Nice to see this old thread resurrected.
My first boss in Southampton was a former ship’s steward, appropriately named Lennie Dear, camp as a row of tents but a smashing bloke to work for.
For the record BFC - who’s yard definitely was at Eastleigh, possibly on a farm, and who pulled a mixture of Cunard boxes and rope and sheet mixed flatbed freight out of the dock sheds was not either Bowden or BFI.
From fuzzy memory the fleet included TKs, D series and Dafs and had white cabs with red wings and chassis. AKT, their very dodgy susidiary, had a yard, also used by BFC, in St Marys close to the railway. Their livery was a bright yellow and blue and they only ran rigid flatbeds. AKT probably fielded six wagons. BFC four or more times that, most bought second hand. Drivers were often swopped between the two firms, hence I worked for AKT - 4 pot Ford and Leyland Terrier, both day cabs, on long distance - but also drove a BFC TK and Perkins powered D series, a real flyer.