BIG AW:
240 Gardner:
killsville:
rich12:
i can remember seeing a few of their motors ready to be sold off in bocs yard at barnsley in the mid 90s,i think boc had bought them out then disposed of the trucks.I think you’re right.
The ERF I bought showed BOC as the previous owner on the log book. I bought fleet no. 383 from a dealer in Coventry in 1996.
Onward was bought by BOC Distribution Services’ short-lived ambient network, BOC Interbrand. Interbrand had been formed by a buyout of Beecham Foods in-house distribution division, PDS (Products Distribution Services) and the idea was that this would form the basis of an ambient network to complement their existing BOC Transhield and G L Baker operations. The chilled side of the group also took on Spalding Haulage (with lots of stored-up legal grief!) around the same time.
Although non-Beecham traffic was added to the business (principally the former Onward traffic, I think - Haribo springs to mind as one customer) they then proceeded to lose the Beecham contract to Wincanton once the initial guaranteed period had expired, and that was the end of BOC Interbrand.
The evoultion of the BOC business is Gist, who still run out of the former Baylis depot at Thornbury (remember the Onward/Baylis link?) for M&S - this was previously used by BOC as the distribution centre for Beecham products from Coleford (Ribena), Maidenhead (OTC medicines) and Slough (Horlicks).
Finally, I seem to recall that Ian Storey, formerly a director of Onward, joined BOC Distribution Services as a director.
Onward was bought by BOC interbrands and had nothing to do with non beecham traffic it was bought to get BOC into genral haulage and they failed Gist had nothing to do with it as well it was called transhield up to a few years ago long after interbrands flipped out i dont know where you have got your info from. BOC wanted to buy into a well known haulage firm they choose onward for its know how and the fact they had depots all over the uk which in fact didnt buy they rented. They took the units trailers and plant and the contracts losing the homepride and then the zeneka work was the last straw and they jumped ship turned a well known and resected firm and shut it down and ian storey never went to BOC because there is no ian storey so if you want to know anything else what went down at Onward transport let me know i only work ther for 12 years and my dad for 20
If you read what I wrote, you will see that I said that BOC bought Onward to broaden their ambient business beyond the Beecham business. They already had the basis of a national depot network, acquired from what was then SmithKline Beecham (SB). The Onward business was intended to complement what they already had, and I neither stated nor implied that Onward were associated with Beecham traffic.
Some time after BOC Interbrand was wrapped up, BOC Transhield, BOC Baker, Spalding Haulage, etc., became known simply as BOC Distribution Services, and which was later re-branded as Gist Limited. Interbrand & Transhield were both divisions of BOC Distribution. Gist still have some older equipment carrying the BOCDS logo, and continue to operate an ambient depot at Hemel under the name of G L Baker. Thus, you will see that Gist is a direct evolution of BOCDS, exactly as I said. Less well-known, perhaps, than their M&S business, Gist do actually have some ambient business today.
My information came directly from the senior management of Beecham PDS & BOCDS, with whom my colleagues and I were heavily involved at the time. Along with one other regional operator, we pioneered the outsourcing of their regional distribution, enabling BOC to close most of the former PDS depots, such as Widnes, Leeds and Airdrie. Thus it was that I had knowledge of some of the former Onward traffic, as it formed a part of the portfolio we handled.
Finally, dredging the depths of my memory (please note I inferred that I was unsure of the recollection), I think that the man who joined BOC may have been Ian Ramsay. I was not acquainted with him, hence the less clear recollection of his name.
Whilst the loss of Onward contracts was undoubtedly contributory to the general decline, it was the loss of the SB business to Wincanton that sounded the death knell for BOC Interbrand, and thus for BOC’s ambition to develop an ambient shared-user network to complement their chilled operations.
The sale of the transport interests to BOC was not the end of Onward, of course: onwardholdings.com/index.php?opt … &Itemid=74 You can read there about the Onward Baylis JV to which I referred earlier.
Clearly, BOC/Gist have not been entirely deterred by previous experiences of acquisition, as they bought G&S earlier this year.
Hope this helps untangle your knickers.