headquarters london united kingdom website www.pickfords.co.uk volvo fl614 in ealing london . pickfords is a moving company based in the united kingdom part of pickfords move management ltd. the business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century making it one of the uk s oldest functioning companies although the similar shore porters society was founded earlier . the earliest record is of a william pickford a carrier who worked south of manchester in 1630 . in 1646 a north country yeoman by the name of thomas pickford had his lands confiscated by parliament for gun running and supporting the cavaliers during the english civil war . 1 today pickfords has branches throughout the uk and ireland . the company provides a complete portfolio of services to consumers and businesses including moving within the uk moving to europe and further overseas business moving transition and project management employee moving services small moves and packing materials . pickfords removals south africa operates independently from pickfords uk with branches located in the cities of bloemfontein cape town durban johannesburg port elizabeth and pretoria . 2 additional sales offices are based throughout the country . both pickfords uk and pickfords south africa form part of the allied international moving network . contents 1 corporate history 1.1 nationalisation 1.2 privatisation 2 management 3 references 4 bibliography 5 external links corporate history edit a 1947 pantechnicon van the pickfords family of adlington south of manchester and later of nearby poynton first entered the wagon trade in the 17th century . at first they were engaged in supplying quarry stone by packhorse for the construction of turnpike roads ; instead of the packhorses returning with empty loads they carried goods for third parties . 1 in 1756 the company relocated to london and in 1776 it invented the fly wagon which could travel from london to manchester in the then fast speed of four and a half days . a year later it bought the carrier business of william bass a staffordshire haulier who carried ale for a local brewer . with the funds he went on to form bass brewery which still exists today . 1 in 1779 it entered the canal industry as well from which it withdrew in 1850 . in the 19th century it operated wagons on other companies railways but this was contentious and eventually this service was eliminated . in 1816 the company was close to bankruptcy after many years of decline . the pickford family sold out to a number of businessmen led by joseph baxendale whose family become instrumental in running the company for over a century . 1 for being late in delivering a miller s iron shaft pickford s was involved in the famous english contract law case hadley v. baxendale 1848 where the court held the company was not liable for unforeseeable losses resulting from pickford s lateness . in the 20th century the company switched to road haulage . during this time it formed a rivalry with fellow hauliers carter paterson with whom amongst others they merged in 1912 although both kept their separate names . nationalisation edit in 1920 the company was sold again to hays wharf limited on the back of a burgeoning post world war i home removals business . pickfords still continued to operate under that name . in turn hays wharf was taken over by the four main british railway companies in 1934 and was subsequently nationalised in 1947 as part of british road services 3 and what would become the national freight corporation nfc in 1969 . 1 in 1942 the heavy haulage division moved mulberry harbour sections temporary harbour to sea launchings prior to them being towed across the english channel for the normandy landings . a pickfords ballast tractor at the great dorset steam fair as part of the nfc pickfords was involved in a wide range of haulage activities including heavy haulage moving oversize loads from the 1950s to the 1980s . the company absorbed several well known haulage companies during this period but then withdrew from the sector . a number of former pickfords vehicles have been preserved and can be seen at events demonstrating moving outsize loads along with the earlier steam tractors . privatisation edit the national freight consortium as it was subsequently renamed 4 was privatised via a sale to employees in 1982 . in 1996 the nfc sold pickfords to the american company allied van lines in a deal worth 400 million 5 in 2002 the parent company was renamed becoming allied . 1 in 2009 allied pickfords the international arm of pickfords became pickfords . the company continues to operate as part of the allied international network which has 600 offices in over 45 countries . 6 in 2012 the uk arm of the company entered a pre packaged insolvency before being bought by two of its directors . 7 8 this deal secured employment for the company s 900 staff members . management edit kevin pickford an australian who traced his ancestors back to 1750 in the same parish as the pickford family became managing director of pickfords in 2002 . in 2010 kevin pickford returned to australia continuing to work with the group . russell start became managing director of the pickfords operating company moving services group uk ltd having previously worked for pickfords for many years as a senior manager . as part of its approach to corporate responsibility pickfords announced a fundraising partnership with the nspcc in 2010 . 9 references edit a b c d e f the history of pickfords . pickfords . retrieved 19 october 2011 . our branches . pickfords removals . pickfords removals south africa . retrieved 20 june 2014 . gordon mustoe brs parcels services and the express carriers . nynehead books.co.uk . 1 january 1955 . retrieved 10 august 2011 . railway road haulage services . railwaybritain.co.uk . retrieved 10 august 2011 . gribben roland 15 september 1999 . pickfords moves to us control . daily telegraph . london . archived from the original on 23 september 2004 . retrieved 19 october 2011 . our international moving network . pickfords . retrieved 20 december 2012 . jamie grierson 3 december 2012 . pickfords removal firm out of administration . the independent . retrieved 20 december 2012 . pensions regulator to scrutinise pickfords pension deal . bbc news . 5 december 2012 . retrieved 20 december 2012 . nspcc . pickfords . retrieved 19 october 2011 . bibliography edit poynton a coal mining village . chapter 8 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pickfords & oldid 738075074 categories removal companies of the united kingdomformer nationalised industries of the united kingdomtransport companies of australia17th century establishments in englandhidden categories use dmy dates from september 2014use british english from march 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more 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