Does anyone remember Woodrich Transport? I used to sub for them in the late 70’s early 80’s when they had a yard in Henlow Camp (Bedfordshire) they had a fair fleet of Mainly ERF B series units, also some F86 Volvo’s and I think a solitary Mercedes 1418 which was used as a shunter in Electrolux at Luton.
Their main work was for Electrolux and they also had another depot near Darlington and did a lot of work for Flymo lawnmowers.
I beleive in the 90’s they were taken in by TDG and I seem to have lost track since then!
Yes, I remember lots of Volvos - F7s etc in their colours, I think they also had some Daf 2700s when thy came in. All pretty lightweight stuff, but with the curse of TDG, Electrolux gone/going so that’s another one down.
I think Woodrich went round about late 80s or early 90s.
Worked with a couple of their ex drivers at GE Armstrong Durham but they are also gone.
One of the drivers now works for Wrights Tow Law the other is on APW Car transporters.
Thats about as much info I can can give you lemonmouth (not much)
I worked for them mate for about 12 years in Aycliffe until TDG took them over in 95…thats when i left. Henlow was run by Trevor Woods brother in law…Don i think his name was …and Arthur ran the Dallow Rd depot in Luton. I would still have been there if they hadnt sold out. There were some great lads from down that way. Mostly ran ERFs until they bought Volvo F7s and the F10s in the early 80s …in the 90s Woody started buying a couple of Scanias and some awful daf 2700. I think Woody bought some nursing home on the South coast after he sold out …not sure though.
safcaw: I worked for them mate for about 12 years in Aycliffe until TDG took them over in 95…thats when i left. Henlow was run by Trevor Woods brother in law…Don i think his name was …and Arthur ran the Dallow Rd depot in Luton. I would still have been there if they hadnt sold out. There were some great lads from down that way. Mostly ran ERFs until they bought Volvo F7s and the F10s in the early 80s …in the 90s Woody started buying a couple of Scanias and some awful daf 2700. I think Woody bought some nursing home on the South coast after he sold out …not sure though.
Cheers for the reply safcaw Trevor’s brother in law was Don Palmer who used to live on the main road just outside the yard, I was talking to a Henlow driver a few months ago - Dave Slieman? who said that Don was now living somewhere in Norfolk, and he is still in contact with an Irish lad who came from Luton who worked at Henlow driving an ERF.
Arthur Jewell , as you say ran the ‘Lux’ warehouse in Luton, he was a great bloke, I beleive he sadly died some years ago, did you know Trevor’s father - ■■■■ (Richard) He was another really nice chap, How come you never seem to get these type of people in Transport these days, only on VERY rare occasions
Did you ever get any pictures of the wagons safcaw?
I remember Woodrich transport very well. I used to deliver plastic granuals to flymo at newton aycliffe and then used to backload from black and decker, and always used to see thier blue and orange F7s and scanny 82s… And thier trailers were always at both places… They used to drop and swap at toys r us coventry, used to see them in there swapping trailers on a regular basis… think even toys r us still had some of thier trailers dropped in the trailer park long after they finished… The last trailers that used to go into toys r us were plain white with Woodrich transport in blue lettering… Think the well known blue and orange livery went not long after the tdg take over…
Davey Sleaman huh…i remember Dave…lol…tommy was the Irish lad…did the shunting around lux with old Bert a Polish fella think he lived over Dunstable way.
I used to have some pics of the wagons…but not sure were i put them. Arthur Jewel was oringinally from up here…Crook i beleive and cycled down to Luton for work…must have been in the thirties or forties cos he didnt have the North East twang at all. Trevors dad…■■■■…he was a canny fella…always had the crack with you when ever he came up north.
Yeah…did the the Toysrus for a couple of years out of Cov until TDG took over
The trucks went from mainly all blue in the early days to all white with the flymo orange and the lux blue… stripes around.
safcaw:
Next time you see Dave…ask him about Caroline…lol
Does he still have his Bike…?
When Dave rings me… we are meant to be going out for a beer so I’ll mention it to him
Be great to see your pictures if you can find them!
sorry about the poor quality but this is the only picture I have,taken at the Lux about 1979/80.
that pic brings back distant child memories .i worked for woodrich for about 14 yrs n used to work wk ends washing trucks in yard ;that was when they had mccarrons old yard at station rd many yrs ago .before that i remember just a cabin in elux where trevor started .my old man alex started many yrs ago when trevor set up in aycliffe so i got to know him as a kid then true to his word he put me thru my hgv many yrs later n i worked up until about 98 n moved to hull .still remember most drivers names tho few on here too ,will have to dig out some ov my pics n my old man got plenty from early yrs too .
cheers trev ,when i speak to my old man il get him to send me his too as he’s got ones from early days ,he was based at aycliffe for many yrs then transfered to luton depot n he still lives just nr dunstable,he was tramping for many yrs then did a good spell shunting with bert at lux then done a spell running from henlow up to aycliffe every nite trunking lux spares up n down for a job we had before they decided to close henlow down .still well to this day tho long retired now tho .least i managed couple yrs on rd with him tho,funny tho last time was nr lux in oakley rd its all houses now n old yard at dalor rd is or was a pet food cash n carry how times change .saw many changes over many yrs tho from wagons to yards n warehousing too,still remember when they started me yard shunting it was an old f86 hanging to bits n still the old blue n white livery too yet the thing wouldnt die but suppose that stood me in good stead when i passed me test.think i finaly got my first brand new motor when we got two n reg fh12’s n got given one but it was liveried woodrich but mangy tgd green .think my old mans first new one was an x reg f7 [old x reg tho] in original colours .
Good memories Hamish, Not sure if I remember your dad,I think they were just getting the F7’s when I found some other work, but they had a few F86’s and some B series ERF’s when I was there.
I remember when they had a German driver called Otto who was based at Henlow, he was in an F86 with a full load of plastic granules on a flat trailer when he tipped it over in a field between sandy and Shefford, As a WW2 veteran Arthur had some choice words to say about him after that happened…
il ask me old man lol he tends to remember things ,got on well with arthur he was a canny bloke i know he was living down clacton way think it was nr his son who had a garden centre but know me dad has seen him a few times in recent times n popped over to see him but dont think his helth was too good tho il ask him nxt time as im sure hes still about . strange tho because iy was only other week woodrich’s old yard was on news as there was a massive fire n explosion there now the site is owned by stillers transport but certainly made the news .maybe u heard him on the old cb as he was always rabbiting on there lol his handle was pipemagor.i always enjoyed my yrs at woodrich even from working in warehouse to driving maybe wasnt the best paid job but was easy n varried too,always remember trevor keeping my job open for about 18mnths tho when i took ill n came to see me in hospital on many occasions so wasnt a bad bloke not many bosses wud do that these days i know n always spoke n asked how my famiky was too .always remember when new motors came too as that always caused tantrums too mind u as a kid i washed dads motor every wk end for pocket money when he used to park it at back ov house .il chase him up to send me up his pics n get sumone to upload em as im not that good with pc,s.
Their depot was in Newton Aycliffe! I knew it was somewhere Darlington way 
and looking forward to seeing your pictures