Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2009.
Alan Jones started working in the transport industry in 1964 with the Geelong-based company, Nash Brothers. Their business generally consisted of carriage of building productgs between Melbourne and Geelong and country areas of Victoria.
The fleet mainly consisted of J-model Bedfords with single-axle trailers. Alan distinctly remembers the petrol motors vaporising on extremely hot days and the vacuum braking systems which were applied to these vehicles. Mostly cement was carted between Geelong and Melbourne, all of which was bagged and loaded, and unloaded, by hand. In those days the road tasx situation and the requirement to obtain permits to be able to transport goods made trucking difficult and too costly for many. In 1978 Alan started his own transport company which he named Grove Haulage. He mainly carted steel interstate. The first truck he had was a Mercedes Benz and then he progressed to Ford vehicles and later to IH and Kenworths. The company grew substantially over the next ten years and at that point a majority of the work was completed by sub-contracted drivers throughout all states. In 2007 the company was sold to Nationwide Transport and Logistics in Queensland. Alan is currently a shareholder and director of the new entity which retained the name of NTL/Grove Haulage with branches in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Over the past years he has been a member of PTDA, LDRTA, VRTA and was also a city councillor in Geelong. Alan has witnessed some major transformations within the road transport industry over the years, particularly with rules and regulations regarding Operation Health and Safety. He is well known throughout the industry as a professional and courteous operator always willing to lend a hand where its needed and step up to the plate to support the industry he has made his life's work for the best part of half a century.
