TJ Cooper Transport bought for access to pallet postcodes
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By Chris Tindall THE NEW owner of TJ Cooper Transport says it snapped up the Derbyshire haulage irm so that it could get into a pallet network.
Green Group director and ex-Innovate Logistics boss Pete Osborne says he was on the verge of signing with Pall-Ex when administrators contacted him and asked whether the group was interested in buying LTK Pallets member TJ Cooper in a pre-pack deal.
Osborne was responding to criticism by Cooper creditor Matt Redfern about the way in which the business was acquired, as well as his concern that he stands to lose £15,000 (CM 19 July).
Osborne insists the irm’s two directors, Tim and Louise Cooper, “ran an excellent company for 12 years, but they were up against it with fuel; it was 3ppl dearer than we were paying” . He adds: “£15,000 is a lot of money for a one-man band; I appreciate that. But everybody who has heard of Tim and Louise Cooper has nothing but praise for the way they conducted their business and the way they tried [hard] for so long.” Osborne says The Green Group, which is involved in logistics, property development and commodities trading, is also a creditor and is owed around £4,000.
He says: “We felt it was easier to plug into a company already established in a pallet network and that was it. For us it’s the Shefield postcode, which is close to where our operation is.
“We can offer our customers a full range of services. There are 40 vehicles between the two companies and 80% of them are for full loads and the rest is palletised. For our customers, it’s good to be able to offer both services.
“It was a good thing for us that it landed. I was not going to miss that opportunity.” The company has now been named GRP Pallet Network.