I drove for wilds and daveys and becketts you knew you had made it if you got a jar of mrs daveys home made jam barry daveys nick name was nogger a mate of mine was john hammond he had been there years he had the new truck when they where put on the road Iwas the fist tipper driver on lime from buxton and flints back we had wooden sided trailers and had to shovel them of by nand so i was glad to get a tippng trailer i worked for a firm called norman green in longton they did coal from abber dare in south wales that was all tipper work I worked wasses i found a girl in birmingham as i stopped to have a jimmy ridal sshe was lying behind a bush she had been stabbed with a screw driver 28 times Iwas in the local paper it said a local driver found a murdered girl in birmingham I stearted work with a firm called H GOARGE they had afleet of bull nosed bedfords on wasses i drove a long wheel base dodge i started driving artics there with a leyland comet and a 4 in line trailer with a donkey engine to tip it not a pto i also drove for thomas degg mick bailey E&E and a t richardsons water houses turners bucknall mountfords bucknall on steel and i drove for longton crane hire as a crane driver i just loved driving just for the books one of the oldest fiirm was SID COPE he had a great fleet of ACE 8 LEGGERS AND BOGGIES
7
Hiya…big john…i remember you coming to richardsons at waterhouses. you had a bad time with the murder thing
did’nt you■■? they locked you up first if i recall. you was on the brick job for a while with me. infact i swapped fodens
with you. something to do with the 12speed on a s21 you had my s39 but you went onto a albion i think.
was’nt you some relation to bill and clive turner■■?..we 've just had a reunion this weekend gone, ian massey had a
ruby anniversary, he invited all the ex richo’s men…it was a good night, some lads i had’nt seen for 30 years.
John
Hi John 3300 bill turner was my fist wifes uncle he asked me to go to richardsons about the murder of that girl she was only 16 and I had not been out of prison long for hitting a police man giving
him a broken nose and two ribbs so that was why they gave me a bad time I remember Ian massey did he have a mad jack russel he took with him in his cab I can remember 2 lads from leek they use to race to leek two abrest most of the way leek I can not remember about the swap on the foden as I had a 12 speed foden on norman greens on the one the cab lifted up i know
they stopped at the crown at cauldon low till late they kept on
at me to join them so one friday night i did i was so drunk i dont know how i got in my car next morning some body said is
there some body under that car blanket I pulled it back and a bloke said do you mind getting out of my drive so i can go work
Iwas still in cauldon low
Hi the vic wild yard was in weildon rd i parked my unit in the yard when i went watch stoke at home vic had depots exiter walls end at newcastle stepps in scotland newport in wales perterborugh i had the joob of takeing 2 trailers piggy back to darlington drop one at a transport yard then going into the steelworks loading that trailer chain and dog the load for the night man get the other trailer go back in the steelworks again load that one chain and dog that loadand drive home ihad a run from exeter to glasgow market in one hit and back with potatoes and veg bill follet was vics right hand man daveys were at boothen old rd gust of cambell rd they did bricks from downnings steel from shotton mich flints lime from buxton on wilds we did slabbs kurbstones from hulland ward
Hi john can you remember ANDY Bradbury him and his dad used to park at Wheldon Road.Andy now works for Robert Coates from Tean.
do you remember J Hewitt and Sons from Fenton i left E&E as an apretice and went to work there on a 7 half tonner then onto an 8 wheeler.Been self employed since i hav with my own truck and also doing a fair bit of european work. Off to holland on tuesday and then who nos where,for a mate of mine in stoke cant just seem to get rid of the driving bug.You may also remember Thor Transport from Catchems Corner near blythe bridge,i washed the trucks off as a kid there and met some good old characters
Hi John
When did you work for Thomas degg I worked there from 1974 to 1977 as apprentice mechanic
Evo
big john61 . when you worked for Norman green did a Fred Lloyd work there with you .■■
Hi EVO I worked at deggs when goerge walker drove the artic and i wonder if you can remember a fitter called phil he drove the macgine at stafford coal and iron that loaded the 4 wheellers and john brownfield drove the six legger
Hi all Ican remember J Hewitts fenton and thor and i lived near
comart I also know andy bradbury at wilds he set tony blackburn up vic owend the mousetrapp a cafe in kidsgrove where tony blckburn made his yard he had daffs of vic then tony went to a yard whitebridge ind estate stone i drove a f 88 for him for a short time back to wilds the most nicest man ive met is harry macbeth I recall a big jobs was taking large concrete spun pipes from croxden to peterhead in scotland on the vicers on daveys we used to bring steel coils from rainham steel and loads from tilburey docks when you were on a coaester i must explain my bad writing and spelling i am 70 this year and at school i spelt thing as they sound they did not know about that about dislecsik ?
