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.
