Apart from the cars clearly indicating an earlier date, the presence of a Trolleybus puts this before April 1967 when electric traction ceased in Maidstone. AF135 was a Mercury which IIRC was being driven in the early 1970s by a very young Peter Hopkins, Jimmy’'s Brother. For some reason Bob Benstead, the yard foreman and an ex wrestler, seemed to take a delight in getting Peter in a headlock whenever he appeared in the mess room.
DEANB:
Alan Firmin.Click on pages twice to read.
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Somethings never change, they rolled one of the last day of the knauf contract which they held, then the low bridge in Marden was hit by a firmins lorry with such force it ripped the body off the chassis leaving the pallet truck on the chassis
I posted the attached photo recently and asked if the guy on the right was Mr Woodcock. I’m surprised none of the Kent contributors could identify him! Anyway I have just seen the photo on F/B and he’s been named as Laurie Woodcock together with driver Ted Standon or Standen.
Sorry, I had a strong suspicion who it was but never having met him I couldn’t have said whether it was the Transport manager or Laurie himself. Although some of these companies were quite close geographically some did completely different work and went to different places. Henley, Mitchell & Robertson and Louis Reece were very much fruit and veg. Alan Firmin, Colin Ashby and Tomkinson were into paper reels, Jempson’s did British Gypsum, Woodcock’s did coal and ? I don’t know what Turks took out. There was some overlap, most of these did hops or could be seen occasionally at Dover docks loading Cape…
Oddly out of all of these I saw none in Charcon Products Hulland Ward which was a regular haunt for Henley’s; maybe because these all had regular return loads in the '70s while Henley’s at the time didn’t, seeming to me to be actively encouraged to get back as quickly as possible for the next good-paying outbound load.
cav551:
Sorry, I had a strong suspicion who it was but never having met him I couldn’t have said whether it was the Transport manager or Laurie himself. Although some of these companies were quite close geographically some did completely different work and went to different places. Henley, Mitchell & Robertson and Louis Reece were very much fruit and veg. Alan Firmin, Colin Ashby and Tomkinson were into paper reels, Jempson’s did British Gypsum, Woodcock’s did coal and ? I don’t know what Turks took out. There was some overlap, most of these did hops or could be seen occasionally at Dover docks loading Cape…Oddly out of all of these I saw none in Charcon Products Hulland Ward which was a regular haunt for Henley’s; maybe because these all had regular return loads in the '70s while Henley’s at the time didn’t, seeming to me to be actively encouraged to get back as quickly as possible for the next good-paying outbound load.
Hi Cav, Thanks for your interesting post of transport from Kent. I have an interest in Louis Reece from years ago when they were the biggest
fruit and veg wholesaler at the then new wholesale market at Wigan. I am in touch occasionally with a gentleman from Horsemonden whose
father was a driver with Louis Reece. I am trying to find info and pictures of Louis Reece lorries from this area to put on the Trucknet thread.
Cheers, Ray.
cav551:
Sorry, I had a strong suspicion who it was but never having met him I couldn’t have said whether it was the Transport manager or Laurie himself. Although some of these companies were quite close geographically some did completely different work and went to different places. Henley, Mitchell & Robertson and Louis Reece were very much fruit and veg. Alan Firmin, Colin Ashby and Tomkinson were into paper reels, Jempson’s did British Gypsum, Woodcock’s did coal and ? I don’t know what Turks took out. There was some overlap, most of these did hops or could be seen occasionally at Dover docks loading Cape…Oddly out of all of these I saw none in Charcon Products Hulland Ward which was a regular haunt for Henley’s; maybe because these all had regular return loads in the '70s while Henley’s at the time didn’t, seeming to me to be actively encouraged to get back as quickly as possible for the next good-paying outbound load.
‘Woodcocks did coal’ says cav551. Just found this photo on the web. Coal and bones were both carried, no not together. Only have to give the trailer a quick wash out in between loads though. I understand it was the last Mandator Woodcock’s had and that both Dave Baughurst and Yogi had driven it at different times.
However, I’m assuming coal would have been carried in this type of trailer never having been involved in this type of haulage myself. Please let us know if you know better.
Three? Woodcock’s, a Hammond, a Nicholl’s, a Firmin, a Bonner? and a Rugby Cement at least in this clip. One of the Woodcock’s might be pulling for Lock’s possibly? A couple of interesting TIR as well.
