Hi All
Has anyone got any imfo or pics of Merrimans who used to run out of west drayton or near,they were a Tipping firm think of Hell Drivers and thats what they were like as my Father used to work there in the late fifties and all 1800 of my photos of all lorrys that i took were stolen 5 years ago,and i would love to see some pics of there lorries. My Dad started of by driving a bull nose bedford and ended up driving a Guy Invinceble 8 wheeler
Hello John.
Is this the firm,a Bedford publicity shot from the early 50’s.
Note the chrome grille bars and the extra sidelights on the top of the wings.
The bling of the day.If not at least its the right name.
Regards Mike.
Thanks lads, yes they are both the same Company the second one says it was taken somewhere else, but it was taken at Yeading Lane Northolt near the White Hart. The reason how i Know is if you look in the pic you will see a garage and its called Yeading Motors where i used to live back in the Fifties and sixties. Thanks so much for that hopefully more pics will come on this page.Merrimans was run by a woman cant think of her name at mo but we as kids had to call her Auntie cos me and my late Bruv Andy used to allways go with my Dad and she used to spoil us like so something rotten.It was a hell of a Cowboy firm as they all was,she was approached by the Film Co they wanted to use her lorries and yard for the Hell Drivers ! but she was having none of it as the Company wernt in the good books of the old bill,so they asked to use her yard No came the reply.If you look at the film (on line you can watch the whole film) they got the idea of the Numbers on each lorry from Merrimans wagons,also the yard had on film was a replica of Merrimans yard,i was told she wasnt happy about that.The yard was made on a Airfield somewhere,and most of the Wagons belonged to Drinkwaters there was about 3 that wasnt .There are so many Storys going around about this film but this is coming from the horses mouth so to speak.All the filming (or most) were done around Ivor,Yeiwsley,and West Drayton in Middx.The Cafe you see was actually Built in Pinewood Studios as was the Workshop,my Mum (god Bless) worked in the Canteen.Sorry bout spelling but you all know how it is as you get older.By the way if your interested when my dad worked at Merrimans he was doing mostly ash from Fulham Power Stn back to somewhere near West Drayton charging all day up and down that Great West Road they realy were The Hell Drivers !!
Here’s another Bedford for you again from Bob Hobbs collection @ transportphotos.com/road/photos
HU03593
I remember them! As a kid of about 7-8 I remember seeing them travelling along the Harlington Road as I went to school. I seem to remember an AEC MkIII 8 wheeler but maybe it’s my bad memory, after all it was nearly 60 years ago.
I do believe there still exists a Merrimans Corner or similar in the vicinity.
Merrimans also appear in the film Genevieve.
Thanks Stanfield your a Diamond that could have been my Dad driving that Wagon i shall never know,ive waited and hunted all Mags for years hoping to see a pic but never seen one untill now you have bought a couple of tears to my eyes manny thanks.
I REMEMBER MERRIMANS I AM 63 NOW BUT MY TWO OLDER BROTHERS WORKED FOR THEM AND MY LATE BROTHER IN LAW USED TO DRIVE AN AEC MERCURY REG WAS KPP 333 I THINK BECAUSE THEY USED TO CALL IT ALL THE 3S MY ELDEST BROTHER USED TO DRIVE A BRAY LOADING SHOVEL WHERE THEY TIPPED IT WAS ON OLD MOOR LANE STAINES
WICH IS LEFT OF THE NORTHBOUND M25 NOW AFTER STAINES JUNCTION
Hi Alan thanks for that it would be good to hear more about Merrimans hopefully more people will come on with memorys and even Pics im same age as you and my dad worked for them in the Fifties
Hi Alan
What a Bummer,you were correct about the Wagon as i used to have a photo of it along with lots of other Merrimans Wagons,along with Day & Sons Brentford (they had the same colour and Wagons) WW Drinkwaters, Biffa s,Cross Southall,sadly when we moved from Northolt to Here in Harlow lots of boxes were mislaid and one box contained Hundreds of Photos,more upsetting now that when it first happened,didnt seem important then i suppose,just photos.Now ■■ bloody hell its like losing your past realy.Hopefully other people will have memorys and Photos.
