A Lasting Tribute

It takes dedication, hard work and expertise to stay in business for 40 years, but pallet firm Motward Pallets has also had to overcome tragedy to remain at the top of its game. Its brand-new flagship Volvo marks the firm’s anniversary with a touching nod to its founding members 

- Chris Tindall

For a company reaching its fifth decade in business, celebrations are naturally the order of the day. But in the case of Huntingdon based Motward Pallets, its landmark 40th anniversary was tempered by the tragic loss of their much-loved boss.

MD Jason Tolhurst was by all accounts the type of owner you’d hope to meet in all businesses. Hardworking, hands-on and unafraid to roll up his sleeves and tackle any job, his death from cancer in 2017 was a huge shock that still reverberates around the company.

Andrew Armiger, Motward’s transport manager, sums up what his friend of 26 years and boss meant to him, his family and employees: “He just understood everything. What he didn’t know about a pallet wasn’t worth knowing. I have been here 15 years and I still don’t know half of what he knew about pallets. He led by example, if there was something that needed doing, he would go and do it.”

Motward started life in Chelmsford in 1977. Jason’s dad Ken, who was an HGV driver for a packaging company in Essex, used to repair the firm’s pallets in his spare time and eventually he saw an opportunity to strike out in business on his own.

He was soon joined by his father, Charlie, and the two partners steadily grew their fledgling operation, with the next generation of Tolhursts – Jason and his wife Debbie, who is now the company MD – joining later.

Motward’s work centres exclusively on the humble pallet. It buys, sells, repairs and breaks down the wooden crates that so many of our goods sit on in transit every single day.