© Alex Saville December 2017
I’m surprised there’s not more stories on this Topic, Dennis and I can’t be the only one’s with stories to tell!
Some more on the Co-op.
Another fleet of vans operated out of the Drapery Warehouse, also on Morrison St, located on the other side of the Grocery Warehouse from the Furniture.
They covered the whole of Scotland from there. One van used to work his way up to Inverness via Aberdeen & Elgin. On arrival at Inverness the van would be empty. A load would be waiting at the local railway yard in a BR wooden container, transferred into the Wholesale van by the driver and his boy.
Drivers on this job were either older or on light duties as it was no hardship loading and unloading small drapery parcels.
One van I was never on was the coffin van. This was a low height Albion Claymore underslung vehicle; the factory in Middlesex St had low access that required this.
The S.C.W.S. Transport had a base at Links Place, Leith. (I daren’t say that Leith is in Edinburgh, no matter what the P.C. bunch say’s!) Leith Folk are touchy about that!
They supplied vans to the main warehouse at George St in the heart of the Capital. There was also another store used solely, like Tobago St, for furniture. This was at Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, down behind a St Cuthbert’s Co-op Society store.
Dundee also had two warehouses, one at the Seagate, the other at the Wellgate. Again, vans from Morrison St & Shieldhall were daily visitors.
Dundee’s vans were the furthest travelled as they went up as far as Wick & Thurso and all the ‘Airts ‘n Pairts’ in between.
There’s a story that one of the Dundee drivers agreed to take a horse south from Thurso in his van for a ‘Consideration’, his problems started when they got to the horses destination and discovered it had died! Never found out what happened about that!
I ended up back on the ‘Commando’s with Norie ■■■■■■■ on a Commer two stroke flat. Not for long though as I ended up in hospital for six weeks with an abscess on the bone of my left leg, I was off work for months.
Alex