Hi the flying foden
I drove a foded on greens with fred we drove for wasses before greens fred also drove a grbb he went around potbanks
picking up shraff he had a up set with wasses and I had seen fred he said why dont you come on here so i did i had the foden
it had a large screw to let you lift the cab to check the oil etc
it was a d reg i loaded scrap steel from chester to brimbo works
and on the way there is one hell of a bank they told me that the bottom gear craller gear was blanked of sometimes i wondered if me and the old girl would get up it them old gardeners would get you there i think it was a 120 or 150
Big john 61:
Hi EVO I worked at deggs when goerge walker drove the artic and i wonder if you can remember a fitter called phil he drove the macgine at stafford coal and iron that loaded the 4 wheellers and john brownfield drove the six legger
Hi John can remember all these drivers George walker went to twyfords at alsager when deggs finished , phil worked at stafford coal and iron with sid and gordon degg . when i was there roy bailey was garage forman jim birks ,Alan whithington and sam bloor were in the garage can remember most of the drivers where you there long what is your surname if you dont mind
Hiya. was that george walker a big chap… there was a george that lived 5 doors away from me in leek,
he drove for deggs but i don’t think i ever knew his surname(we was on good terms for 15 years or more)
this george always had big ford saloon cars
john
3300John:
Hiya. was that george walker a big chap… there was a george that lived 5 doors away from me in leek,
he drove for deggs but i don’t think i ever knew his surname(we was on good terms for 15 years or more)
this george always had big ford saloon cars
john
John the george walker I knew lived in forsbrook , there was a driver that lived in leek can’t remember his name think it was jack
yes i remember a.h davey very well must have about 50 lorrys used to deliver steel coil to us from either the midlands or shotton steelworks north wales as employed as cranedriver/ forktruck driver at a company up here in northyorkshire wards and now known as kingspan sherburn ive seen alot of different firms over the 30 odd years i have been employed here .i believe a.h.davey sold up a the luvly lady that used to run it she just wanted to retire and been well in her 70s there was no younger ones in the family coming along so sadly sold up and not even went bust.
NICK BASFORD:
Can any of u lads out there remember these two firms from Stoke
I think that Sam bloor lives next door but one to me now in Chesterton, he’s mates with don smith from cobridge, he’s just got his hgv licence back and is doing a bit of trade plating if it’s the right Sam, buys and sells caravans as well. Keeps telling me and don a story about somebody at deggs fitting a wooden piston in a Gardner engine? And owd nocker davey is still down the yard god knows how many hours a day, I was dropping a trailer in for dot the other night at 10 o’clock and as I was winding the legs down he appeared,never right, but there has been a big shake up at beechs, one or two been caught with their hand in the till from what I can gather and it’s really upset owd nocker, but from the dealings I’ve had with him, he’s been very good and helpful, till he doesnt get his own way then the dumby comes out, but on the whole a nice man
Big john 61:
Hi all Ican remember J Hewitts fenton and thor and i lived near
comart I also know andy bradbury at wilds he set tony blackburn up vic owend the mousetrapp a cafe in kidsgrove where tony blckburn made his yard he had daffs of vic then tony went to a yard whitebridge ind estate stone i drove a f 88 for him for a short time back to wilds the most nicest man ive met is harry macbeth I recall a big jobs was taking large concrete spun pipes from croxden to peterhead in scotland on the vicers on daveys we used to bring steel coils from rainham steel and loads from tilburey docks when you were on a coaester i must explain my bad writing and spelling i am 70 this year and at school i spelt thing as they sound they did not know about that about dislecsik ?
Harry McBeth was my uncle and he got me started on at Vic’s.
When I left the Vicar and started doing m/e for Brit European,I used to call on Harry to tell him of my trips,and he would say to me,“I’ve spent 50 years driving,and there’s still roads in England I haven’t driven down yet so what’s the point?”
He died just before his 65th birthday,must be 35 years ago now.
He started his driving career as second man on a model “T” Ford with Arnold Forrester,who with his brother started C.& A.Forrester in Wolstanton.(I still meet up with Arnold’s son Roger,been a mate for years).(Look out for a mention in the new book that’s coming out shortly!)
Harry used to tell me tales of driving down to London as second man,in a model T Ford with 30cwt of sand.
Driving down that long straight of the A5 past where the radio masts used to be,if you saw another truck approaching you had to pull into a gateway as the road was not wide enough for two trucks to pass!
He’d driven Sentinel steamers and chain drive Scammells,you name it,he’s probably driven it.
paul 12:
yes i remember a.h davey very well must have about 50 lorrys used to deliver steel coil to us from either the midlands or shotton steelworks north wales as employed as cranedriver/ forktruck driver at a company up here in northyorkshire wards and now known as kingspan sherburn ive seen alot of different firms over the 30 odd years i have been employed here .i believe a.h.davey sold up a the luvly lady that used to run it she just wanted to retire and been well in her 70s there was no younger ones in the family coming along so sadly sold up and not even went bust.
NICK BASFORD:
Can any of u lads out there remember these two firms from Stoke
Paul from Wards, I remember you well, a very rare decent crane driver.
Hi Paul i dont do much on the crane job any more.
Doing a lot of free/lance driving mainly european work just come back from 2 weeks tramping around holland germany austria etc for a mate of mine still do a bit for lee durose and simon mc cann from uttoxeter iv sold my scania with the crane on to an irish man and just got a 7/half tonner in the yard now
Can any of u lads out there remember these two firms from Stoke