The Motor Transport awards ceremony was held this year at London's Albert hall on Thursday 11th July. This event is the transport equivalent of the Oscars and even to receive an invite is quite a feat in itself! Our Company had passed the early rounds of the competition with flying colours and we were now down to the last three.

The Haulier of the Year is the top award of the evening and is traditionally presented last, so despite enjoying the gala dinner and entertainment Iain Mitchell, Catherine Weir and Bobby Rae had a tense wait to hear the result.

Host Jeremy Clarkson announced the award and a truly delighted Iain and Catherine made their way to the stage to accept the trophy from Dr. Jurgen Knorpp boss of MAN Truck and Bus UK Ltd. Iain said..."It's fantastic, fantastic… we won because of good people - just because we've got good people who want to win, want to be the best. It's not so much about training, they are just simply good. You can have seen everything, but this award is really special".

It is a great accolade for our family firm to be recognised at UK level for our outstanding performance in the Haulage Industry and this is a great boost for all the staff and their families. We remain committed to our long-standing principles of focusing on high quality service and trust, working closely with customers and developing staff, which help to keep us at the forefront of business.

Although this is John Mitchell's first national award it is the company's third major accolade, our other prizes being "Fleet of the Year", in 1998 and "Scotland's Most Innovative Haulier" (2002) both sponsored by Scotland's premier industry magazine, Transport News.

What the Motor Transport Judges said.

• "Outstanding overall quality of operation with great customer focus. A good story of changing customers in a changing world with a very good improvement of profit".
• "A very forward-looking, well-run profitable family business".
• "Three years of challenge were exceptionally well managed".

Welcome to our Newsletter!

As those of you who have met me know, I can talk! Well the next few lines will determine whether I can write as well. We always have a lot happening at John Mitchell, but have a bad habit of not communicating this to our customers. I hope this newsletter will change that. I want to let you all know what we are up to and hopefully you will find the information useful and the 'gossip' a little respite from the challenges of the daily workload. Thank you for your support over the years and I hope we can work together for many years to come.

Iain Mitchell