Fleet Focus

It was only 15 years ago when Jack Tutill would plead with his father John to take a day off from high school – so he could ride along in one of the olive green Tutill Carriers trucks or spend a day working at the company yard and warehouse in Penrose.

Today, Jack and his younger brother Bryn are the fifth generation at the helm of Auckland-based A.J. Tutill & Sons Carriers. A company which could alternatively be  described as A.J. Tutill & Sons, & Grand Sons & Great Grand Sons, etc.

Multi-generation family transport companies are the fabric of Kiwi trucking. But few can trace their line as directly through 104 years and five generations as the Tutills... ... 

When a young Ron Taggart set up in business in 1953 it’s a fair bet he wouldn’t have expected the company to a) last for more than 70 years, b) have grown out of all proportion from its modest beginnings and c) all those years later still be owned and managed by his family – but that’s the case with Christchurch-based Taggart, prominent in several sectors, including civil construction, demolition and three waters.

Previously known as Taggart Earthmoving, in 2017 the company was rebranded to better reflect this wider range of competencies.

Ron wasn’t the most enthusiastic of students at Papanui Tech (now Papanui High), so when at 15-years-old he rode his mot... ... 

Start the old North of England business-related quote and Murray Robson will finish it off seamlessly: “Where there’s muck, there’s money, that’s very true. But what’s even more important, you have to work really hard to find it.”

With just a handful of months to go to rack up a half-century in the business of muck, Murray has seen highs and lows beyond number. And far from it being an automatic source of wealth, a steady golden-brown stream if you will, the muck has at times being a capricious will ‘o’ the wisp – fluctuating with changes in agricultural fashions, coming and going in response to regulatory changes, shrinking temporarily in the face of competitive ... ...