ken57:
big leggy i bet you remember my dad,ill give you a clue,early 70s on dawsons,started on bricks with old seddon,got the atki model with rad cap on rad at front not at back like later models,went on tanks with mickey mouse foden,then got volvo f86,then 2 models of f88,i have a photo of his 1st f88 240hp,reg vmj768k.alf gray was transport manager.alf died a few years ago last time i saw him he drove for wincanton in bletchley.i knew blondie had died but not woody(john woods} havent seen tony jones for a few years,nor ace and brian lambert or goeff reynolds,or some of the others you mention.when i worked for sid edwards i drove a 2200 daf then a 2300 which blew up,got demotted to a 6x2 reiver flatbed,then back up to the man with column change,it was the only truck at time with a night heater,most of sids work then was flat beds and just took work at dela rue from goeff reynolds,{bit of a story that}my dad worked with geoff then sid ,small world isnt it?
Re the MAN
The reason the man was the only truck with a night heater is because it origanally had a radiator shutter on it and the ■■■■ thing kept staying shut and overheating the engine. Somebody ran on with it one day in the shut position and seized the engine up so Sid had the shutter removed and a night heater fitted.I drove that truck for a good while till the gearbox packed up one afternoon in Aylesbury.I worked for Sid in the early eighties we may have been there at the same time.
yes iknew that ,the kysor radiator shutter was taken off before i got the truck,you also had to at one time press down the clutch then split the gears,i left sid i think it was 1982 or early 83 i cant remember,but he didnt have any volvos then,the big motors were the mack,1632 merc and 2 daf 2800s,most of sids work was on flats,he also had 2 8x4 erfs,his bro drove 1 and john falkner the other.then there was the drivers mate called kenny who had a 3 wheel reliant,he rolled it didnt get hurt.i used to load redlands at swaffham with 6000 roof tiles,go to l/buzzard pick up kenny then go to pinner in london and just the 2 of us would hand ball them off,if i couldnt turn round they all had to come off 1 side,then go to unimills in erith kent and load 400 catch weight 50kilo bags of soya by hand onto pallets then sheet up ,you had to use every hook on trailer to rope because bags were slippery and you could lose your load,happy days,
ken57:
remember them,o yes,when i was 15 my dad worked for dawsons when they were just getting volvos,i drove for 13 months for sid edwards in the 80s,i drove for harry mason on spain with his pegaso truck and nelon and quack was based at luton truckstop in 1995 the bosses name was colin.
Harry Mason… Now there’s another name from the past… My old man worked for him in the 80’s for a couple of years doing Spain… Had a Y plate F12, then a B plate F12…
Big Leggy:
Seeing those photo’s of Sid’s trucks jogged a memory lodged long ago in the back of my mind !!
Mick Underwood – now there is a name from long ago – an O/D from either Stewkley or Soulbury – used to subbie on UK for H.G.Brown and I seem to recall him doing work for Sid !!
Mick Underwood - I remember Mick, he used to be out in a little place called Hollingdon , he was a lovely chap, had a son called Andy - the last time I saw Andy he was the Transport manager for a firm that used to cart Bread and rolls in Kingston MK, no longer there though, Underwoods also used to subbie for Holtons on the Coke job had 2 red F10’s, I’ve got a feeling that Mick died some years ago
Andy Underwood is now transport manager for the company just off Junction 16 of M1, the flour mill towards Weedon, cant think of the bloody name though, purple/maroon colours.
Merlin Distribution was the company at Kingston he worked for who done the bread and rolls on behalf of Coolcore. I am still in touch with Andy on a regular basis, and can confirm he is doing very well for himself, and his brother still lives in Hollingdon in one of the cottages. Mike is still alive, although Mum died a few years ago.
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Andy Underwood is now transport manager for the company just off Junction 16 of M1, the flour mill towards Weedon, cant think of the bloody name though, purple/maroon colours.
Merlin Distribution was the company at Kingston he worked for who done the bread and rolls on behalf of Coolcore. I am still in touch with Andy on a regular basis, and can confirm he is doing very well for himself, and his brother still lives in Hollingdon in one of the cottages. Mike is still alive, although Mum died a few years ago.
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Thats great news TC, do you mean Heygates
Found a couple of ‘Newer’ Hawkins motors, Not sure if they are still doing the bricks though Definately NOT out of the Stewartby brickworks anyway I’m sure the driver of the ERF was a Hawkins or a cousin or something, a very cheerful bald headed chap
lemonmouth:
Found a couple of ‘Newer’ Hawkins motors, Not sure if they are still doing the bricks though Definately NOT out of the Stewartby brickworks anyway I’m sure the driver of the ERF was a Hawkins or a cousin or something, a very cheerful bald headed chap
The driver of the Hawkins ERF is David kempster and the DAF driver is his brother John (the Kempster family where hauliers many years back from Tilsworth) they both drove for ■■■■ horne when his yard was in the Rye at Eaton bray and have now been with Hawkins a good few years. I believe the ERF is now working out of the midlands and the DAF had the crane removed and is on general work.
mason had some good spanish work ,but wages not to good and that dam pegaso kept breaking down,the head gasket went on me in bordeaux on my way back,kept telling mason it was using water…but he want a bad bloke.
