Radclive transport

[Suedehead]

I know that theres probably already a thread on here somewhere(buggered if i can find it)but has anybody got any pics/stories of said firm?
They used to run out of Faringdon and done a lot of M/E

[bestbooties]

***

[Rattlesnake Dave]

Haven't got any good photo's of Radclives but the the topic I wrote about here
http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15072
also applies to Radclives as they were regulars on what we used to call the bomber run. Theres also another thread here
http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24492
This photo was taken on the Autostrada crossing Genoa, Italy in 1976. The vehicle at the front is a Radclive Volvo and was en route from Frosinone, south of Rome, to Copenhagen in Denmark.

[bestbooties]

Parked up at Paulines in Austria while coming or going to the Middle East.Three of Radclives and my German Atki!

[Suedehead]

Thanks for that. Must have been in the early 70s when i saw one of thier split screen Dafs, having never see one before - was quite a sight to a lorry mad teenager .
Seems sad now that firms like that have long gone.
In this area alone, there were quite a few doing European and further afield.Anybody remember, Rex Trotman,Bob Kilby,James Nicholas international,Newpark tpt to name a few. Leggett freightways and Dow freight had depots around here but i see that they
are already mentioned on other threads.

[mushroomman]

Suedehead, I believe that Irish John Conneely used to work for Bob Kilby doing Middle East. Rattlesnake Dave posted a picture of Big Alex who worked for Dow Freight after Radclives had finished. As far as I can remember the Radclive men were all very experienced Middle East drivers and I bet that they would have some interesting storys to share. A few of the Radclive drivers ended up working for Dow when they opened their Swindon depot and there were some really good lads. The names that seem to ring a distant bell are Big Alex, Farmer, Mickey Dunston, Dave Mayor ( Mavis ) The Minnow ? and Colin Winslow.
Uncle Plug ( Sean ) will probably know a bit more about Radclive's as he worked with most of their old drivers.
I am sure that Irish John has also got some fascinating tales about Radclive's men. ( It's the way that he tell's em.)

[mushroomman]

Parked up at Paulines in Austria while coming or going to the Middle East.Three of Radclives and my German Atki!

I remember getting caught on a couple of occasions at Golling services on an Austrian public holiday or weekending. You couldn't drive after 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon until 10 p.m. Sunday night. It wasn't cheap to stay there but you could have a good meal, a few beers and a decent shower.
Wasn't Pauline from Benchill near Manchester

[bestbooties]

Wasn't Pauline from Benchill near Manchester

Correct.
I don't think she was happy there,her old man was a [zb],used to knock her about I believe.I think if it hadn't have been for the fact she had a kid,she would have got a lift out of there a bit sharpish!
You know what these Austrians,(Alpine Turks),are like with women.
Do you remember Mama at Spielfeld?.I heard her old man knocked her about as well.

[boyzee]

I remember a few of radclives drivers,pete pride from wantage he had the low loader f12 and kenny dormer,an mike shirley,i think mike was from stanford in the vale and kenny was from wantage.Kenny used to do germany he used to take his sister linda with him some trips.

[SUPERCUBE]

i seem to recall mama at spielfeld having a black eye one day and insisting she did it on the kitchen door, a real nice lady, but her husband, i cant remember his name. did have a drink problem. maybe running a bar is not a good job for an alki.

[bestbooties]

i seem to recall mama at spielfeld having a black eye one day and insisting she did it on the kitchen door, a real nice lady, but her husband, i cant remember his name. did have a drink problem. maybe running a bar is not a good job for an alki.

Mama walked into doors quite often I think,she was a lovely old girl.

[mushroomman]

Wasn't Pauline from Benchill near Manchester

Correct.
I don't think she was happy there,her old man was a [zb],used to knock her about I believe.I think if it hadn't have been for the fact she had a kid,she would have got a lift out of there a bit sharpish!
You know what these Austrians,(Alpine Turks),are like with women.
Do you remember Mama at Spielfeld?.I heard her old man knocked her about as well.

