Retired Old ■■■■:
There you go- too late again! Must learn to get my *ss in gear a bit quicker. I was ecstatic to find The Beacon had a cider festival on when we went. I know it was Monday evening when we arrived there but I’m not too sure which day we left!
Does this mean we’ll be looking out for yet another vehicle?
Yes in a couple of weeks,as a replacement for my transit which has departed to pastures new. Shall be an all fatherland fleet of two then Casey. 
Cheers Dave…
That’s a cracking photo, Bob. Any idea when? At a rough guess I reckon '78 or 79?
Dave the Renegade:
Retired Old ■■■■:
There you go- too late again! Must learn to get my *ss in gear a bit quicker. I was ecstatic to find The Beacon had a cider festival on when we went. I know it was Monday evening when we arrived there but I’m not too sure which day we left!
Does this mean we’ll be looking out for yet another vehicle?Yes in a couple of weeks,as a replacement for my transit which has departed to pastures new. Shall be an all fatherland fleet of two then Casey.
Cheers Dave…
Vorsprung durk teknik. Hope you’re not considering a Maltese cross motif on the sides of them? 
Wheel Nut:
Zzarbean normally pops his head up on these threads. Is Ted OK?
Still in the land of the breathing. 
(just)
I didn’t know Roger had passed away, my condolences.
I used to work with him in the 70’s on the Merryfaster job, spent many a happy night in the Albion in Dover and other watering holes. . if I remember rightly he also did a couple of Middle East trips.
I left Eric’s 3 or 4 years ago but it’s still going strong, one thing we didn’t carry in those days were cameras so I don’t have many actual photos but if you do a search of these forums you will find plenty.
The actual yard has always been in Stank Lane, when I first started on the job there were no gates or fences and the keys were left in the trucks overnight 
The ‘Office’ was cow shed with the key to the padlock under a broken tile on the window sill. How Times change.
Retired Old ■■■■:
That’s a cracking photo, Bob. Any idea when? At a rough guess I reckon '78 or 79?
mr cypher would be the man to ask. i reckon about 78, but could be earlier.
wideboybob:
another from adrian cypher.Retired Old ■■■■:
That’s a cracking photo, Bob. Any idea when? At a rough guess I reckon '78 or 79?mr cypher would be the man to ask. i reckon about 78, but could be earlier.
10 - 15 Years and dozens of countries later it was still going strong, all be it with an extra axle and the ■■■■■■■ replaced by a 300 Gardner.
2nd photo taken 1981 ish boarding the Sally ferry at Dunkerque.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Here we go again! I know it’s getting to be a bit monotonous but Eric is yet another operator whom I can remember seeing in Gloucester market with his solitary livestock lorry.
And before anyone mentions the other, yes, I can also remember Bob Cooper from the other end of the city doing the same thing!Dave, you missed me by three days! I turned up past Eric’s Hardwicke Garage last Monday on a night out as part of my daughter’s birthday celebrations. If you’re in the area again I can recommend The Beacon at Haresfield for decent grub & “proper” beer!
Are you thinking of Reg Cooper of Witcombe. he and Eric were good mates and used the same colour scheme for the lorries
zzarbean:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Here we go again! I know it’s getting to be a bit monotonous but Eric is yet another operator whom I can remember seeing in Gloucester market with his solitary livestock lorry.
And before anyone mentions the other, yes, I can also remember Bob Cooper from the other end of the city doing the same thing!Dave, you missed me by three days! I turned up past Eric’s Hardwicke Garage last Monday on a night out as part of my daughter’s birthday celebrations. If you’re in the area again I can recommend The Beacon at Haresfield for decent grub & “proper” beer!
0
Are you thinking of Reg Cooper of Witcombe. he and Eric were good mates and used the same colour scheme for the lorries
I think IIRC that Reg and Eric formed a partnership of some kind as there were livestock wagons signwritten “Cooper - Vick Transport” I’m not too sure of the arrangements they had at the time. The Seddon of Eric’s which I remember from the old Gloucester market was a Mark 5 , do you have any pics of it ? There is an R J Cooper A series HDG 188N awaiting restoration in a shed not a million miles away!
