A new Heating Oil supplier you will want to stick with

BEDFORD FUELS LTD is an exciting new fuel distribution company based in the village of Cranfield in mid-Beds serving all of Bedfordshire and surrounding counties. At a time when many of the smaller independent oil distributors are being bought-out by the 'big boys' in the market and becoming ever more corporate, it's unusual for new distributors to enter the market but Bedford Fuels Ltd have bucked that trend.

Despite being a brand new company whose trading only began on 1st October 2021, it's management and staff have a wealth of experience behind them.

The company is a private limited company whose owners are Paul Craddock, Anthony Kinns and Martyn Clark.

Paul Craddock is one of the ex-owners of the very well known and well respected family run partnership CONQUEST OIL COMPANY which had been based in Houghton Conquest in mid-Beds. That business operated for almost 60 years from 1960 until 2018. It started as a very small scale business by Paul's father and grandfather, Peter Craddock and Percy Craddock. Peter Craddock was only a young lad then helping his Dad Percy. As time went on Peter took a more active role eventually taking over from Percy when Percy retired. When Peter married Christina Craddock she too joined the company. Their son Paul joined the business in the late 1990's and under his tenure there built the business up considerably.  It was built up from a handful of trucks and drivers serving Bedfordshire only, to some 22 trucks and a corresponding number of drivers and other staff serving not just Bedfordshire but surrounding counties and beyond as well. Volumes being delivered were in excess of 56 million litres of oil per year - an average of over a million litres per week. Conquest Oil Company delivered oil to domestic customers, agricultural customers and commercial customers with it's varied customer base. However, at the peak of it's success, and with it now being the turn of Pauls's Mother & Father to retire, the difficult decision was made to sell Conquest Oil Company. The business was snapped-up by another company who took on a ten year lease of the site and the old Conquest Oil Company depot became one of many depots across the country that the new owners were operating from and they will no doubt continue to expand and be very successful. Paul remained with the new owners for two years to assist with the transition, but there came a time when Paul decided to move on and take on new challenges. BEDFORD FUELS LTD is that new challenge!

Anthony Kinns and the Craddock family go back a long way with Anthony having been one of Conquest Oil Company's many customers. Anthony is a local business man, farmer and land owner and it is from his premises in Cranfield, Beds that the new BEDFORD FUELS LTD is operating from. Among other businesses, Anthony owns ANTHONY KINNS AVIATION (SERVICES) LIMITED and supplies refuelling equipment internationally to major oil company users in the form of new and used refuelling vehicles. The company carries out general fixed installation works at airports in the form of storage tank supply, complete tank farm packages, mobile self-bunded storage and dispensing units, and in fact any modifications and upgrades of existing oil facilities that may be required. They are an established fuel-into-plane company and offer training in this field. They also have a department equipped to offer contracted quality control and maintenance services on both fixed plant and vehicles, to industry standards.

Anthony also runs and owns MARLYNTON GROUP HOLDING LTD, an authorised Essar filling station at Wharley End Garage, Cranfield, which sells 1.5 million litres of Petrol and Diesel a year to local residents and businesses. Anthony also ran a similar filling station in Ampthill, Beds for many years.

Martyn Clark and the Craddock family also go back a long way. Martyn worked as a HGV driver for a company that ran a fleet of articulated oil tankers. That company had the contract for collecting fuel from the various oil terminals that supplied Conquest Oil Company and in that role Martyn regularly delivered the fuel into the Conquest Oil depot. In 2015 Martyn and another of his HGV driver colleagues went their own way and set-up their own very successful company, LIQUID FUELS LTD and they took on the contract for delivering fuel into the Conquest Oil depot. They gave a great service and whilst Conquest Oil Company was their main customer, they too expanded their business, taking on more trucks and drivers and began delivering to a number of other customers, mainly in the midlands and the south of England. At a time when Liquid Fuels Ltd are on a high and doing very well, Martyn has passed the reigns fully to his colleague and no-doubt Liquid Fuels will continue to grow from strength to strength. Meanwhile Martyn has joined Paul and Anthony in their new venture.  

The threeway partnership is a match made in heaven. All three have extensive knowledge of the oil industry but all three are coming into their joint venture with slightly different backgrounds that compliment each other perfectly and bodes well for the future developement of BEDFORD FUELS LTD. 

Bedford Fuels Ltd will offer a niche service within the local fuel market, which will include same day, next day and name your day delivery services. Many oil distruibution companies, particularly the bigger more corporate ones, struggle with such bespoke services because of their one-size-fits-all approach and it is anticipated that Bedford Fuels Ltd will be able to offer a much greater degree of customer satisfaction. This is especially so given the local links that the owners have and their in-depth knowledge and experience of the local oil market and local customer requirements. 

Reliable delivery and expert customer service are what makes Bedford Fuels Bedfordshire’s trusted independent heating and fuel oil supplier. Delivering Domestic Heating Oil, Agricultural Gas Oil and Commercial Diesel and other fuels to homes, farms and businesses across Beds, Herts, Bucks, Cambs and Northants.