That’s right Ian, I also felt sorry for her as I remember seeing her with a black eye that she was trying to hide by wearing a pair of sunglasses, indoors. Very often she would send over a free beer, on the house to any British driver who was on his own.
The story goes that she ended up in Salzburg as a teenager, after watching the film The Sound Of Music at a cinema in Manchester and thinking are there really places like that in the world. After travelling to Austria she got a job and met the son of the owners of Golling Services who she eventually married. As most of the drivers know he used to knock her about quite often and I can remember an old driver that I used to work with called Ken Singleton always feeling sorry for her.
Ken who was in his early sixties used to do a lot of Yugoslavia and would often call in there when ever he was passing.
Once when he was weekending Pauline appeared with yet another black eye at Sunday lunch time. Ken told her that if she packed one case and met him at his truck at 10 p.m. that night he would have her and the kid at her mothers house in Manchester by Tuesday evening, Ken waited until 11 p.m. but she did not turn up.
About a year ago I watched a film in which Caroline Quinton played a girl from Oldham who after watching The Sound Of Music had decided to travel to Salzburg. I wondered if this film had been inspired by somebody who had met Pauline.
On a brighter note I did hear that sometime later a Dutch driver gave Pauline’s husband a well deserved, overdue good smacking.

[bestbooties]

I remember being the last one out of the restaurant one night,and as I walked past the front window heading for the truck park I happened to glance in as I passed and was posative I saw the slippery looking Yugo waiter that was working there,give her a right klump.I turned on my heel and was back in there like a shot.Pauline was holding her face and the Yugo [zb] was looking for trouble.I was about to wade in and Pauline begged me to go and not get involved.The Yugo was behind the counter inviting me to come over,which I was at the point of doing,but Pauline was so distressed and continued begging me to leave.she said to me,"Don't get involved,it's too complicated!".
It was a dilema,if I made any trouble,it could be worse for Pauline later,so reluctantly I left,but told the Yugo his card was marked.
I think what we saw was only the tip of the iceberg.

[mushroomman]

I know that theres probably already a thread on here somewhere(buggered if i can find it)but has anybody got any pics/stories of said firm?
They used to run out of Faringdon and done a lot of M/E

Suedehead, can you have a look at Frenchy's post, British Road Services page 9 of this forum and have a look at "ainacs" post, second one down. There is a picture of a Radclive tilt on there and hopefully you might recognise where the picture was taken.
Regards Steve

[Suedehead]

Steve, had a look at that pic mate. 100% certain that its not Swindon, the only lorry park in those days was at the football ground.For some reason i would say that it was taken at the old ncp coach/lorry park on the south side of Vauxhall bridge as i parked there a few times and it looks vaugely(spelling) familiar, saying that, i dont think it was tarmac!
Not being much help am i? - sorry

[dreva]

Haven't got any good photo's of Radclives but the the topic I wrote about here
http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15072
also applies to Radclives as they were regulars on what we used to call the bomber run. Theres also another thread here
http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24492
This photo was taken on the Autostrada crossing Genoa, Italy in 1976. The vehicle at the front is a Radclive Volvo and was en route from Frosinone, south of Rome, to Copenhagen in Denmark.

how high is that autostrada

[ainacs]

Here is that pic does anyone know where it was taken? It came to me with a lot of pics taken in the Southampton area, but I do not recognise the place maybe the old lorry park next to the swiming baths where the Grand Harbour De Vere Hotel now stands?



Regards Pat

[adr]

If you want some really good pictures of Radclive Transport, Faringdon see the book VOLVO F88 & F89 AT WORK by Patrick W. Dyer, you can get it from Nynehead Books.

[Bobbydog]

I remember well the very best team of drivers and technicians any company could wish for, had it not been for them, Radclive would have succumbed a long time before it did. I started with them and drove some tipper rigids, before going on to an F86 tractor unit doing predominantly near european countries, and then moving on to a LHD Daf ODP233M, we had two other Dafs and the rest were F88 240`s and I think 1 F89 which Alex drove. Eventually ending up trying to run the business with Martin looking over my shoulder from Vancouver. We moved on to a full Volvo fleet buying some F88 290`s and two F12`s both 6x4 one for low loader work and the second as a road train.Some of the names I remember, apart from those in previous articles were John Stanley Keen (went to Spain I think) with Heather, Dave Shirley who went to Dawsons, Gordon Grant, Roger Maull, I cant remeber any others right now, other than it was a priveledge to work with a truly professional and committed group of men.
Raymond

[bestbooties]

I'm sure I mentioned on another thread,that Simon International finished up with the F12 roadtrain,registration *** OWL.
Black John drove it for some time and on one trip was going to Baghdad via Syria.
Going down the hill towards Damascus,he ran out of brakes,(I think he may well have been double loaded),and rolled the drag on the exit slip where we used to turn off passed the sugar beet factory for Iraq.
He was loaded for the ice cream factory in Badhdad with cocoa butter,managed to get the whole load signed for and picked up the damged drag on the way home.The rig finished up here at Stoke,but before we could put it back on the road,things were coming to an end and it was sold at auction.
But before this,I was asked to fly out to Greece to recover one of SI's F89 roadtrains that was in the Yugo customs on the Greek border at Gevgelia when someone had dumped it after a trailer wheel bearing had collapsed.
I flew out to Athens and was met by Black John in the ex Radclive's roadtrain,and we drove it between us up to Gevgelia so I could get the F89 road train mobile and back home.

