Ede’s (UK) Ltd from Morden in Surrey has won the BAR’s Commercial Mover of the Year Award for a remarkable seventh time.

The award was presented by sponsor Pluscrates, BAR President Tony Tickner and guest presenter Marcus Brigstocke at the BAR conference in May.

Bill Tiernan from Ede’s said that the best part of the win was that it demonstrates the quality of the company’s service.  “We deliver service at the highest level we can and winning seven times demonstrates our consistency in achieving this,” he said. “Most of our business comes from repeat customers and recommendations and this is one way in which our customers can recognise the quality of what we do.”

Ede’s regularly beats off larger competitors to win. How does it do that?  “We have to thank the teams on the ground,” said Bill.  “You can have all the Standards, they look fantastic, but unless the guys on the ground are delivering the service, Standards mean nothing.” He said that the staff all buy into quality service and the crews help to design the vehicles and they choose their own uniforms.  The crews will also, of course, be involved in the celebrations too.

But most importantly the crews are empowered to make their own decisions on the job.  “This smooths the whole process so they don’t have to constantly ask for approval from down the line.  It makes it much easier for them and provides a better service for the customers.”

Bill said that entering CMotY is simple.  It just requires an entrant to provide six customers as referees who need to agree to a 20-minute phone conversation with a judge.  He said that the process was easy but he had one piece of sage advice that might ring bells from schooldays for many. “You have to read the question, and answer it,” he said.

Photo:  back Row, Nick Flaxman and John Mitchell from Pluscrates; front row, Margaret and Bill Tiernan.