Customised to perfection: John Kelly and Sons

Third-generation owner and operator of John Kelly and Sons, Mitch Kelly, has been buying Vawdrey trailers exclusively for some years, with more to hit the roads soon.

In the six years since first trying out a Vawdrey trailer, Mitch’s business has solely moved to buying from Vawdrey.

According to him there are specific reasons that drove him to that decision – robust builds, unwavering adaptability, and excellent aftersales service.

Mitch’s team currently operates a fleet of Vawdrey trailers including straight backs, drop decks, mezzanine floor and moving floor models. Many of these trailers feature customised design aspects. He recently took delivery of a Performance-Based Standards (PBS) road train that has been carting general freight from North Queensland to Melbourne. “We went for a PBS combination exclusively so we could get our road trains into Melbourne, because you can’t take road trains into Melbourne normally,” Mitch says. “Our new combination is a set of two 45’ Titeliners, a dolly and a prime mover. The road train goes to Melbourne under a PBS permit, so we don’t have to split up the combination when we get to the Victorian border and now we can just drive in.”

Mitch currently has a bulk quantity of Vawdrey trailers on order. New equipment fitted with state-of-the-art technology is hitting the road. “The quality of the builds is excellent and once we put them to work, we don’t really have to worry about any major repairs except for general servicing. In the past, we’ve used other brands where the trailers have broken out airbags and things within a month of use, and by comparison we find our Vawdrey trailers are sturdier and more robust,” he says.

Moreover, there has not been one ‘weird’ or ‘out of the ordinary’ design request that his team made that Vawdrey wasn’t able to deliver – that’s how Mitch puts it. “They’re really customisable and adaptable. Vawdrey has always been able to meet our design expectations and build for example, 4.6’ high trailers, or add things like posts on the perimeters of the floors. They were also able to customise the design when I specifically wanted movable rolling tracks. Their team has always come up with solutions for all the design requests that I’ve had so far.”

Mitch is equally happy with the aftersales service and support offered by Vawdrey’s team. “Vawdrey’s Queensland team take care of our latest trailer orders and it has been great dealing with them. Being a big company as they are, Vawdrey still continue to have that family-feel and personal aspect added to their customer service, which is just great.”

Mitch’s fleet currently operates anywhere between North Queensland, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The business was started by his grandfather, John Kelly, in 1974. His father, Keith Kelly, took over in the 90s and since 2015 Mitch has taken on running the operations as the General Manager.

“We continue to be a family operated business,” he says.” Our trailer fleet currently includes 50 trailers and dollies, including 18 Vawdrey Titeliners. Vawdrey really is a good brand and their products are truly dependable.”

This story was first published in Trailer.