BIG NEWS in the machinery world in the Borders and North of England is that John Deere dealer, Thomas Sherriff and Co, based at its new £2m premises in Haddington, East Lothian, recently bought the business of WM Dodds, Jedburgh and set up a new outlet in Hexham to take over the territory previously managed by Everitt and Marshall.

These developments extend Sherriff's area in the Lothians, Borders and Northumberland considerably, with six outlets in total serving customers from the River Forth in Scotland down to Durham in the north-east of England, reaching out west to the Cumbrian border. The other existing outlets are at Alnwick, Coldstream and Stow.

The majority of WM Dodds employees have transferred to Sherriff Jedburgh, where Jimmy Laing remains as dealership manager. He has also been appointed to the Sherriff board and taken on the role of after sales director.

Sherriff Hexham opened in November, at Tyne Mills Industrial Estate, and the team there is headed by Stewart Wheeler, who has 30 years of experience working in the area with Deere products.

Sherriff’s premises in Berwick-upon-Tweed closed at the beginning of December, with a commitment to retaining all staff. Technicians are now field-based, mainly controlled from the Coldstream office, where Eddie Stewart has taken on the role of service manager from Bill Wood, who is now the company’s warranty manager.