Expect are very much going to miss Phil, a HGV Class 2 driver who has been with the company for over 20 years. Having decided to retire early and take himself to Spain, Phil is definitely going to be missed by everyone at Expect.

Andy Taylor, Operations Director at Expect commented on Phil’s early retirement. “I would like to thank Phil for the fantastic service he has given to Expect Distribution during his time here. Phil always approached the challenges of the job with a smile on his face, laugh and joking with not only the team here but with our customers who greatly appreciated this. Phil has been a dedicated mentor for new Drivers for many years, showing them the ropes and the Expect way of doing things.”

We wish Phil a long and happy retirement and the door will always be open for Phil to pop in and see his Expect family during his retirement.

Phil said at his send off last Friday “I had a really good send off last week. My time with Expect was brilliant, I really enjoyed my time with the company, the drivers were my friends and we had worked together for nearly 20 years, it was like one big family to me. It was unfortunate I had to retire early due to ill health, I would have happily stayed with Expect to my final retirement. I want to thank all at Expect for making me feel so welcome. Everyone is fantastic and I am going to miss them deeply. I want to thank not only Expect as a whole but Bob and Neil who made me feel very welcome at Expect throughout my whole career with them.”

“Everyone always said, my blood is blue, Expect blue.” Phil McCourt

In March 2022, nearly 10 students from the University of Huddersfield visited Expect Distribution for a presentation on current processes including health & safety within a logistics/distribution environment . The students then had an extensive tour at one of our warehouse sites here in Bradford.

The students, who are all in their third year of study, were interested in learning of the technical aspects of logistics managing from contracts to warehouse management and storage.

Gokcay Balci, Senior Lecturer within the Department of Logistics, Marketing, Hospitality and Analytics said “The trip to Expect Distribution in Bradford was a really exciting opportunity for the students. Not only have they the opportunity to visit and learn about a local employer, where many of the pupils aspire to gain placements or jobs in the future, but they saw how contract logistics works as a whole as well as learning about the stringent health and safety protocols implemented in a distribution warehouse environment which links to aspects of their Logistics and Supply Chain courses. We are delighted that such strong links continue to exist between the University and local businesses; whilst we at the University of Huddersfield educate pupils and prepare them for the world of work, Expect Distribution provide a very real incentive and a longer-term objective for the students as they look at their lives beyond University.”

Robert Cafferky, Head of Contract Logistics, Expect Distribution said “We are glad to be able to work together with the University students and have an opportunity to share our expertise and industry insight across a range of topics. As a NOVUS sponsor and with a close relationship with University of Huddersfield, we are passionate about supporting the next generation of talent throughout their academic journey and into professional careers within the industry. We look forward to many more site visits and presentations with the aspiring next generation in the near future.”

Expect Distribution are dedicated to environmental responsibility and the impact we have on our planet. We are proud to have received our Social and Environmental Impact Certificate from Leeds Wood Recycling.

Leeds Wood Recycling CIC is a social enterprise, collecting and reusing waste wood in the most environmentally beneficial way and creating jobs and training for disadvantaged people.

The timber Expect recycled this year contributed to the 6024 yd3 of wood, and 4244.2 tonnes of CO2 that LWR diverted from landfill as well as creating 16 paid jobs, 30 volunteers trained and add up to a total of just over 4000 volunteer hours.

By engaging with our local community, we are actively raising awareness to the right skills needed to work in a business.

At Expect, creating partnerships with local education is key.  It’s a proactive step in the right direction to equipping our future employees with the right skills.

By providing career exploration, individual career presentations and career guidance, we have seen a positive shift to students wanting to work within logistics and distribution.

Expect were delighted to have the opportunity to work together with Beckfoot School in Bingley.
Three of the team at Expect went along to the school and presented to Post 16 students considering their next move into a career.

Sophie Metcalf, Head of HR, James Fairhurst, Palletline & Partner Manager and Gemma Lennon Sales & Marketing Manager visited Beckfoot School in Bingley to present to Post 16 students interested in HR, Marketing or  warehousing. They each provided an insight into their career path as well as an overview of the logistics industry.

By giving career guidance, we know this gives students the knowledge, information, skills, and experience necessary to identify career options, and narrow them down to make one career decision. It’s an extremely stressful time choosing a career path and having businesses talk directly to students will help them make their decision.

By advising students, a career decision is less scary, resulting in their social, financial and emotional well-being throughout.

As a business, we see value in supporting education by sharing our stories, industry overview and paths.

We look forward to continuing with our work and engagement in education.

“I just wanted to pass on my thanks to all involved for the career assembly event. The feedback from the staff who were there and the young people has been fantastic and I’m told that several of the young people have said that they now have a better understanding as to a path of career they wish to follow.”

Lauren Bannon, Assistant Faculty Leader Post 16, Beckfoot School

Here at Expect, we are excited to continue to share news of works happening at our site at Gratton Listerhills Warehouse, Bradford.

Currently, construction is in progress to uplift the 20 meters tall racking and move it by 250mm.This is a necessity to make way for our new wire guided VNA forklifts to move freely down each of these aisles safely.
As well as these works, we have contractors in levelling and preparing concrete flooring in readiness for forklift movements. It’s a lengthy process however a necessity to ensure complete smooth flooring for free flow our our forklifts having to work at height as well as safety when handling pallets.

We are also on with installing an extensive electric charging area for the forklifts which will included the latest Lithium batteries.

What makes it really special is it will hold nearly 20,000 pallets and will be one of the tallest palleted warehouse in Europe.

