Call us now on 01273 833181
Call us now on 01273 833181
Graham Attwater and June founded Southern Recovery Services back in 1965. Graham was an apprentice tool maker at CVA and showed a keen interest in June, who was working in the office.
After he finished his apprenticeship, he took on a workshop in Hove, and started repairing cars in the evenings and on the weekends.
He bought a recovery truck and started moving a few cars and light commercial vehicles, and Southern Recovery Services was born.
Graham and June then moved into the flat above the workshop, and after a long courtship, married in Hove.
The marriage caused a bit of a dilemma for Graham as he had his eyes set on a Scammel truck. but June had a wedding reception in mind. As you’ve probably guessed… a Scammel Explorer for the newly established recovery service was delivered!
As the business grew, the couple moved from Hove to a workshop on the A23 at Hickstead. Here the business continued to grow and they soon took over the petrol station and workshop at Sayers Common.
Graham soon realised that he need specialist vehicles for the heavy recovery and went about building these himself.
Graham and June continued to live in a caravan at the back of the workshop whilst having their house built in Albourne. When they eventually moved in a few years later, their son, Paul was born. Graham started to get Paul interested in wreckers from the time he could climb up into the cabs.
Whilst the recovery business growing, Graham decided to diversify and expand in to general road haulage in the UK and Europe. It was about this time that he was asked by a boat owner to take his boat, a Princess 38 Motor Cruiser, from the South of England to the South of France by road. This had never been done before! So he made some inquiries, built a new low trailer to move the boat, and with all the relevant paperwork and his trusted road foreman, Peter Burgess, they left for France.
The team were pioneers in moving the boats by road.
Southern Recovery Services became a name in the heavy recovery industry, and the business got more and more busy. Graham had ideas for new recovery trucks and continued to build and make industry-specific trucks and wreckers that could cope with rolling a heavy lorry and its load back on to its wheels, and towing them away.
As the recovery and haulage continued to grow, Graham and June were now running six trucks and building their own wreckers to stay ahead in the Heavy Recovery industry.
The colour scheme changed from light blue to the colours the company still use today. A regular sight at the back of the wreckers, that Graham was driving at the Sayers Common, was the Alsatian called ‘Sultan’.
The haulage and boat transportation started to take a back seat as the commercial vehicle recovery became Graham’s main focus.
June now had a new house, but still ran the office at the petrol station on one side of the road, and the recovery yard on the other side. June recalls often having to run across the road to fill up customer’s cars, then running back to the yard to answer the phones.
Paul was growing up in the business, learning the trade alongside school. Heavy oil is in his blood!
Graham was building heavy goods wreckers that were industry-specific, and the haulage into Europe and throughout the UK was growing.
Over the next few years, Southern Recovery built some of the best trucks, trailers, cranes and wreckers in the industry.
The new wreckers were built to specification from the
chassis up. This included up rated and stretched chassis, as well as up rated springs, brakes, gearboxes and engines. This was just the base of the truck.
The cab and operating system, whether it be under-lift or slide-bed, were all made to fit, to do the job that they where built for. Graham was very particular and only the very best winches and operating systems were used, shipping parts in from all over the world, to make his trucks the best in the business.
Paul was working with Graham now, after serving his apprenticeship in engineering. He now helped Dad with the construction and welding on the new trucks.
Paul, with Jane alongside him, and mother keeping an eye on him and a good staff level, continues to run the business today talking it to the next level.