I was the first salesman TIP Trailer Rentals employed when they first started in UK in 1969. They were already operating from Rotterdam and had a few UK customers and it was a case of "The right business at the right time ! " with Rentco as the main competitor. We rented trailers out without having a depot at first and then opened in West Thurrock, Essex and within about 3 years had 750 trailers on the road with early customers being Astran, MartinTrux, Browns Transport, G.L.Baker, OCL and ACT container lines etc etc. The first trailers were either Dutch spec or even Strick trailers from United States where the parent company was, then large orders were given to UK companies to build. As far as abandoned trailers was concerned, that came later in mid '70’s to '80s with the Middle East oil boom with so many companies being under financed and not able to deal with the setbacks and hazards encountered but I was doing my own thing from mid 70’s, even though TIP was a super company to work for at that time.