Hauliers from around Lancaster & Surrounding area's

Silverdale:
G’day again Bewick.
Thanks for the info…and he’s my dad not grandad! Grandad had a truck between the wars and dad took over after the last war.
He used to carry turf for Lancashire Seawashed Turf. They went belly up in the early sixties. “Water worn” rockery was also another of his things. There used to be a gardener in Silverdale (Reggie Kaye) who dad used to work for and with over the years. A speciality was the rockery garden. I think he stripped most of the woods around Silverdale and Arnside of rockery in the early days! Seem to remember we also went up on Ingleton for the same. Also used to take all the fixings for Mr Kaye to the horticultural shows - for displays etc. Another thing I remember was trailing all over Westmorland and North Yorks collecting the wool clip. That used to be taken in loose sacks to the Woolgrowers in Carnforth and then after re-bagging he would run it to Bradford. I used to stand on the front bumper and hang of the mirror bracket and jump on and off opening and closing farm gates. Some farms had a lot of gates! Talk about lack of OH&S and child labour! Never harmed me though. After a few farms you were awash with tea and cakes.
I think dad got fed up of the driving and cold weather (especially after the 1962 winter). He had been in the Far East in the war and I think the cold used to get to him after that - remember there were no heaters in the cabs in the old days - although I remember him fitting them in the Seddon and onwards.
He sold two of the trucks with A licenses to Fred Milner in Lancaster - I think long gone. I believe Fred used to operate his father’s trucks and wanted to branch out on his own.
I’m visiting Dad next week so I’ll see if I can get him set up to have a look at this site. He’ll certainly be interested.
Cheers.

Just a few further notes from the past from my father. He was telling me about how they used to get the tare weights down on trucks after the war. Not just the usually remove any spare wheels etc but draining the radiator to a minimum, and operators having lightweight dummy springs fitted…some he insists made of wood! We also talked about the time he rolled his Leyland steer tipper over whilst tipping peat. He was across a slope (and had taken steps to get as level as possible) and some of the load stuck on the low side and dragged the wagon over. He used to keep his tarps and jack etc in the passenger side of the wagon and the jack flew over the cab and nearly hit him when they went over. He said he fitted a loose gear box under the body to all his wagons after that! - nothing heavy in the cab. The truck was incidentally repaired at JB Hudson where he bought it from new.