Talking to my mate the other day and the topic of Wilkinsons / Canute came up.
Some people say Wilkinsons own Canute and some say Canute own Wilkinsons?
Know that Wikinsons work is done by Canute and down in Magor Canutes workshops are in Wilkinsons yard.
I used to work for Wilkos (not as a driver). Wilkos do not own Canute. Canute is there main contractor for all there transport needs. Canute couldnt afford to own a big company like wilkos! It used to be done by Frank Stokes and they were bought out by Canute. When it was busy at xmas they used to pull the Canute brick boys off to do shopwork which they didnt seem to chuffed about!
Barbabra Wilkinson one of the directors at Wilkos lives near Newark the gu who owns Canute lives in Australia by the beach.
I wonder which one is making more money 
.
She isnt short of a bob or two believe me! When she used to open new stores she thought she was royalty. Turned up in a chauffer driven merc, walked round the store with her dogs with people clearing the ■■■■■■■ up behind her! she even refused to open the Blackpool store as it was ‘to common’ for her!
scaniav8power:
Canute couldnt afford to own a big company like wilkos!
Not challenging this because I have no idea what Wilkinsons is worth, or how sound Canute Group is financially. 
But I was surprised to learn recently what a large concern Canute has become.
Commercial Motor were making comparisons with them against the likes of DHL, Wincanton, TDG, K+N etc. I hadn’t realised Canute were as large as that. 
Seems that a big part of why they are doing so well is because they have operations in lots of different areas that aren’t at all similar.
scaniav8power:
she even refused to open the Blackpool store as it was ‘to common’ for her!
dont blame her… it would be too common for me to do as well. 
bloody place.
I`ve been working on agency for canutes at wilkos for several months, and tuesday I was asked by the agy what my plans are till the end of june, as canutes @wilkos are looking to pre-book me in advance, due to the increase/changes in delivery scedules (inc saturdays)
it seems Wilkos are wanting 100+ store deliverys and changes to the shift patterns that canute drivers work
as previously stated;
canutes don`t own wilkos and vice versa
canutes are a big company with fingers in many pies (Worksop, magor, brick & block, REE`s and several other companies)
I understand that the ownership of wilkos is ring fenced, to ensure that ONLY members of the wilkinson family can own the company, thus ensuring that subsiquent generations of the wilkinson family are well provided for
Pierre, do you still have to backhaul loads from suppliers after you have finished delivering at stores? I know they used to do that. Saturday deliveries now hey. Hows that gone down?
Canute also do alot for Sinclair Horticulture in Lincoln, J Arthor Bowers garden stuff etc. These many a truck and even more trailers in there daily,
scaniav8power:
Pierre, do you still have to backhaul loads from suppliers after you have finished delivering at stores?
yup mainly the same old ones…plus a few new ones too.
but I don`t remeber the last 1 I did
scaniav8power:
Saturday deliveries now hey. Hows that gone down?
dunno… they have introd a new rotating 4 shift pattern to try and cope with the changes, but as an outsider, on the initial inspection the deal looks good, and many of the drivers (1/2 - 2/3) have volentired (?) for it, BUT imho, reading between the linesit aint brillient, thats why I`ve been asked to work the past few weekends.
Im sorry, but I dont wish to be rude.
but I don`t wanna cut my own throat, and bite the hand thats feeding me atm, so to speak… any other questions please PM me I try to answer em