dashman:
Bloody hell.
Colin Kirby ! you dragged up some names from the past for me.
I must admit, everyone in CHI was very nice to me !
The best firm anyone could work for.
The DAF was hired from BRS in Cambridge Road,by Chris Hudsons before they bought the 81`s.
They forgot about the O licence that was needed! [we never got done though]
The driver in the new scania looks like Jonnie Dove a mad welshman old mate of mine who went on CH after leaving Geo Davies’s.
> pollystag:
> They forgot about the O licence that was needed! [we never got done though] 
Going through a bad patch after being shafted by my main contract - I had three months with CH leasing one of their 81s as an OD - could even have been the one above as the number rings a loud bell.
I’m sure a good number of the ODs didn’t have an O Licence back then - but CH were good to pull for & paid on time & correct to the mile Plus you could run for as many hours as you wanted, there was always another trailer for you 24/7.
Could be a slow ride with an 81 sometimes, especially 20ton of steel out of Skinningrove Steel Works
Oh aye pulling out of Skinningrove in those days was a big pull up into Brotton one way which most wagons headed for as it got you onto the main trunk roads . But if you turned left then you had a downhill Loftus bank with a hairpin followed by a long steep drag up Loftus bank practically bottom gear in those days. Skinningrove is still open but mainly doing sections for Caterpillar now i think.
When I first knew Chris, was back in the late 60’s when he was European transport manager for J B Woodcocks out of Beckton, I was working for W & M Woods subbing for Woodcocks my regular run was groupage to Lyon, reload Swiss for UK, he was a descent bloke to work with, when Wood’s was setting up It’s unaccompanied trailer service called “Trailer 70”
Ossie
OssieD:
When I first knew Chris, was back in the late 60’s when he was European transport manager for J B Woodcocks out of Beckton, I was working for W & M Woods subbing for Woodcocks my regular run was groupage to Lyon, reload Swiss for UK, he was a descent bloke to work with, when Wood’s was setting up It’s unaccompanied trailer service called “Trailer 70”we both shared some trailer Ideas at the time such as the wheel guards around the back axles copied from J B Woodcocks, caused more problems than it solved the Idea being to stop people nicking trailer wheels.
Ossie
Just as an aside, Jess B. Woodcock (Shipping) Limited was sold to W. H. Bowker, and the ex-Woodcock tilts ran for their whole lives with the Woodcock fleet numbers because of the Carnets.
I had JBW12037 from Bowker from many years - see the JBW number on the headboard:
I sold it to Rowly Ward (rward on here), who has done a fantastic restoration job on it.
Gardener 240 cant thank you enough for selling me the trailor just a few bits and pieces and il put some nice pics on year regards rowly
rward:
Gardener 240 cant thank you enough for selling me the trailor just a few bits and pieces and il put some nice pics on year regards rowly
You’re more than welcome, Rowly! I’m pleased it’s gone to a good home and not an appointment with the hot spanner
In the late seventies/early eighties I remember seeing on a daily basis the green & white tilt trailers of Chris Hudson International, wheeling through Kimbolton.
They were mainly pulled by subbies but I think Hudson had a few sleeper cabbed Scania 81 units of their own, all with BNO **T registrations,I think.
The whole lot seemed to disappear almost overnight.
Was there a Chris Hudson and what happened?
Does anyone have any pics?
I once read they had about 40-50 units and around 2000+ trailers. They started to build up there own trailers, hence that caused them problems and I am led to believe that it was the reason that they went out of business.
Did Chris Hudson have something to do with Montracon?
Think you’ll find that Chris Hudson went bust, at a guess late '80’s.
Ewals Cargo Care were their Continental partners and took over most of the business. Hell of a lot of it was Ford’s
K
guy who lived near us used to drive for Chris Hudson, he had an F88, and in them days it did look the business, it would have been in 1976, remember it well as I was doing his eldest daughter at the time 
I did some work for a Flintshire based OD not long after i passed my Class 1, he had an ex Hudson Scania, a sort of light/lime green if I remember correctly. He started out as a driver for \Hudson on Containers then went the subbie/OD route… May have been around 82/83 so poss the writing was on the wall then?
Mate was then on with McCarthys of Wrexham when I did some work for him
tc trans:
guy who lived near us used to drive for Chris Hudson, he had an F88, and in them days it did look the business, it would have been in 1976, remember it well as I was doing his eldest daughter at the time
“Doing his eldest daughter at the time”■■?
Exactly what were you doing to her Tony?
Trans UK did some subbying work for Chris Hudson around 1980-ish,we used to pick up trailers from Felixstowe,tip them and then drop them at West Thurrock,where Lakeside is now.
They were sticklers for getting the CMR signed AND stamped,and if you didn’t,then they wouldn’t pay you.
They did have quite a few Scania LB 81’s with sleeper cabs,which I think were Jennings conversions.
They did indeed go bust.[/u]
i think tony was try to express the fact that he was dating the guys daughter
well i think thats what he meant 
scaniaman2006:
i think tony was try to express the fact that he was dating the guys daughter
well i think thats what he meant
What? Really!!
I would never have guessed that!
Thanks for your replies guys.
That’s another mystery solved!
I used to work at Chris Hudson International in the traffic office. When I joined (1975/6) I was responsible for making sure Ford Halewood had enough empty trailers and arranging units to drop and collect, shipping via Felixstowe-Europort RoRo. Then I moved into export loads, then import loads and finally an IBM contract.
CHI was the largest independently owned fleet of 12m tilt trailers, but nowhere near 1000.
During my time, Ford was the biggest client. We also used to carry milk powder back and forth from Europe thanks to some peculiarity with government subsidies.
There was also a small groupage fleet (4-5 mini artics) working out of North Weald airfield.
When I was with them the office was next to the Betterware factory in North Street, Romford. It was there that they took over the adjoining warehouse and developed the monoframe chassis with airbag suspension, which was going to change the world. Actually, it broke the company.
There was also a depot at Beckton, then the company moved to Harold Hill, just off the A12.
There were some very good people involved in CHI, but you had to be carefull - lots of family connections working under one roof.
Kirbs50
I remember also a feature on CHI in Comical Motor, about their one-off baby artic (7.5T gross, perhaps?) based on a Ford A Series. Remember the A Series? Like a Transit on steroids.
I suppose that this would have been in the early 80s, and I vaguely recall the trailer having a tilt body. Probably had a payload of 15 cwt!
kirbs50:
I used to work at Chris Hudson International in the traffic office. When I joined (1975/6) I was responsible for making sure Ford Halewood had enough empty trailers and arranging units to drop and collect, shipping via Felixstowe-Europort RoRo. Then I moved into export loads, then import loads and finally an IBM contract.
CHI was the largest independently owned fleet of 12m tilt trailers, but nowhere near 1000.
During my time, Ford was the biggest client. We also used to carry milk powder back and forth from Europe thanks to some peculiarity with government subsidies.
There was also a small groupage fleet (4-5 mini artics) working out of North Weald airfield.
When I was with them the office was next to the Betterware factory in North Street, Romford. It was there that they took over the adjoining warehouse and developed the monoframe chassis with airbag suspension, which was going to change the world. Actually, it broke the company.
There was also a depot at Beckton, then the company moved to Harold Hill, just off the A12.
There were some very good people involved in CHI, but you had to be carefull - lots of family connections working under one roof.
Kirbs50
very interesting post, i knew a lad who worked in the office towards the end, mark saunders?