[chazzer]

Hi Bobbydog, (Ray) I can throw some more names into the hat for you Dave Goddard, now self-employed driver was doing quite a lot for Davies Int ,Mick Shirley ex sales manager for Mudie Bond, Micky Dunston, Colin Winslow, Dave Mayer drives for MacBurnie in Witney, Gordon Smith, John Elbrow (Gonzo), Bobby Smith, RIP, Alec Christie. Also the subbies, myself Charlie Gethin and Tony Saunders (the Didcot Budda). Can't remember the name of the posh pub in Faringdon that was always host to a riotous friday night but I think the landlords name was Bart.
regards
Chazzer

[mushroomman]

Hi Chazzer, could this be Mrs Winslows little boy.



and Mrs Dunstons bundle of joy who I believe attended a Dutch Middle East Drivers Reunion in Holland last week.



Regards Steve.

[Bobbydog]

The Crown in Faringdon, the office moved to the pub at about 5pm every Friday, Alex Christie liked the Salutation just around the corner. Dave Goddard - great sense of humour, I just wonder if anyone knows about John Stanley Keene, and we had a subby from Carlisle way who had a Trancontinental and Malcolm? (I think) who drove a Scammel. Mick Shirley was the last one I spoke to quite some time ago now, and yes he was selling trucks somewhere on the A40 out of Oxford. John Sollis is another name that comes to mind.

Ray

[5thwheel]

I'm sure I mentioned on another thread,that Simon International finished up with the F12 roadtrain,registration *** OWL.
Black John drove it for some time and on one trip was going to Baghdad via Syria.
Going down the hill towards Damascus,he ran out of brakes,(I think he may well have been double loaded),and rolled the drag on the exit slip where we used to turn off passed the sugar beet factory for Iraq.
He was loaded for the ice cream factory in Badhdad with cocoa butter,managed to get the whole load signed for and picked up the damged drag on the way home.The rig finished up here at Stoke,but before we could put it back on the road,things were coming to an end and it was sold at auction.
But before this,I was asked to fly out to Greece to recover one of SI's F89 roadtrains that was in the Yugo customs on the Greek border at Gevgelia when someone had dumped it after a trailer wheel bearing had collapsed.
I flew out to Athens and was met by Black John in the ex Radclive's roadtrain,and we drove it between us up to Gevgelia so I could get the F89 road train mobile and back home.

There you go Bestbooties,another story for your book!

Take it easy,

David

[boyzee]

The Crown in Faringdon, the office moved to the pub at about 5pm every Friday, Alex Christie liked the Salutation just around the corner. Dave Goddard - great sense of humour, I just wonder if anyone knows about John Stanley Keene, and we had a subby from Carlisle way who had a Trancontinental and Malcolm? (I think) who drove a Scammel. Mick Shirley was the last one I spoke to quite some time ago now, and yes he was selling trucks somewhere on the A40 out of Oxford. John Sollis is another name that comes to mind.

Ray

Dave Goddard,I remember Dave well i lived near him in wantage back in the 60,s.I remember his blonde hair,i think he worked for strawberry haines in challow for awhile back then before the radclive days,your right about his sence of humour he was always up for a laugh.

[chazzer]