Nice photo courtesy of Ashleigh Pike. Fred Mumford of Marden lorry believed to be loading at Tovil Paper Mills, Maidstone.
cav551:
Three? Woodcock’s, a Hammond, a Nicholl’s, a Firmin, a Bonner? and a Rugby Cement at least in this clip. One of the Woodcock’s might be pulling for Lock’s possibly? A couple of interesting TIR as well.
Thanks CAV that a great piece of history, I noticed one of PD Wharfage from Portslade at about half way.
dave docwra:
cav551:
Three? Woodcock’s, a Hammond, a Nicholl’s, a Firmin, a Bonner? and a Rugby Cement at least in this clip. One of the Woodcock’s might be pulling for Lock’s possibly? A couple of interesting TIR as well.Thanks CAV that a great piece of history, I noticed one of PD Wharfage from Portslade at about half way.
…and a Joseph Hoyle Foden as well!
David
Lovely detailed model by Paul Davis and the last photo of the real thing. Many thanks Paul and to Steve Lynch for the photo.
sandway:
Lovely detailed model by Paul Davis and the last photo of the real thing. Many thanks Paul and to Steve Lynch for the photo.
That’s a cracking model, Paul, if you’re reading this! I remember how keen your eye was when we examined a green one at Gaydon one afternoon!
ERF-NGC-European:
sandway:
Three more Mitchell & Robertson photos from Darren Goldup. I’m always interested in photos or information concerning this company as its where I started as a driver back in late 69. If the Merc on the left in the first photo is GUG 913N then that was my old lorry, the last one I drove before I left.When they sold up I was always under the impression Woods moved them to premises at Detling and ran his business from there, however, somebody has told me they went to Teynham! So where did they go and when■■?
That Merc on the right, EKR 107V must have been repainted into A&RJ Wood livery because this is what it looked like when I drove it on casual work in 1984. It was a 1626 and IIRC it had a ZF upside-down gearbox installation (common with RHD 1626s) so you changed gear away from you in the double-H pattern. Regarding Teynham and Detling. A&RJ Wood occupied the Teynham depot / coldstore until A Wood separated from RJ Wood and took his company and vehicles up to Detling on the hill behind the aerodrome. I drove for both in a casual capacity! Ro
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When Mitchell and Robertson sold their fleet they sold to Roy Wood (A and R J Wood Sheerness Ltd), who were best at Teynham, in direct competition to Alf Wood (A Wood and Sons) at Detling. At the time (early 1908’s) the split was acrimonious but time washes away all that rubbish. I’m Alf’s son Martin, we stayed at Detling until bought out by Albert Fisher plc, along with Henley’s of Paddock Wood. Later on my cousin Clive (Roy’s son) at Teynham ended up selling to Albert Fisher as well, then Portway soon after that. The whole lot is now called Fowler Welch. They were the first Produce haulier that Albert Fisher bought in the mid 80’s based somewhere near Spalding in Lincolnshire. Happy days !!
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Winkworth, Regan & Marr: the Goon show. 
I started work at RJ Wood at Teynham aged 17 in January 1985 as a transport clerk. As you quite rightly say Robert, Roy Wood had retained the warehousing side of the business and had bought M&R to replace the transport arm that had gone to Detling. The transport side was overseen by Transport Director Les Williams, Transport Manager Roland Simey, and Assistant Transport Manager Bryan “Snowey” Snashall, The vehicles all had M&R on the door but the old A&RJ Wood (Sheerness) logo on the cab wind deflectors and trailers. There were 14 artics, 3 4wheelers and 1 7.5 tonner. A lot of the M&R drivers who had transferred over to Teynham were not overly happy with the new set up and gradually left over the next couple of years.
Drivers who were there at the time were Kenny Barden, Richard Bushen, Bill Godfrey, ■■■■ Kearney, Gordon White, Tug Wilson, John Spicer (Lofty) Norman Horsford, Norman Dadson, Bill Johnston, Kevin Fraser (Fonzie) Phil Raines, Trevor Boorman, Terry Hutton, Arthur Homans, Brian Barker (The Colonel) and Andy Snashall, son of Snowey.
The tractor unit EKR 107V was one of the last to go when most of the fleet was replaced by new Mercedes 2033 units in 1986 and 87 with the company now rebranded RJ Wood Distribution, and I drove it after passing my HGV at 21 in February 1989 along with OKE 486W on farm collections and London markets.
I am still at Teynham, having been Transport Operations Manager for the last 28 years, and seen the company change hands from the original family run business to WRM in 1995 through to Fowler Welch in 2003 and now part of the Culina group.
