Hi Gerbil, Thank you for your interesting post, You mentioned Mainland Markets…occasionally, if one of our Guernsey Tomatoes
loads had a bit of space on the rear of the trailer, Mainland would add a couple of pallets of Jersey Tomatoes for the same market.
From memory, there were 2 Robert Baillie drivers who came from Mainland Markets, they were John Heather and Les Lashley.
I keep learning bits of Robert Baillie history from time to time. In the early 1960s, Mr Robert Baillie was a senior Transport Consultant
with the Beecham Group, makers of pharmaceuticals and Lucozade, during which time he did a Distribution Consultancy for the
Guernsey Tomato Marketing Board, and started his own company to deliver their product to England, Wales, Scotland, & Northern Ireland.
This work lasted from March until the end of October. Beecham employees, Terry Walker, fleet engineer, and Amos Phipps, transport manager
were with Robert Baillie right from the start and remained right through to the end in the mid 1980s. Throughout the year the company
carried bananas for Jamaican Producers Group, delivering to ripening rooms across the UK. During the sometime quiet months Nov to Feb,
we did full loads of cauliflower from Brittany. Regular return traffic was from H.J.Heinz at Wigan, delivering 20 ton loads to Heinx factory
at Harlesden, London NW10, and Heinz branch at Southampton. I am hoping to find some more info and pictures.
Cheers, Ray.