Hi Ray, MacTrucking was the subbie from over the border but as we all called him Mac I can't remember his proper name but not a man to upset after a few drinks. Malcolm Coates was another driver who had been on the m/e for a long time and had worked for John ? the man who organised the Angola merceneries as transport manager based on the airfield behind Leigh Delamere services loading trailers for Kuehne and Nagel. Unfortunately Malcolm was in the dark to the fact that his boss was pocketing the upfront money and had been told that they were storing the trailers until there were enough to send probably 100 units in one go. Quite surprised when K & N reps turned up wanting to know why all their loads had'nt shipped but the money had been drawn. Malcolm went to Aus where he died in a trucking accident several years later or so I have been told, if I'm wrong I am sure someone will put me right.
Mick Shirley is now retired allegedly as a truck salesman although I was doing some work for him last year as he still keeps his hand in delivering new vehicles for Amey. Two other Radclive m/e drivers were Rod Sadler who sadly died from cancer and Alan Clayton, Goddard still lives in Wantage and I know he looks at this site quite regularly so he might be tempted to sign up and put some of his own tales on here. JSK had an F12 6x4 V reg which he started doing heavy haulage with Derek Garrard from Longworth until he and Heather moved to Spain along with said F12 and according to Derek who has a holiday home near John not far from Granada the F12 resides in the front garden much to Heathers disgust.
Ashley Coghill sent me an email the other day with a picture off of toprun with myself, Micky Dunston and I think JSK and trucks on top of Mont Cenis so I will try and paste it in here soon.
Mushroomman your right it is definately Mrs Winslow's little boy and Micky Dunston in the other pic.
Chazzer

[LB76]

hiya, is it john banks the one you are thinking of? used to be matey with andy(?) who i met in yugo one trip andy worked for john banks and i beleive some of the trucks came from unit commercials.also connected with O&B transport from over cambs.

[bestbooties]

Hi Ray, MacTrucking was the subbie from over the border but as we all called him Mac I can't remember his proper name but not a man to upset after a few drinks. Malcolm Coates was another driver who had been on the m/e for a long time and had worked for John ? the man who organised the Angola merceneries as transport manager based on the airfield behind Leigh Delamere services loading trailers for Kuehne and Nagel. Unfortunately Malcolm was in the dark to the fact that his boss was pocketing the upfront money and had been told that they were storing the trailers until there were enough to send probably 100 units in one go. Quite surprised when K & N reps turned up wanting to know why all their loads had'nt shipped but the money had been drawn. Malcolm went to Aus where he died in a trucking accident several years later or so I have been told, if I'm wrong I am sure someone will put me right.
Mick Shirley is now retired allegedly as a truck salesman although I was doing some work for him last year as he still keeps his hand in delivering new vehicles for Amey. Two other Radclive m/e drivers were Rod Sadler who sadly died from cancer and Alan Clayton, Goddard still lives in Wantage and I know he looks at this site quite regularly so he might be tempted to sign up and put some of his own tales on here. JSK had an F12 6x4 V reg which he started doing heavy haulage with Derek Garrard from Longworth until he and Heather moved to Spain along with said F12 and according to Derek who has a holiday home near John not far from Granada the F12 resides in the front garden much to Heathers disgust.
Ashley Coghill sent me an email the other day with a picture off of toprun with myself, Micky Dunston and I think JSK and trucks on top of Mont Cenis so I will try and paste it in here soon.
Mushroomman your right it is definately Mrs Winslow's little boy and Micky Dunston in the other pic.
Chazzer

Is this the Derek Garrard that drove an F88 for John Wisschussen,a subbie for Chapman and Ball?

[bestbooties]

I'm sure I mentioned on another thread,that Simon International finished up with the F12 roadtrain,registration *** OWL.
Black John drove it for some time and on one trip was going to Baghdad via Syria.
Going down the hill towards Damascus,he ran out of brakes,(I think he may well have been double loaded),and rolled the drag on the exit slip where we used to turn off passed the sugar beet factory for Iraq.
He was loaded for the ice cream factory in Badhdad with cocoa butter,managed to get the whole load signed for and picked up the damged drag on the way home.The rig finished up here at Stoke,but before we could put it back on the road,things were coming to an end and it was sold at auction.
But before this,I was asked to fly out to Greece to recover one of SI's F89 roadtrains that was in the Yugo customs on the Greek border at Gevgelia when someone had dumped it after a trailer wheel bearing had collapsed.
I flew out to Athens and was met by Black John in the ex Radclive's roadtrain,and we drove it between us up to Gevgelia so I could get the F89 road train mobile and back home.

There you go Bestbooties,another story for your book!

Take it easy,

David

If I put many more stories on here I wont need to write a book!

[chazzer]

Bestbooties,
as far as Derek Garrard is concerned I know he worked for Chapman and Ball maybe he was working for the subbie before that and he went on to work for Mavertons after them (he was probably the only NON member of the pump and hose club), then he went on to set up his own company and ended up running heavy haulage out as far a Azerbijan, sold up around 2001 and does light haulage and drives race trucks to the european races for Force India F1. I still keep in regular contact with him via email and skype.

LB76, John Banks was the name I was trying to think of but we are talking late 70's and the old grey matter gets clogged up now and again