Hi. My father Wally Lee worked for Lameys as a mechanic / driver from the late 50’s until the early 70’s with a brief spell at Tolley and Smale in the late 60’s. Although long retired he’s very much alive and kicking. A lot of my school holidays were therefore spent with him ‘going on breakdowns’ (always seemed to be halfshafts) and travelling around in the Commers, AECs, Bedfords and BMCs that Lameys ran. I know a reasonable amount of the firms history, how it operated etc and if anyone’s interested just let me know. Dad also remenbers an amazing amount about stripping down and rebuilding the TS3 engine as well as Mandators, Mercurys etc. He also did quite a bit of work on Gardner 180s - perhaps his favourite engine.
Other transport firms on Torridgeside I remember were Mitchells, Hopkins, North Devon Farmers, Mervyn Harris (Appledore coal merchant) as well as wholesalers who ran their own vehicles: Bayly Bartlett, Wickhams and Littlejohns.
Along New Road dealing with commercials were Rhodian Tyres and Road Freight Repairs who always seemed busy although the latter closed down many years ago.