Steve J:
I started work at RJ Wood at Teynham aged 17 in January 1985 as a transport clerk. As you quite rightly say Robert, Roy Wood had retained the warehousing side of the business and had bought M&R to replace the transport arm that had gone to Detling. The transport side was overseen by Transport Director Les Williams, Transport Manager Roland Simey, and Assistant Transport Manager Bryan “Snowey” Snashall, The vehicles all had M&R on the door but the old A&RJ Wood (Sheerness) logo on the cab wind deflectors and trailers. There were 14 artics, 3 4wheelers and 1 7.5 tonner. A lot of the M&R drivers who had transferred over to Teynham were not overly happy with the new set up and gradually left over the next couple of years.Drivers who were there at the time were Kenny Barden, Richard Bushen, Bill Godfrey, ■■■■ Kearney, Gordon White, Tug Wilson, John Spicer (Lofty) Norman Horsford, Norman Dadson, Bill Johnston, Kevin Fraser (Fonzie) Phil Raines, Trevor Boorman, Terry Hutton, Arthur Homans, Brian Barker (The Colonel) and Andy Snashall, son of Snowey.
The tractor unit EKR 107V was one of the last to go when most of the fleet was replaced by new Mercedes 2033 units in 1986 and 87 with the company now rebranded RJ Wood Distribution, and I drove it after passing my HGV at 21 in February 1989 along with OKE 486W on farm collections and London markets.
I am still at Teynham, having been Transport Operations Manager for the last 28 years, and seen the company change hands from the original family run business to WRM in 1995 through to Fowler Welch in 2003 and now part of the Culina group.
A nice summary, Steve! Yes, I remember some of those names. Brian Barker drove the Merc 1617 16-tonner and lived at Graveney. Didn’t Lofty go to Francis Davis, or was that another Lofty? Here’s a pic of the 1617 under the tunnel at EKE Eurocentre in Faversham, now built on! I drove it that day.
That was NKM 301W which Brian drove before he went back to Whites Transport at Thanet. I used to go to London with him whilst still working in the office and he certainly taught me a lot back then. Lofty went to work for Henleys along with Norman Horsford so I eventually met up with them again when Teynham and Henleys joined forces in 1997.
EKP was a huge cold store and we used to run New Zealand apples in there from Sheerness, Dover and Newhaven.
Sorry, re-read that again. You were talking about the Eurocentre not EKP Bysingwood. I remember it took ages to load from there.
Great informative posts there Steve J and Martin Wood. Fills in some of the gaps in my knowledge of the Mitchell & Robertson history. I recognise very few of the names you mention but it was a much smaller company when I was there during the early 70’s.
I have attached a photo, courtesy of Mark Chamberlain, of one of Colin Ashby’s old lorries, AJG 423B an Albion Reiver I believe. In late 69 when I joined them M & R were running a similar lorry and wonder if it could be the same one. If I remember correctly it had a payload of 12 tons and a top speed of 47mph. It was not a drivers motor and most of us hated it. I only drove it a couple of times, the second trip to the fruit and veg market in Edge Lane, Liverpool.
We had a driver who drove it regularly but unfortunately can’t remember his name. However, I do remember a little incident he had in Covent Garden one morning. The previous night he had been down to Cardiff, tipped in the market, reloaded oranges out of the docks during the day and just after midnight left Cardiff and made his way back to Covent Garden. By now he was dog tired and peed off and when he finally got into the Garden he couldn’t find anywhere to park so just parked the lorry wherever to go and find the stand where he had to deliver. As soon as he jumped down from the cab a traffic warden or somebody with a bit of authority told him to move on. Only a few words passed between them before our driver thumped the warden putting him on his back. Within seconds three beefy policemen had pounced on him and dragged him into Bow Street police station. Needless to say he didn’t get tipped till late morning.
Since posting an old photo of the Colin Ashby lorry, seen above, I’ve seen on the web this photo of an AEC Mercury, reg number 490 PKE of W E Reeve Ltd up at Detling. I think this lorry may also have ended up at Mitchell & Robertson’s.
I had never driven a lorry before I joined M & R in late 69. There was an AEC Mercury there and I did my first ever trip in it to Tesco’s Romsey. I remember picking it up from a deserted yard about nine in the evening. Driving along the A25 to Guildford, over the Hogs Back then making my way down through Alton, no bypass then of course, before finally arriving in Romsey. The Tesco depot was small and there was only one other lorry there. I tipped and made my way home arriving back in the yard about five in the morning. It was still deserted.