The whole project is being managed by our Mark Rudd, Project Manager with completion aimed for Spring this year.

If you have storage requirements, get in touch with us to discuss your requirements sales@expectdistribution.com.

Throughout the year, Expect issue awards/recognition vouchers to our employees voted by their colleagues and the Senior team.

Employee appreciation is a fundamental human need. When employees feel appreciated and recognised for their individual contributions they will be more connected to their work, their team, and a company as a whole.

We’re all familiar with the benefits of employee recognition. At Expect we know when employees feel valued, they’re more engaged, motivated, and likely to go the extra mile for the company.

We recently held our annual Employee Awards and it was a delight all round to be able to give recognition to those who keep our business great.

We wanted to share our thanks to the Expect team for doing what they do and doing it so wonderfully well.

Congratulations to our team!

Andy Dean
Ruth Curtis-Gregory
Amelia Williams
Richard Robson
Charlie Sutcliffe
Sophie Metcalf MCIPD, FLPI
Joanne Binns
Kieran Clarke
Stuart McDonald
Steve Hunt
Mick Dillon
Gemma Newman
James Davies
James Fairhurst

In a move which ensures business continuation, the majority shareholding of Expect Distribution has been sold by Robert and Neil Rushworth who founded the company 34 years ago.

The highly successful transport and warehousing provider has been acquired by two established board members Andy Taylor, Operations Director and Matthew Kilner, Financial Director who start 2022 at the helm with Neil Rushworth remaining as the Managing Director in the short term who will also retain a minority shareholding of the company.

New joint owners Andy Taylor and Matt Kilner, joined Expect Distribution in 2015 and 2019 respectively and have been instrumental in the outstanding growth and profitability of the business which was established in 1988 by the Company Chairman Robert Rushworth and which has since expanded from 2 vehicles at the time to a fleet of 140 vehicles and a turnover of £40m in 2021 with 3 warehousing sites in West Yorkshire, capable of storing 70,000 pallets.

Discussions Developed Quickly

Neil Rushworth explained that discussions about a possible MBO only started early in 2021.

“The board held a strategy meeting in Q1 and Andy and Matthew expressed some interest in continuing the Expect success story through an MBO and things developed pretty quickly from there.

Over many years we have created a highly-respected business and despite having external suitors who were interested in buying Expect we found it difficult to imagine any parties who would understand and run the company with the same ethics and unique formula that we have created over the time that the family has owned it.

This is a business at the top of its game, and we are widely recognised for high levels of quality service and we are confident that Andy and Matthew will continue to lead Expect in a manner which is familiar to both our employees and our customers.”

Some of the company’s clients include FMCG providers – Boost Drinks , Astonish, national retail chain Card Factory as well as customers in various sectors such as Construction, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive and Office Furniture upon which Andy Taylor commented;

“From the nationally recognised Card Factory to some of the UK’s well known FMCG companies, Expect Distribution has some exceptional partnerships with our clients with a focus on value added service.

“As we approach 35 years in business, achieving a turnover of nearly £40m and employing over 360 employees as well as winning Haulier of the Year three times with the Motor Transport Awards, the only UK haulier to win the award in two consecutive years, we’re as efficient and innovative as any competitor, with the in-depth industry knowledge and expertise that our clients need and appreciate.”

Matthew Kilner added: “We would both personally like to thank Neil and Bob and their vision and dedication which has created the business we have today. Regarding the company’s expansion and growth plans, we couldn’t be more excited to be working with our team to achieve and execute the company’s growth plans going forward and we intend to continue that organic growth which will see Expect grow by a projected 15-20% in 2022.

“The transport industry and specifically recruitment will remain a challenge in the coming year but the strength of Expect is within its diversity and we have some big plans underway to expand our warehousing facilities which will provide an additional 16,000 pallet spaces in March this year.

“We are proud to be taking Expect Distribution into a new era and we are committed to continuing this great success story.”

The acquisition process was successfully backed by funders Shawbrook Bank in the deal which was for an undisclosed figure. Legal advice was provided by  Leeds based Clarion.

Expect Distribution are happy to announce their chosen charity partnership for 2022 is Andys Man Club.

On average one man every 2 hours takes his life in the UK. It’s often said a factor is that men don’t talk. That is why we were born to break down these stigmas, support men struggling with Mental Health issues and lend a hand to suicide prevention.

At ANDYSMANCLUB you don’t have to be suicidal or have a mental health problem, they just want to get men talking.

We will be working closely with the Bradford team and the charity in general, raising money and awareness with events and fundraisers throughout the company.

We look forwards to seeing where our year supporting Andys Man Club takes us in 2022!

For further information on the charity, or to donate, please follow the below link:

Andys Man Club | #ITSOKAYTOTALK |

Merry Christmas to all!

Expect Distribution wishes to inform all customers of our dates of closure and the services available over the forthcoming Christmas period. We are offering a full collection and delivery service over the Christmas and New Year period to meet our customers’ requirements.

Please Note :- Collections required on the 29th & 30th December must be input before 5pm the working day prior to guarantee collection.

We would like to wish all our customers the best Christmas and New Year!

Investments continue at Expect Distribution with a massive near 20k more racking space being developed and coming available very shortly. The racking is being customised to match current Expect tried and tested work practices.

This photo is showing the concrete pumping contractor pouring concrete to bring the levels up so our fork lifts can move freely around the site.

We are delighted that the space is gaining interest from new customers and clients already.

If you are interested or know of anyone interested who would like to chat about a contracts logistics solution, feel free to get in touch sales@expectdistribution.com.