Hello Eddie. Bob was shop steward when I was there. I worked for CabMont for 11 years 71-82 on the flyer. I seem to remember Tony marrying a girl from Rugby. Johnny Atherton (rip) came from Heatons to CabMont too. For the few weeks in 90 that I was at DPs, I had an F10. You are so right in saying what a decent man DP was. RIP Dicky. He asked me to work for him full time, but I got offered, & took a job at TDS Morgan Freight, Mostyn doing the continent.
Hi ,Viking ,Isee you worked for Terry ,were you there with , Olly and John Thomas , ? cheers Barry
Hi Barry. Yes I worked for Terry for 2 years 1990-92 'til I had an accident in Ancona 1992 involving tilt trailer boards & a ladder that collapsed on me. I worked with Jonboy, in fact, me a & Jon Davies took him out on his first trip abroad. Here’s a pic of Jon getting his rocks off. 
Olly? 
Hi ,Viking , OLLY was KIETH OLLMAN He ran the Stag inn Bagillt ,and one of the Morgans early gang ,he used to go over in an old Seddon with a 220 r/r in it with a pod made from bits of old caravan that Chris the fitter knocked up looked a sight but done the job ,Cheers Barry
I don’t recall him Barry.
Eddie Heaton:
Hi Barry, Jack Case was located at Ram pit yard in Haydock initially then latterly at Ashton cross at the traffic lights near junction 24 of the M6. He lived in a big house at the side of the westbound east lancs road not far from the Huntsman pub. His house was demolished shortly after he died about 25 years ago, it could be even longer. I’m not sure what’s there now, probably more houses. His yard up at Ashton cross also had houses built on it at about the same time. He has nephews that are still ( as far as I’m aware ) engaged in plant and haulage in a modest way. Gaskells operated from Bryn road in Ashton. There were two companies, Wm.& C Gaskell., who are still based, as far as I’m aware in Bryn road and S&A Gaskell, (Stan&Alan) who are now defunct. Their premises were located side by side and they are cousins. Wm& C ran brown and cream Sedacs in the 80’s whilst S&A ran a fleet of about 10 mkII Atki 8 legger tippers painted red and grey.Their father ran a fleet of ex m.o.d. QL Bedfords back in the 50’s and 60’s. I drove for them for about 10 months back in the 80’s while I was waiting for a decent job to come up. We were carting pit dirt out of Parkside colliery to Borrow pit at junction 22 of the M6 ( about 14 loads a day ) and sand out of Borrow pit to various sites in the area. Eavesway coaches now occupy S&A Gaskell’s old yard. Pickavance moved from St Helen’s to somewhere up Horwich way and changed their name to Santime. I’m not sure when or why , but I haven’t seen them around for a while so I assume they also have gone down the same route as the dinosaurs. The only Bennetts that I knew were based up at Coppull moor, but that was back in the 70’s. I don’t remember much about them other than the cabs of their motors were painted red and black. ( I think). It may not be the same outfit that you’re thinking of Barry. Anyway it’s past my bedtime. Back soon. Eddie.
I think it was Wm & C who operated the smart 6x4 Atkinson tractor with a low-loader, and which I saw a few times in the late 80s?
It’s still on the fairgrounds, and looking very smart indeed
You’re correct about Gaskell’s low loader 240 G. I was quite pally with a lad by the name of Johnny Dutton who used to drive it. He partially demolished the bridge parapet at Bryn station with the thing at one point causing disruption to road traffic on the A49 and rail services on the Wigan to Liverpool line. I think this happened in the late seventies. After this incident I used to see it knocking about being driven by various people. One bloke in particular sticks out in my mind, he was an elderly chap who I suspect was primarily a plant operator. His P.P.E. appeared to consist of a flat cap, oily overalls and a pair of clogs. I’m surprised to learn that the motor is still running considering we’re talking 35 years ago, although it probably wouldn’t have been high mileage when Gaskell’s sold it on. Where was it the last time you saw it mate?.Eddie.
Eddie Heaton:
You’re correct about Gaskell’s low loader 240 G. I was quite pally with a lad by the name of Johnny Dutton who used to drive it. He partially demolished the bridge parapet at Bryn station with the thing at one point causing disruption to road traffic on the A49 and rail services on the Wigan to Liverpool line. I think this happened in the late seventies. After this incident I used to see it knocking about being driven by various people. One bloke in particular sticks out in my mind, he was an elderly chap who I suspect was primarily a plant operator. His P.P.E. appeared to consist of a flat cap, oily overalls and a pair of clogs. I’m surprised to learn that the motor is still running considering we’re talking 35 years ago, although it probably wouldn’t have been high mileage when Gaskell’s sold it on. Where was it the last time you saw it mate?.Eddie.
Thanks very much for the info!
Here’s how it looks now:
flickr.com/photos/dextra_gr … rzX-afpLZw
I last saw it in either 1987 or early 1988, heading up the M58
Eddie Heaton:
I drove for ■■■■ Pennington around about 1980. I had an S40 with a 210 ■■■■■■■ in it. The bulk of the fleet (about five wagons) at that time, were Fodens, then they moved on to ERFs then Volvos. ■■■■ was a decent bloke to work for. I never saw him dressed in anything other than greasy overalls all the time I knew him. He died about six or seven years ago unfortunately.