Brilliant, Ted. I believe Eric had an earlier Seddon than the one in the photo but I don’t know if any pics exist.
zzarbean:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Here we go again! I know it’s getting to be a bit monotonous but Eric is yet another operator whom I can remember seeing in Gloucester market with his solitary livestock lorry.
And before anyone mentions the other, yes, I can also remember Bob Cooper from the other end of the city doing the same thing!Dave, you missed me by three days! I turned up past Eric’s Hardwicke Garage last Monday on a night out as part of my daughter’s birthday celebrations. If you’re in the area again I can recommend The Beacon at Haresfield for decent grub & “proper” beer!
0
Are you thinking of Reg Cooper of Witcombe. he and Eric were good mates and used the same colour scheme for the lorries
Dunno if its my eyes or the pic but that Seddons chassis/body looks like its sagging behind the front axle.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye I was past there a couple of weeks ago & as you say it was mostley trailers, Regards Larry.
Would I be correct when saying there was an old ERF Tractor unit parked near the perimeter fence bearing the name Ellis ■■?, I was heading south and just got a glance of it, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye I was past there a couple of weeks ago & as you say it was mostley trailers, Regards Larry.Would I be correct when saying there was an old ERF Tractor unit parked near the perimeter fence bearing the name Ellis ■■?, I was heading south and just got a glance of it, Regards Larry.
There is a haulage company further down the A38 from Gloucester at Cambridge named Ellis with a fleet of green wagons Larry.
Cheers Dave.
Dave the Renegade:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye I was past there a couple of weeks ago & as you say it was mostley trailers, Regards Larry.Would I be correct when saying there was an old ERF Tractor unit parked near the perimeter fence bearing the name Ellis ■■?, I was heading south and just got a glance of it, Regards Larry.
There is a haulage company further down the A38 from Gloucester at Cambridge named Ellis with a fleet of green wagons Larry.
Cheers Dave.
Aye perhaps that is what I saw on my travels, Thank you for the info, The next time Im down that way I will make a point of getting some photos to put on here, Regards Larry.
That would be Mike Ellis from Cambridge, Glos. Main work is, I think, running agricultural machinery to the North.
Courtesy of Ellis Transport.
Retired Old ■■■■:
That would be Mike Ellis from Cambridge, Glos. Main work is, I think, running agricultural machinery to the North.
I think he has got a LV cabbed ERF unit in preservation , may be it will be at Speech house ? regards Keith
Whoops where do I start.
The sagging Seddon is my fault, it’s from a framed photo which I scanned with an early hand held scanner and I guess it didn’t come out very straight 
As it was it was involved in an accident and was eventually cut down into an artic unit. (my first) WGR 141.
There was a company in existence (Cooper Vick Farms) or something similar but both collaborated all through their working lives, neither were that hot on written contracts. Other companies also worked with were Norman Webb from Stroud, Con Downton, Gardeners of Gloucester, Jacksons, Timms Brothers
I think Eric’s first proper truck was a Thorneycroft boxvan converted into a cattle truck.
When I first went there he had a couple of ERF units, the cut down Seddon, a couple of AEC units, a couple or three Albion 6 wheel flatbeds and an AEC 4 wheeler flatbed. There was a cattle box for the AEC and one of the Albions. Oh yes there was also an Albion bulk blower on chicken feed. No doubt there are picture around somewhere but I’ve not seen them.
Ellis’s, as said, are down the A38 at Cambridge and just to confuse matters they bought a few old curtainsiders off Eric a few years back (probably getting on for 10 ) and have never taken the names off them. I think the deal was they bought them to cut down into flatbeds but then found they were in better nick than the curtainsiders they had. They do a lot of farm machinery work.
Bumped up for A-J. Robert 
zzarbean:
Whoops where do I start.The sagging Seddon is my fault, it’s from a framed photo which I scanned with an early hand held scanner and I guess it didn’t come out very straight
Would that chopped-down Seddon have been of 1950’s vintage or a more modern one, matey?
