In 1926, Alf Sutton joined his mother's coal bagging business after starting life at the coal face, but this ended after an altercation with the foreman. Alf Sutton was not afraid of work and soon had bought out his brothers and moved into haulage. He outgrew his horse & cart and acquired his first commercial vehicle and started to work for the budding chemical, glass and paper business that was expanding rapidly in the North West. His reputation for hardness was countered by his fairness, and the company developed until nationalised in 1948.By 1954, supported by Pilkington Glass, Alf Sutton purchased a fleet from BRS and started Sutton & Son (St. Helens) Ltd. His expansion was rapid as he applied for and won new licences, mainly on the back of competitive rates which he was able to sustain due to his initiatives in vehicle and load design. His customer service was second to none, and by the time he died the company had grown to being one of the largest family owned haulage companies. His relationship with his son resulted in a change in management style, and this eventually led to a decline in the group's fortunes. However, this has now been put behind them, and the company is moving forward again with one of the main emphasis on International trade.

Author Biography

Born in Surrey, but educated in Liverpool, Philip now lives in the heart of rural Cheshire. After a foray into Hotel Management, where he found himself on the wrong side of the bar, he moved into Petrochemicals, initially with I.C.I., but then joined Montedison which later merged with ENI. His career started to stall so he undertook a MBA at Strathclyde University, and before long he found himself in the heat of a Boardroom as part of a Management Buy Out team. When the company was sold he moved to become a MD at a print and service company to the haulage industry, specialising in the Tachograph.It was during this time he finally decided to seriously put pen to paper, as he had by then written a few short stories and had an article published. In 1998 his father died and during sorting the probate and going through his father's papers he discovered that there was more to his father than he thought. Philip's imagination went into overdrive and the seed of the fictional My Father's Letters was sown and a first attempt duly undertaken. Realising writing a novel was not such an easy feat he then undertook courses and studied to ensure any further attempts were of the highest quality. Just after his 50th birthday Philip took the plunge, and although continuing some consultancy, he was commissioned to write a book: Time & Tide - A History of the Suttons Group which is the story of the founder, Alf Sutton, and the Sutton Transport group. He has also edited and had published My Father'sLetters, but this is far from the end.Philip has three further books which should be completed within a year and are of differing genre and style. One he is writing with an old friend after an incident in Scotland, whilst sailing, which is so bizarre that it is a story that just has to be told.Philip is married and has two grown up sons and his main interests are renovation of his home, walking and, of course, reading. He loves to travel and enjoys sailing, tennis and more recently skiing, or attempting to, but most of his time is now dedicated to writing. His wife has also caught the writing bug and is in the process of producing a cookery book, honing in on good wholesome food, but easy to prepare.