Peter Thomson of TL Jones is to retire from the elevator industry, having reached the significant milestone of 50 years’ employment with the New Zealand company. He will leave TL Jones’s Christchurch premises for the final time in January 2009.   

Beginning his career as an electrical apprentice, Peter transferred to Thomas L Jones & Son Ltd (later to be known as TL Jones Ltd) in January 1959 and soon completed his qualifications to become a registered electrician. Although twice seconded to work with Express Lifts Co (ELCO) in the United Kingdom, he returned both times to Christchurch and TL Jones. 

Peter spent several years as TL Jones’s general manager, before choosing to become engineering manager in the 1990s. Having witnessed major technological changes within the industry, Peter’s vast knowledge and experience is unparalleled. Reflecting upon his time in the industry, he remembers a variety of jobs, from installing a simple dumb waiter in a local Chinese restaurant to commissioning the fastest double-decker lifts in Europe’s highest building of the time.

“Recently I went to a site to assist a customer with an installation of one of our Microscan units on a modernisation job,” says Peter. “While travelling up the lift shaft on the top of the car, I noticed carved into the wall of the shaft was ‘PJT 1964’ - this really brought home to me how long I had been in the industry!”

Peter will leave behind a legacy of extraordinary service to the TL Jones Group and the elevator industry, and will be greatly missed.