diff --git a/helpdesk/forms.py b/helpdesk/forms.py
index b766ceb6..ecadc515 100644
--- a/helpdesk/forms.py
+++ b/helpdesk/forms.py
@@ -406,6 +406,9 @@ class PublicTicketForm(CustomFieldMixin, forms.Form):
             due_date = self.cleaned_data['due_date'],
             )
 
+        if q.default_owner and not t.assigned_to:
+            t.assigned_to = q.default_owner
+
         t.save()
 
         for field, value in self.cleaned_data.items():
@@ -460,6 +463,17 @@ class PublicTicketForm(CustomFieldMixin, forms.Form):
             )
         messages_sent_to.append(t.submitter_email)
 
+        if t.assigned_to and t.assigned_to.usersettings.settings.get('email_on_ticket_assign', False) and t.assigned_to.email and t.assigned_to.email not in messages_sent_to:
+            send_templated_mail(
+                'assigned_owner',
+                context,
+                recipients=t.assigned_to.email,
+                sender=q.from_address,
+                fail_silently=True,
+                files=files,
+                )
+            messages_sent_to.append(t.assigned_to.email)
+
         if q.new_ticket_cc and q.new_ticket_cc not in messages_sent_to:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'newticket_cc',
diff --git a/helpdesk/migrations/0012_queue_default_owner.py b/helpdesk/migrations/0012_queue_default_owner.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7a731e00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpdesk/migrations/0012_queue_default_owner.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Generated by Django 1.9.2 on 2016-02-15 21:37
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import migrations, models
+import django.db.models.deletion
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        migrations.swappable_dependency(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL),
+        ('helpdesk', '0011_admin_related_improvements'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='queue',
+            name='default_owner',
+            field=models.ForeignKey(blank=True, null=True, on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.CASCADE, related_name='default_owner', to=settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, verbose_name='Default owner'),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/helpdesk/models.py b/helpdesk/models.py
index 6069f6cc..8740f661 100644
--- a/helpdesk/models.py
+++ b/helpdesk/models.py
@@ -223,6 +223,14 @@ class Queue(models.Model):
         help_text=_('Socks proxy port number. Default: 9150 (default TOR port)'),
     )
 
+    default_owner = models.ForeignKey(
+        settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL,
+        related_name='default_owner',
+        blank=True,
+        null=True,
+        verbose_name=_('Default owner'),
+    )
+
     def __str__(self):
         return "%s" % self.title