal company. After all how many people need to use the services of a removal company on a regular basis?Fair point, although I would say that “word of mouth” did (does?) count for a lot when it comes to picking up new customers. I also agree that in the case of big outfits, much of the “customer experience” depends on the local depot - if you deal with a good one, it makes a lot of difference (as does dealing with a dud one).
I would agree that “word of mouth” can play a big part in any decision that you make. In respect of removals - in my experience - Pickfords would be used by people re-locating a fair distance. Local companies did not want this business so tended to price themselves out of the job. Most times when the van is being loaded the customer is out of the way so doesn’t see what is going on. However, when you get to the delivery point they (the customer) are standing over you watching every move (normally under the guise of waiting for a particular box to be unloaded). Big firms like Pickfords would not send any porters with the driver and would get them from the local branch. Again, from my experience, the branch would not normally have a lot of spare staff sitting around so they would cross hire porters from smaller local firms. Now, in my opinion, familiarity is crucial with staff. A removal carried out in full by the same driver and porter(s) will always be better done than one that has required “strange” staff to work together. Customers would pick up on this and this is the memory they would have of the move. They weren’t particularly interested in the collection as they would be desperate to get to their new abode. That changes when you get to the re-delivery - and that is what customers will remember, whether it was good or bad. It’s the old maxim that 1 bad review is worse than 99 good ones.
Another thing I would mention is that a lot of the moves we carried out were paid for by a company rather than the household. How many people chanced their arm claiming all sorts of problems to try and get a bit of compensation - which of course would be paid direct to them. We had a claim from a woman who had moved up to Scotland from the south-east and had put in a claim for all sorts of damages. Normally this would be paid out without too much hassle but we decided to challenge her on this and I went to visit her even though she was a considerable distance away involving a trip by ferry. I can only guess that she thought that no-one would make the effort to visit. Every one of her supposed damages turned out to be false and I wanted to have her prosecuted but this was over-ruled by the powers that be. God only knows how much we must have paid out over the years in spurious claims.
Jeesus it take me enough time to do one post without repeating myself!!
ParkRoyal2100:
oiltreader:
…having served an apprenticeship with a house furnisher(early '50s) did quite a few flittings with a '30s Bedford luton van, so a passing interest looking in now and again.It’s funny how you get involved in the removals game. I started much later than you (1979) with an antiques shipping/ moving company which also did a lot of business refurbing Victorian bow-front chests-of-drawers. We used to ship 40’ containers of (mostly Victorian) furniture to the US from a depot in (wait for it)… Somerton (Somerset) - these days the contents of that 40’ container would be worth hundreds of thousands if not more. Then again, we’d do pick-ups at auction houses of glorious pieces like 12’ yew-wood refectory tables and walnut burr inlaid occasional tables and grandfather and grandmother clocks and…
I’m sure you (and many others here) remember BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. My favourite parts were always about furniture - walnut burr, oak-lined drawers, gate-leg tables, bureaus, marquetry, knowing what a claw-foot meant…
Your talk about antiques reminds me of a job that we did for a (at the time) famous actor who had contacted us asking if we could ship “a couple of items” overseas for him. I used to help out with the estimating from time to time so I went to call on him to see what needed to be done. He wasn’t there but his father was - an imposing figure who was extremely wealthy in his own right - and he was a right old gentleman. He explained that some things were to go to Los Angeles and some other things to Monaco. The “couple of items” required 2 x 20" containers!! Beautiful huge paintings worth very little and small non-descript ones worth tens of £000’s - the art world is a strange business indeed.
read://https_smithandwilliamson.com/?ur … MoVP1ZwM2s
Bishops Move (in administration)
Emma Thompson, Adam Stephens and Finbarr O’Connell, all of Smith & Williamson LLP, were appointed Joint Administrators (the “Administrators”) of the following companies on 17th August 2020: -
Bishop & Sons’ Depositories Limited
Bishop’s Move (Chichester) Limited
Bishop’s Move (Edinburgh) Limited
Bishop’s Move Limited
Blatchpack Limited
(together the “Companies”)
Hi park royal,I have met and made new friends on this site as an ex removals man started at 15 years old mitching off school I enjoyed the furniture work ,I used to get £7 each removal of the boss everyone at w Jones were like family ,it’s nice this thread is still strong with the regular contributions,them vans we had were quite sturdy in the wind never had one go over cheers john
Hi Steve ,looking good mate nice pics you busy mate