I started for Sid in 83. The two DAFs were both ■■■■ good trucks ex concorde express i believe but PGS–R was the better of the two both had the fuller roadranger 13 speed gearbox (as did the fiats) at that time Sid was just starting to buy the volvos. Anchor tiles was still handball on and off but redland and marley was machine on and handball off. I didnt go into unimills they wasnt doing that work then. Another name from back then is Bob wells he was parking two trucks in the same yard as Sid at billington. I was talking two Bob at Blondies funeral and believe he is on for bayliss with Mick kaye if anybody remembers Mick (ex John hawkins)
i dont remember the 2 drivers you mention but knew blondie ,had some good nights out with him at unimills,unimills just finished when i left.1 of the fiats was ex goeff reynolds,i remember taking a fiat demo out for sid,was a 1930 first of the turbo charged,used to go to fleetwood for b&i box,then you could only drive for 8hrs aday,that fiat could keep up with coaches went like hell,only prob was you could watch fuel gauge go down,but you had to go to get the trailer back for day man.
I worked for JLS in the early 90’s doing Italy. 6 days a week. I would pick up a preloaded super cube in the yard, drive down to Udine via Belgium, Germany and Austria. Clear customs on site then tip waste paper in some processing plant, reload a base load of crates in Monfalcone and top up with groupage out of Verona Friday afternoon/evening. I would always get caught out on the Austrian boarder coming home. They would shut the crossing at 22.00hrs and not reopen until 06.00hrs. I would be parked up on the hard shoulder in about a 4km cue and it was never guaranteed I would even get through Saturday but usually did. One time I didn’t and dropped the trailer off on the hard shoulder and headed for the nearest town for a pint. I spent the rest of Sat and all day Sun getting plastered in an Italian village with all the hallmarks of Austria. Austrian architecture, residents all looked and dressed Austrian, spoke German. The bars and restaurants all looked Austrian serving Austrian cuisine and selling Austrian bear out of Austrian bear pumps. In fact, if it wasn’t for the occasional drive past by the Italian police in their Italian police cars and the road signs I would have sworn I was in Austria.
On another occasion I blew a valve somewhere between the Austrian boarder and Munich. It cost JLS £1,000 to get me towed into Feldkirchn, Munich and £3,000 to get the engine rebuilt. John wasn’t very happy and all becouse the week before I told the office one of the tappets needed adjusting and their fitter said it doesn’t. As it turned out, It did. Things started going down hill from then on and I jacked.
Got a job with De-Rooy out of Eindhoven after that, driving one of those 2500 DAF drawbar outfits tramping Europe. Great job but them 2500’s would die at the first sight of a hill and the Dutch government were sticking me for 33% tax.
It’s great to see the pics of Hawkins ex Eaton Bray – I felt they were not as prominent in the “Trucks of Leighton Buzzard” hierachy as they should be, always slightly over-shadowed by the “big boys” of Dawson’s, H.G. Brown, Peter Roff etc.!! I would like to assume they are still running to this day - yes ?
Incidentaly Fred Hawkins still a fitter in L.Bzd. along with Millie does anyone know ■■
Yes Fred and Milly are still both in Sids yard. Both of them are good at what they do. Fred did his apprenteship with Pent and thats where he met Milly when Pent packed up they carried on with John brown and when that finnished they started on their own in the same yard with just one bay. When Sid moved into the old redland yard in grovebury road they went with him and took over the workshop and have been there a long time now.
littlerichard
Thanx for the update – well pleased as they are two good blokes ! Millie I first met as a fitter at A.C. Biggs and Fred at H.G.Browns – I was a driver at both companies ! Good days !!
littlerichard
I’ll get my excuses in first – so casting my mind back (it’s befuddled with Frizanti - Grappa & Sambuca after all these years) Yes Tony Bandy was a (vey young) fitter at 35a Stanbridge Rd… There was also a Tony Bandy who was a driver on I.P.C. contract (his father ?), also a Bill Bandy - another driver ! All Wing men if I recall correctly !! Thinking hard – that must be approx 32yrs to 35yrs ago !!
big leggy, you’ve certainly thrown some names into the hat, I passed my hgv 1 at dawsonfreight’s driving school not long after they said you could’nt jump into an artic after driving a mini without passing a test, worked for a small company called howletts transport out of padbury nr buckingham for a short while before going on to one of the firms you mentioned JMM Jillian Mary Miles int trans services where I first went abroad to Italy and one of the other drivers you mentioned Stan Bourne was also on there, Stan owns a pub and has done since leaving HG Browns on the finmere to bicester road and last time I called in there was told that he still does the odd driving job. I remember Sid Philpot who must have had at least 10 green shirts all with the same blowback marks from the pipe for each trip to Italy, little Joe, I can’t remember his last name, Franco Cozenza who drove for H G Brown, sorry to hear about Tiny Lee I’d known him for a long time, since the JMM days and used to spend many a warm summers evening sitting on the balcony of his appartment near Athens with a bottle of Metaxa brandy. I last saw him in 1990 just before I sold the transcon and called it a day on being an O/D. Howard Fawcett I remember from waddesdon, another middle east man who had a driver called Barry Baker whose mentioned in another topic with someone trying to contact him. Tony Mongiarli whose motors were all italian registered but I can’t remember the drivers names but I think they were all english in fact I think Franco from Browns went to work for him after John Brown died. If any more spring to mind I’ll post them on here
chazzer
Mick Underwood - I remember Mick, he used to be out in a little place called Hollingdon , he was a lovely chap, had a son called Andy - the last time I saw Andy he was the Transport manager for a firm that used to cart Bread and rolls in Kingston MK, no longer there though, Underwoods also used to subbie for Holtons on the Coke job had 2 red F10’s, I’ve got a feeling that Mick died some years ago 
