WHAT a moving experience! Four of the eight mighty vehicles in the fleet of Whitby C Oliver & Sons, York's oldest removal firm, gather outside the York Minster (right) for a party on wheels.

And it has a lot to celebrate. Not only is it the company's 104th birthday, but it has also just won the Quality Performance Award 2000 - the best of all 50 companies nationally in the Britannia Movers International Group.

Then there was the recent honour for the £1 million turnover firm of being awarded Quality Service Standards' British standard kite mark for service in household removals.

And what about taking possession of its latest super-duper £50,000 purpose-built removals vehicle.

Weighing in at 17.5 tonnes, at 13.5 ft tall and 36 ft long, the Leyland Daf 65 series is thought to be the biggest pantechnicon in Britain and is the figurehead of the fleet based in Hospital Fields Road, York.

The site of that mighty line of vehicles would have gladdened the heart of Whitby Charles Oliver, the York carpenter who decided to sell and distribute furniture in 1897. In 1983 the firm was united with seven other family ventures to create the Britannia Movers International Plc.

Chris Smallwood, transport manager for Whitby C Oliver is particularly proud of the Quality Performance Award.

He said: "It is all down to investment in training, good man management and 20 quality staff in our removals department. I've always regarded our removals operatives as the best and now it is official."

Meanwhile, business remains particularly good as the housing boom continues in North Yorkshire, "but if it ended it wouldn't matter because in bad times people leave the country and we diversified years ago into international removals," said Mr Smallwood.