Hi everybody any one out there got any pictures of abingdon carpets trucks. When i started working for them i went out with Frank Barnes on a split screen foden nick named Hissing Sid it was a beast, pulling a forty foot 15/6 high trailor {nick named} The Silver Ghost it used to go to Harris Carpets at Swanley Kent every day and all before the M25 was built. It scared me to death the first time i drove it, but frank put me right he was a top bloke last time i saw him he was on Tesco didcot. My first allocated truck was a four wheeler drop box Daf 2100 reg no ABW 4Y it had a sister truck there ABW 5Y that i guy called Roger Trafford used to drive, last time i saw him was on a roll on roll off skip wagon for Oxfordshire County Council.
My first allocated artic unit was a Daf 2100 reg no DWL 681Y a 3day trip and a 2 day trip around the south coast. If i worked a saturday it was either a chesterfield or wigan trunk, they were some of the best years driving of my life.
So is there any of you ex drivers out there,be nice to hear from you, cheers Paul Stanley
Hi Mixer , do you live in Oxford ? , I knew a chap who worked on Abingdon carpets , Tony Botto .
hi jakey,i live in abingdon have done all my life, just sold the house and we are moving to weymouth.
Was tony a driver coz i dont recall the name,but he might have been after i left i left about a year before they moved back to Newbridge wales. Did you work for B>R>S and habitat on a wagon and drag?
Hi Paul
, 
yes thats me buddy , was on Brs from 16 untill I was 30 , man and boy .
Cant quite recall you ! was you on Habitat then ? , another driver was Phil houseman ! he works for me now , I could rattle all the ex drivers on Brs or Habitats names , I could even tell you the fleet numbers and reg numbers and who dove them . sad I know .
Hi Jakey yes i was on B R S on nights in and out of car factory all night from C D C and Z shed, drove me round the bend i asked Dave Bourne for some thing else but didnt have anything at the time so i left and went on the agency.
My first job was habitat driving bernards truck LBW 171L or 172■■? mans. I think bernard was having health problems at the time coz i was on it for weeks my regular run was leicester back to yard then out to cambridge, i also done 2 londons in the old daf 2300 they had, they had 2 there at the time i was there been round the clock about 3 times.
They asked me to stay but it was at the time i was starting to get my mixer on tarmac 5year contract
Paul
Hi Jakey again? Just looked at your site [ A G Jacob ]Clean, Tidy, Professional a real Credit to you Well Done Mate
Paul
Paul , was you once on Sheehans ■■? , if so I recall you , didnt you use to chat to me on the wash ■■? , not many of us were on the wash most days but i recall you were ! ,Look on the Oxford firm topic , you will see Bernards truck (L171 EBW ) , My truck was M894PWL , MINT MAN DRAWBAR .Here is a couple of the Dafs .
Paul , how about these names , Mick harvey drove L172 EBW , Bernard Woodward L171 , the late Terry mc guinn L173 ,Dave Mace M893PWL , Phil Houseman (he did have L173 from new ) M556 , Tony pettifer L272LUD , Melvyn Bird L171 , i COULD GO ON FOR DAYS !!!1 
Bernard (woodwoodpecker on the cb ) once told me off for keep wASHING my truck ) , later Steve Wells who ran Habitat said to me if he has visitors he allways made sure mine and Phils wagons were parked up in the yard . , Pecker was not happy with me for a bit .
I think you may have had L173 for a bit .
Hi jakey sorry iv been a while getting back to you iv been in weymouth sorting out storage for move, i never worked for sheehans, the names from habitat i all knew them all, the unipart truck i done many a fleetwood docks run in 
some times running on up i bit further when it was running late. The good old days i really do miss them.
Paul
Sorry jakey missed this bit yes i was on L173 for a while
The driver of the unipart Roadtrain was (f995 sou) Ivor Parry , still about I go to see him every few months , He was the reason for that tear arse run up to Fleetwood via Canley and Baginton , how about his old truck (d88 hfb) 1730 Roadtrain ) edmunds walker .
Jakey,the Atlet truck was about the only one in B R S yard that i never drove,every other truck and contract i was on at one time or another.
I used to like going up to tetleys at leeds one of my faverite runs,i even done work on the hire side, returning units and motors all over the place to B R S depots mostly on friday nights when car factory was shut. I even went out on wrecker one night with fitter an old leyland chieftan 6 wheeler if i remember right■■? it was a long time ago now, a few of the names running with me at C D C were, paul stansfield, big tony {yard man in the end} dave ? meeky and brian yard shunter was on fish run
Paul
Hi Paul
Yes Brian is still shunting at the bmw factory , meeky (miserable bugger) last time i saw him he was walking with sticks , day shunters were Fred Holiday ,kenny organ ,
Do Remember Chicken George ? , last time i saw him about 1 year ago at Ferry pool having a shower as his heating was not working and he was needing a bath
By the way L174 EBW was Martin Halstead another driver who tore the arse out of the Habitat job and died of a heart attack .
Hi jakey i think i can place martin, did he have the heart attack at work? and chicken george i cant remember maybe its me getting old, i sometimes sit here wondering where 34 years of driving has gone,Frightening 
Paul
Chicken george did a night trunk for Habitat but before that he was on general haulage . Did you get on with Ivor Parry ? , how about Tony parsons who did the unipart after Ivor . picture was before your days on Brs , i was 16 when i started in the workshops , this was Fred holiday Buffalo .
That is Ivor stood to the right of this truck .