I remember ■■■■ Pennington - he was a friend of one of my neighbours and I can remember going to his yard once - there were B Series ERFs all over the place. My neighbour had two motors which both ended up at Penningtons - OKB280S, which was a B Series with a Jennings sleeper (ex-Allied Mills) and VKA848V, which was a Volvo F12 with a Granning tag axle. I believe ■■■■ used the F12 as a recovery motor. If anyone has any pictures of either I would be very pleased to see them.
Thanks for the photo 240, as you say, it really is a smart piece of kit. If I’m being honest, if I’d seen this motor at a show, I’d never have made the connection with Gaskell’s. Also, at the risk of appearing totally thick, I wasn’t even aware that there was an 8LXB under the bonnet, I would have assumed it had a 180 in it. However, with a user name like yours, I’m perfectly willing to bow to your superior knowledge. I’d be interested to know who your neighbour was Marky. Although I’d moved on before the Volvos started to arrive, I’ve maintained contact with Pennington Haulage on and off for over 40 years. I have no recollection of the two wagons with Liverpool plates. Neither do I recall an F12 wrecker, but I could be mistaken, I was absent for quite some time. When I worked there in the 70’s the wrecker that we used was a home made job, built on the back of a long wheelbase Leyland chassis, ( by Richard himself no doubt). It consisted of two cutting edge technology hydraulic rams, connected to a state of the art RSJ. It did the job however and it was also very handy for nipping out to Agnes’s butty shop at brew time. Haulage companies come and go, but the ‘make do and mend’ mentality of this small outfit may go some way towards explaining why they have been, and still are, trading after 70 plus years when numerous other bigger companies, reliant on large contracts have gone to the wall.
Eddie Heaton:
Thanks for the photo 240, as you say, it really is a smart piece of kit. If I’m being honest, if I’d seen this motor at a show, I’d never have made the connection with Gaskell’s. Also, at the risk of appearing totally thick, I wasn’t even aware that there was an 8LXB under the bonnet, I would have assumed it had a 180 in it. However, with a user name like yours, I’m perfectly willing to bow to your superior knowledge. I’d be interested to know who your neighbour was Marky. Although I’d moved on before the Volvos started to arrive, I’ve maintained contact with Pennington Haulage on and off for over 40 years. I have no recollection of the two wagons with Liverpool plates. Neither do I recall an F12 wrecker, but I could be mistaken, I was absent for quite some time. When I worked there in the 70’s the wrecker that we used was a home made job, built on the back of a long wheelbase Leyland chassis, ( by Richard himself no doubt). It consisted of two cutting edge technology hydraulic rams, connected to a state of the art RSJ. It did the job however and it was also very handy for nipping out to Agnes’s butty shop at brew time. Haulage companies come and go, but the ‘make do and mend’ mentality of this small outfit may go some way towards explaining why they have been, and still are, trading after 70 plus years when numerous other bigger companies, reliant on large contracts have gone to the wall.
Hi Eddie
My neighbour was Keith Cheetham from Burscough. His dad, Bob, was involved with fleet management at Pilkingtons at Moss Bank, St Helens - when they still had their own fleet. I believe he used to sort out motors for people when they were up for disposal. Going back a few years, these included AEC Mandators, then Seddon Atkinson 400 series and there were also ERF B Series. The only reason I knew was that they all came home to his farm across the road from us, where they used to sit lined-up ready for their new owners.
The ERF I mentioned in my last post had a Gardner 240 in it, and the F12 was Keith’s from new. It was laid-up for over 12 months due to him losing his sight. He eventually got it back on the road and employed a driver on it, running the job from home himself. Both of these were painted in a similar colour to the TDG Scarab green, due to him having an F88 from Doug Haselden before the F12 which arrived in that colour.
Keith and Bob were also on friendly terms with Brian O’Connor and his wife, who often used to visit.
Bloody hell! I don’t know how I managed to do that.
Eddie Heaton:
Bloody hell! I don’t know how I managed to do that.
Well done Eddie, good looking trailers, ‘The on time freight line’ - that phone number was imprinted in your brain 0942 77234!
John
Who was the lad who drove the MAN/Roman? on nights early 70s? When I worked for Cabmont, St Helens. I used to have a coffee with him on Corley.
Aside from a short lived Newport trunk, we didn’t do nights as such Viking, although we did a lot of early starts, e.g. Changeovers at Tubby’s. Leaving Ashton at 0230 to get to Crick for 0500. This would probably be when you would have met him. If we ran up scotch, we would normally set off about 0600. I don’t know if this qualifies as nights or not although we got a few bob in dark money before a certain hour.
The driver would have been Johnny McQuillan, aka Mack. He was a good looking guy and a real character to boot. He’s in his seventies now but still knocking around. He drove the only M.A.N. that Pritchett’s ran. Always kept his motor spotless.
I baled out 12 months before they folded, but Mack stayed with Pritchett’s till the bitter end. He then went driving for Terry Armstrong along with a few more of Pritchett’s drivers.
I’ve mentioned before on this thread that he put his Scania in the river Mersey whilst tipping at Granox in Widnes.
Now that I’ve sussed out how to post attachments ( albeit the wrong way round ) I’ll post a couple of photos of it’s ( not uneventful ) recovery. Cheers. Eddie.
This was the catastrophic result of the abortive first attempt at recovery when the wrecker ended up in the river along with mack’s motor.