John
another thing just entered my head the fitter was called Bunny jhonstone as long as he had a club hammer they used to say he would ffffffix anything and get you back on the road quick time
Hi to everyone, it has been very interesting reading all the stories re: Merrimans. I would just like to point out that the location of the photo of the Merrimans lorry VME 607 was taken opposite (years ago) the Travellers Friend Pub, this was called The Travellers Friend Roundabout Great West Road, and when The Yeading motors went it was then and still is called Henleys Roundabout. The lorry is a Bedford Nevilles built tilt cab and at the time the driver of that particular lorry was a chap called Jimmy Broune who after leaving Merrimans went to Monkton Motors of Uxbridge as did lot of other drivers from Merrimans. The petrol engine from this lorry was taken out and converted to P6 diesels, and they were 10 yarders. The other picture NJH 927 was taken on the Great West Road Gillettes corner at the lights which is now Homebase and she was fitted with a 300 Petrol engine, twin tanks, 12 yarders and in my experience they were jets. I practically know nearly everyone who drove for Merrimans (might be a few I missed) in one of the posts it is mentioned that they started of with a Bull Nose Bedford and ended up with a Guy Invincible, the drivers that I can recall who drove the Guy Invincibles (one was called The Bath) which came from Tyne and Wear and the first man to have it was a chap called Len Pedder, then they found a driver for that lorry called Jack Levey who drove it for a few years. The man who drove it in the end for many many years was Bill Webb and then she was then sold to a man called Jack Beasley. The other Guy which was a mark 1 was brought brand new star of the Motor Show and the man who drove it from brand new for a few years was called Bob Webb. After Bob left Merrimans it was then driven by his brother (the same one who drove the Bath Guy) Bill Webb. The reg was: 1121 MC, and the man who ended up with it for many years was Len Pedder. This lorry lays in Rushgreen Motors today rotted through with the Merrimans logo still visible on the front of the cab. She never had anymore 8 wheelers after this as she went on to 6 wheel Guys. I am just trying to place who the chap was mentioned in the post as I cannot recall this. Also the AEC lorry KPT 333 that was mentioned in one of the posts was a12 yard tipper and when first came home, the driver of that vehicle was called Bert Swaine, it was in my opinion the ugliest Lorry I had ever seen it looked as if the king pins had been drilled wrong as the wheels used to be angled at the top. The Bray was mentioned in one post and if I recall the drivers for loading shovels at Colnbrook Moor Lane was called Jack Weatherley or Don Saldon and one man the best machine driver of them all used to drive the drag line was a man called Archie Ralph and he had a son who worked for Merrimans called Dan.
The lady who owned Merrimans was called Elsie Mylon and her nick name was “The Old Girl” who drove an old Rover and she had 2 black Labrodour dogs which she used to take with her everywhere, if she went away a man called Jack Sooter used to look after things for her, a very nice man.
If you were prepared to work day and night you had a job with her, the minuite you started to slack and never did the work you were out. She had jobs all over the country and you never knew where you were going from day to day. We ran to Harlington Point for 3 years day in day out, she also used to take the ash out of Fulham Power Station as you all know to Moor Lane Colnbrook and it was no hardship doing 4 Fulhams a day (nobody ever did 5 it was only 4 because thats all she wanted). She did not pay you by the load everyone was paid an hourly rate on the clock.
Bunny that was mentioned in a post he was some character!! His mate at Merrimans was called Jock the tyre man. When the sun was shinning and Bunny had to get underneath a lorry he would go and get something to lay on, if it was pouring with rain and he had to get underneath the lorry, he would get straight down in the puddle!!!
There was also a fitter there she had who was the best and his name was Len Luckton.
I hope this has been of interest to some of you, I have so many memories of Merrimans and if anyone would like to know anything I will be happy to answer you.
Hi trapper diesel welcome to trucknet and lets have some more of your memories of Merrimans + photos if you have any.
Hi Trapper
Sorry,but ive been of line for a little while i now have a new Laptop (at long last).Hope this gets to you after so long
im sad you dont remember my dad Alf Nicholls(or deafie as some called him cos he was Deaf),as far as i can remember
he did mostly the Fulham runs up and down all day,the last thing i do remember is when he had one of the Guy invincibles
my brother Andy and i used to go with him in School holidays.We used to like Mrs Mylon (you jogged my memory on her name)
she was good to me and Andy but my Dad always said she was a Hard Woman but if you did what she asked you were ok.
