Cast your minds back to the mid 1970s ( younger members ask your parents or grand parents). Anyone recall the following two firms who worked out of Southampton Docks?
Arthur Kneller Transportation. Yellow and blue rigid flatbeds (general haulage tramping in a Leyland Terrier or Ford D series four-pot day cab anyone?)
BFC. Had a yard at Eastleigh and the Cunard container contract, although also did general. May have owned AKT (see above). Known without much affection as 'Barney's Flying Circus.'
Any recollections, observations and especially pictures welcome. I worked briefly for AKT, (who's transport manger was an ex-Middle East hand,) and where I learned to rope and sheet.
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I was a contract subbie to Ferrymasters Southampton around then but I must admit I can't place those firms. Probably due to spending too many nights in the Juniper Berry or paddling around the swiming pool car park.
Ted
BFC
BFC was Bowden Freight wasn't it?
Bought up lots of firms round the country including J & H at Nottingham hauling for Plasterboard out of East Leake & Gotham. Salut, David. PS Or was that BFI?  Originally from Nottingham, England.
Worked for French haulier for 3 years before retirement end of 2002. Before that driving on & off in UK, Europe & Australia since 1963.
I remember IRVINGS having the Plasterbpard contract .. but havent seen there wagons for a while
Re: BFC
[.
PS Or was that BFI? [/quote]
BFI used to do the plasterboard out of East Leake and Gotham (usually handball  Fergusons now have the contract.
Ted, your mention of the Juniper Berry brought back some happy memories, and some embarrasing ones too, (don`t ask, cos I`m not telling.) Do you remember the landlord who fancied himself as a comedian, and Dockyard Doris?  I beleive it`s now a restaurant.
Merry Christmas Trev PS. I meant the Juniper Berry is a restaurant, not Dockyard Doris ERF drivers do it with twins
Definately Fergies now...I know this, incidentally, 'cos I spent many a happy hour sat at East Leake waiting for a backload when I worked for them...and have a good friend who is still doing it now, poor [zb]... 
Re: BFC
Yep - that was BFI "Bowden Freight International" - also had an Iveco dealership in Essex, and Bowden Container Services too. They went bust many years ago
There's been a few like that lately, i'm suprised no one else noticed, they all carry on like it was yesterday!!!
juniper berry
dafdave Ah Zzar you bring back a few memories there,the juniper berry had some good nights there. Came out one night and two lads sadly the worse for drink[[ unusual]]were betting each other over jumping the wall at the side of the door,the one with the 30ft drop on the other side. Regards Dave one flew over the cuckoos nest
anyone remember British International from Nursling, white Daf units and blue tilts? They used to do Black & Decker part loads out of Spennymoor for us to Estoril as they weren't much use to us - good set of lads in their office as well as on the road, seemed to vanish early 90s
Drank one night in the Berry with a guy from Bristol (in the days when drivers didn`t shut the curtains & stick the telly on) anyway I diverse Supped with the guy all night good crack usual entertainment on stage came to closing time & he`s waving to this good looking Italian kid standing by the door , Come on Kenny here`s my lift I`l drop you off at the wagon [i`m skint so I`m off to make myself afew bob ] I nearly fell off the bar stool
 Anyway took the lift & the guy from Bristol dissapeared into the moonlight with the Boy never to be seen again (Well he wasn`t back when I left at 8am)  ROPES & SHEETS RULE
H. I was just reading this thinking that I'm not so sure that I would want to admit to spending that much time in the Juniper Berry. When I was at sea that was home from home for the Cunard and Union Castle stewards. And very nice they looked in the good dress!
I never had time for anything in Sotton. Always scrambling for a boat. The gender benders were of no interest for me ( & vice-versa if you didn`t encourage `em ) when you had the all them Spanish & South American gals lookin` for romance.
Re: Bowdens ; Its funny ,when I think of it ? In the old days it used to take about 3 days to clear in Lisbon. So every night I used to go to the clubs ,fall in love & end up in an hotel. But there was this Bowdens driver who had this handlebar mustache & would go to the Bavarian bar that was crammed full of crumpet. He used to stand at the bar wearing a blazer ,grey flannels ,collar & tie. He went there because they served beer in big pint mugs. He used to smoke his pipe & drink his beer like a sergeant major ,while all around him were truckers from all over Europe totally wasted & really wild women doing what they did best. He never went with any of the girls. But as soon as he got to Lisbon he made a bee-line to the nightclubs. A respectable oddity...... ( I was there now )
Nice to see this old thread resurrected.
My first boss in Southampton was a former ship's steward, appropriately named Lennie Dear, camp as a row of tents but a smashing bloke to work for. For the record BFC - who's yard definitely was at Eastleigh, possibly on a farm, and who pulled a mixture of Cunard boxes and rope and sheet mixed flatbed freight out of the dock sheds was not either Bowden or BFI. From fuzzy memory the fleet included TKs, D series and Dafs and had white cabs with red wings and chassis. AKT, their very dodgy susidiary, had a yard, also used by BFC, in St Marys close to the railway. Their livery was a bright yellow and blue and they only ran rigid flatbeds. AKT probably fielded six wagons. BFC four or more times that, most bought second hand. Drivers were often swopped between the two firms, hence I worked for AKT - 4 pot Ford and Leyland Terrier, both day cabs, on long distance - but also drove a BFC TK and Perkins powered D series, a real flyer.
Can't say as I know the pub, when I was working by on the Castle boats in port before sailing on the Mary, I was straight home to Auntie each evening where I lodged, at Portswood. Sounds like I was doing the right thing . Might have needed the steward-rejection practice though on the QM, if it hadn't been for the force 9 that kept us all below decks and seperated right through to New York. Salut, David.
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Well, it would have to be Tykes and Scousers complaining
Also moving smartly on... There used to be a Southampton outfit that did continental with yellow Fodens. What were they called - can't remember.
Somebody else from Sotton,with dark blue Atkis had a go at it ,but soon packed in. ( The drivers told everyone that they were getting £100 extra a week to drive in Europe with them ) They looked a bit like circus wagons. They were well established in UK. Don`t remember their name either ?
Anybody would think we were getting old or something Harry.
As they say "Ive got Altzheimers... but at least I don't have Altzhiemers"
David Miller The trouble is that I moved around a lot & each location has its own bunch of characters so its only the very best or worst are remembered. When I started TIR I was based in London, then Dover.back to London ( I mean living in these places. ) Then for a long time it was Swiss , then Holland, tried Italy. All these locations have their own `families` so at times it can be difficult . Now I have washed up in UK my friend is the awful tv.
Does anyone remember a firm called 'Jameson' or 'Jameson Europa' ? I think they were based somewhere in the Southampton area. They had those tilt trailers that were lifted on and off trains, and had the chamfered roof edges so that they would fit through the tunnels. They did mainly Italy, I think.  Graham.
Ye'ah,they went bust because they invested in hundreds of 10 metre tilt trailers. The rest of the world went for 12 metre. I think the idea was to set cheaper rates per trailer to Italy because they could get a cheaper rate on the ferries. I think trains were involved somewhere along the line..? they had a driver called Pinhead.
Sorry mate, i wasn' complaining, i just found it funny that it was just picked back up on and not mentioned. The reference to yesterday, i meant like the thread was started yesterday and not a reference to days gone by. And Harry stay off the red wine tonight!!
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