News

New S4C documentary focuses on Pembrokeshire company

Published

9 years ago

January 5, 2017

14654295164_a8840a44a0_b MANSEL DAVIES & SON, based in Llanfyrnach near Crymych, is the focus of a brand new S4C documentary which airs later this month.

The new six-part documentary series, Lorïau Mansel Davies a’i Fab, starting on Wednesday, January 18 on S4C (English subtitles available), demonstrates how the company remains very much a family business and the emphasis is on employing local people in the Pembrokeshire area.

The company has kept going in one form or another since 1875 and has been a goods and freight supplier since 1900, initially with horse and cart and then increasingly by lorry. These days, using the latest logistics technology, it has a fleet of over 150 lorries and employs 300 people in its HQ and other locations.

And, as the Tinopolis production team found out, the company is full of colourful characters who combine hard work and utter professionalism with a great deal of humour, leg pulling and the milk of human kindness.

The company is headed by Stephen Davies, although his 80-year-old father Kaye Mansel Davies still has more than a say in the running of the yard!

The family own a number of companies in all, but the freight business is the mainstay, and the lorries are a regular site on Wales’ winding ways.

Stephen Davies says: “We are now into the sixth generation of Davieses involved in the business and we want to keep the business within the family. We employ most of our staff from a 25-mile radius of the village and some of our employees are into the third generation of families working for us.

“This is a 365-day-a-year business, carrying all kinds of freight throughout the UK and Europe, so we all work hard. We carry milk from some 400 farms and take them in articulated lorries to processing plants all over the country.”

In the series, viewers will follow the lorry drivers on their journeys, see how the staff cope on Christmas Day and join in Kaye Mansel’s 80th birthday celebrations.

You will get to know the Davies family, Stephen’s wife, Siân, daughter Sasha and son Scott, who all work for the business. Staff camaraderie is pretty evident too, as we meet colourful lorry drivers such as Alan George and Dai Hands, and a host of staff, from schedulers to welders and technicians.

Lorry driver Alan George says: “My dad was a transport manager with the company for many years and that’s how I got involved. It’s a good company and driving is in my blood. Being a lorry driver can be a lonely life and the worst thing is that I’ve missed out on some parts of my son’s upbringing but once you’re behind the wheel and the adrenaline starts flowing you are hooked to it.”

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

22 minutes ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.

Business

First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines
docked at Pembroke Port yesterday afternoon last week, marking the start of physical
deliveries for the multi-million-pound renewable energy project.

The Maltese-registered general cargo vessel Peak Bergen berthed at Pembroke Dock on
shortly after 4pm on Wednesday 26th November, bringing tower sections and other heavy
components for the three Enercon turbines that will eventually stand on land adjacent to the
existing gas terminal at Waterston.

A second vessel, the Irish-flagged Wilson Flex IV, has arrived in Pembroke Port today is
due to arrive in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) carrying the giant rotor blades.
The deliveries follow a successful trial convoy on 25 November, when police-escorted low-
loader trailers carried dummy loads along the planned route from the port through
Pembroke, past Waterloo roundabout and up the A477 to the Dragon LNG site.

Dragon LNG’s Community and Social Performance Officer, Lynette Round, confirmed the
latest movements in emails to the Herald.

“The Peak Bergen arrived last week yesterday with the first components,” she said. “We are
expecting another delivery tomorrow (Thursday) onboard the Wilson Flex IV. This will be
blades and is currently showing an ETA of approximately 03:30.”

The £14.3 million project, approved by Welsh Ministers last year, will see three turbines with
a combined capacity of up to 13.5 MW erected on company-owned land next to the LNG
terminal. Once operational – expected in late 2026 – they will generate enough electricity to
power the entire site, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

Port of Milford Haven shipping movements showed the Peak Bergen approaching the Haven
throughout Wednesday morning before finally tying up at the cargo berth in Pembroke Dock.

Cranes began unloading operations yesterday evening.

The Weather conditions are currently were favourable for this morning’s the arrival of
the Wilson Flex IV, which was tracking south of the Smalls at midnight.

The abnormal-load convoys carrying the components from the port to Waterston are
expected to begin early next year, subject to final police and highway approvals.

A community benefit fund linked to the project will provide training opportunities and energy-
bill support for residents in nearby Waterston, Llanstadwell and Neyland.
Further updates will be issued by Dragon LNG as the Port of Milford Haven as the delivery
programme continues.

Photo: Martin Cavaney

Crime

Banned for 40 months after driving with cocaine breakdown product in blood

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Sarah-Jane Absalom

A MILFORD HAVEN woman has been handed a lengthy driving ban after admitting driving with a controlled drug in her system more than ten times over the legal limit.

SENTENCED AT HAVERFORDWEST

Sally Allen, 43, of Wentworth Close, Hubberston, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Dec 4) for sentencing, having pleaded guilty on November 25 to driving with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the prescribed limit.

The court heard that Allen was stopped on August 25 on the Old Hakin Road at Tiers Cross while driving an Audi A3. Blood analysis showed 509µg/l of Benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine. The legal limit is 50µg/l.

COMMUNITY ORDER AND REHABILITATION

Magistrates imposed a 40-month driving ban, backdated to her interim disqualification which began on November 25.

Allen was also handed a 12-month community order, requiring her to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities as directed by the Probation Service.

She was fined £120, ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 surcharge. Her financial penalties will be paid in £25 monthly instalments from January 1, 2026.

The bench—Mrs H Roberts, Mr M Shankland and Mrs J Morris—said her guilty plea had been taken into account when passing sentence.