As far as my late Father can remember they fell out with each other over something of which he couldnt remember and he
just walked out as you did in them days and went on to work for Day and Sons.Ill always remember the sound of the Guy
whe he used to race down Kingshill Ave to Yeading Lane then he would turn right towards Hayes,reason for being there was
we used to live in Townson Ave just of Kingshill Ave (Northolt Grange) and he used to pop home for Breakfast first !!.Its
strange how you remember Chilhood sounds when we would get to the yard in the early hours it would just be starting to
get light and you could only hear the birds singing away,and when he would fire his Wagon up Wow !!! the Smoke and the
smell was something else,sadly died 10 years ago but he always spoke about Merrimans,Days,and also Monkton Motors from
Uxbridge.
Jonboy
Hi Jonboy, there were 2 Alfie’s there and they were both deaf but I remember both of them, one of them came from “crosses” to Merrimans and he had a Ford 100E van in those days and would be approx 75ish or a little older, the man I am assuming was your dad the other Alfie would have been in his 80’s if not older now. If it is the man I think was your dad, when he first started at Merrimans he started off with Foden FG, (TMM 444) then I think he went on to an 8 wheeler Foden (HYG 62) and Mrs Mylon was asking too much out of him with the 8 wheel Foden and I think thats why he walked out (if this is the same Alfie). The man who took over that Foden Old Freddie Hampton also was asked too much out of it as well, you may even know his sons or have heared of him Old Freddie Hampton, he had a son called Peter who drove for Merrimans and he had a 6 wheel Albion. When you think about it these old Fodens used to do 28 MPH went better if you knew how to harness one up!! As like the other old firms in those days they were going all over the country and you was known not as a driver but as an Iron Puncher.
I think your dad started in 1961 for Merrimans but people used to come and go all the time and even come back.
Just for some extra information if anyone can remember these Foden 4 wheelers that she had originally came from Crown Cork Southall Middlesex and they were ridgid bodied and she converted them to tippers 16 cubic yards, some registrations: TMM 445, TMM 444, TMM 446 and there was an odd one 507 but cannot remember the letters on it.
With these old Fodens you would have to do a Harlington Point Devon come back do 2 Fulhams and load up and Harlington Point again and this went on for 3 years, and the traffic that they accumilated behind them was unbelievable!!! Especially at holidays times.
But as you say so many memories and I definatly did know your dad.
When I was a nipper , as soon as I was old enough to go out on my own (paedophiles hadn’t been invented yet 
), I’d stand for hours at the top of our street in Fulham lorry spotting, remember Merrimans motors very well.
Bernard
I found this photo, taken in ‘the wind tunnel’, From L to R: Guy Invincible 1121mc, Guy Invincible KNL ‘The Bath’, Foden HYG 62.
Somewhere I have got more photos, but at the moment I can’t find them.
For those who knew me at Merrimans I’m now 81, brother Bob is still alive and is 84, I have handed my HGV licence in, I still have 4 Volvo 26 tonne lorries on the road, but my son Gary runs them.
The photo was taken in 1962
Billwebb:
0
I found this photo, taken in ‘the wind tunnel’, From L to R: Guy Invincible 1121mc, Guy Invincible KNL ‘The Bath’, Foden HYG 62.
Somewhere I have got more photos, but at the moment I can’t find them.For those who knew me at Merrimans I’m now 81, brother Bob is still alive and is 84, I have handed my HGV licence in, I still have 4 Volvo 26 tonne lorries on the road, but my son Gary runs them.
The photo was taken in 1962
Hello Bill whilst my forum name is alanjohn my official name you would remember me as Joe Willoughby
I am now coming up to 67 I still have my licence i have retired still do a day eight wheel scania now and again for a good pal of mine you know Bill we have a one and the same Brother in law (late) Brian or Bruin as we used to call him he too worked for merrimans I used to ride with him Kpp 333 and later a J type bedford the last time I spoke to you Bill was out there in Aldershot you were collecting a roadside office/toilet and I was collecting a small digger and dumper hope you are still well Best regards Joe
The bath tipping at Moor Lane, Staines.
This is 1121MC loading at Moor Lane pit, Staines. If I find anymore photos I will upload them.
My brother Bob unfortunately passed away in June this year after a short illness.
