Mr Scammell:
Surprised to see the Magnum there, is there a story behind that beast?
If Bernard Momin could sell trucks in Nigeria…then ■■■■■■■ was no problem!!!
(No offence Dennis)!!
Cheerio for now.
What a great guy Monsiure ? Bernard Momin was “Saviem”,a true Anglophile if ever there was one,loved everything British,so that must be a “first” surely ? I recall him desperately trying to get Renaults into the Bewick fleet at a time when their proposed merger was going on with Volvo.I had lunch with him in Warwick one day during this time and suggested that if the Volvo “merger” took place he may find himself back on the production line in Lyon washing windscreens !! He roared with laughter,thought it was a great suggestion !! but made me promise that if the merger talks failed ( which they did !) would I consider running some Magnums,which I agreed to !! So when the merger was called off we took delivery of a couple of their “Flagships” for our Euro fleet, 4x2 420’s and he used them in their advertisements,one spent a day running up a down the A6 on Shap Fell with their publicity photographers.I obviously lost touch with Bernard when he was posted back to France but he did send me a model of a Magnum and trailer( painted and lettered in the Bewick livery) as a fairwell gift,but what a great chap,one of the better people I came across during my years in the business.Cheers Dennis.
This shot looks like we had as many Volvos (pass the sick bucket ) as Scanias in the fleet but I didn’t always get it right ,it was just a case of snapping without thinking eh!.
Bewick:
Hiya Richard,I know “Slacky”, his daughter Diane drove some of our horses for a couple of years.This is a shot of me with Dalechief at York in 1989 where he’d just won a two year old race,he went on to win the National Pacing Derby at Tir Prince the following year.Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis,
I see your old horse shoeing mate Frank Taylor passed away recently.
You will remember The Green Smithy.
Cheers Malc.
Evening all, Dennis, Bernard was working in Nigeria when I was in Italy, and we used to meet at the International Conferences held in Paris, (really big P… u…!! I used to take the Michael out of him, and he , me,
Cheerio for now. and I remember when it was mooted that he would go to the (poisened chalice), of the UK, I said to him something along the lines of…“you will find Bilston a little like Lagos”…Years later, and me long gone from Renault Vehicules Industriels, I received a letter,…it read…"No, Bilston is far better, and the people more honest, Kindest Regards…
Sadly, from what I see of todays industry, the "characters " have long gone, Bernard and his Bow Ties, are a thing of the past…
Bewick:
Hiya Richard,I know “Slacky”, his daughter Diane drove some of our horses for a couple of years.This is a shot of me with Dalechief at York in 1989 where he’d just won a two year old race,he went on to win the National Pacing Derby at Tir Prince the following year.Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis,
I see your old horse shoeing mate Frank Taylor passed away recently.
You will remember The Green Smithy.
Cheers Malc.
Aye a sad day last Tuesday Malc at Franks funeral,Anne and I attended with the Family,we followed his coffin down from Green Smithy which was on a flat cart pulled by a Baldy horse .Frank was a great friend of 30 odd years and is sadly missed. Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Two Garstang based P112’s shot in the depot at Milnthorpe.
ahh,some fond memories of the motor on the right.when i used to go down to see dad i would help him out a bit wi a bit of “shunting” round walki’s while he went to the vending mashine for the hot choci’s
This one’s for “Chappy” who was just a cheeky little ■■■■ when I knew him This is a shot of the last ever new motor I bought at Bewick Transport,a Keltruck supplied R360 6x2 steer, prior to our joining the WRM group.It was allocated to the Walki contract and driven by the great Lenny Richards.
Bewick:
This one’s for “Chappy” who was just a cheeky little [zb] when I knew him This is a shot of the last ever new motor I bought at Bewick Transport,a Keltruck supplied R360 6x2 steer, prior to our joining the WRM group.It was allocated to the Walki contract and driven by the great Lenny Richards.
cheers Dennis,nice motor that.only sat in that one and went “brum brum”. i wer gona tekit for a razz round yard when lenny came round corner with a big smile,and the keys swinging in his hand.oh bummer!
Mr Scammell:
Surprised to see the Magnum there, is there a story behind that beast?
If Bernard Momin could sell trucks in Nigeria…then ■■■■■■■ was no problem!!!
(No offence Dennis)!!
Cheerio for now.
What a great guy Monsiure ? Bernard Momin was “Saviem”,a true Anglophile if ever there was one,loved everything British,so that must be a “first” surely ? I recall him desperately trying to get Renaults into the Bewick fleet at a time when their proposed merger was going on with Volvo.I had lunch with him in Warwick one day during this time and suggested that if the Volvo “merger” took place he may find himself back on the production line in Lyon washing windscreens !! He roared with laughter,thought it was a great suggestion !! but made me promise that if the merger talks failed ( which they did !) would I consider running some Magnums,which I agreed to !! So when the merger was called off we took delivery of a couple of their “Flagships” for our Euro fleet, 4x2 420’s and he used them in their advertisements,one spent a day running up a down the A6 on Shap Fell with their publicity photographers.I obviously lost touch with Bernard when he was posted back to France but he did send me a model of a Magnum and trailer( painted and lettered in the Bewick livery) as a fairwell gift,but what a great chap,one of the better people I came across during my years in the business.Cheers Dennis.
Thats the fella Steve,a little bit older looking than I remember him ! What a great bloke Bernard was,and he was a frenchman as well But he really did like all things British and had one hell of a sense of humour which dosen’t come naturally to Le Frog Cheers Dennis.
The old F10-F12 before they went to the fruit machine dash was a nice work place, i would have taken
a volvo over a scania as a driver any day but the Merc 1844 V would have been my 1st choice every time
just my 2p
8LXBV8BRIAN:
The old F10-F12 before they went to the fruit machine dash was a nice work place, i would have taken
a volvo over a scania as a driver any day but the Merc 1844 V would have been my 1st choice every time
just my 2p
You have omitted to mention ONL 482M Brian,just an oversight I would guess Cheers Dennis.
Dennis if its the Big A it could only be the 8-Cylinder - wonder of the world that could be in it nowt
came close in the Atkinson, now a 14ltr ■■■■■■■■ was quite good though but dont tell Kev i said that.
I ONL 482M remember when it came in primer just a little thing it had no window lock/sliders fitted so the door
windows would just drop down all the way Atkinson quality control great.
had to fit 2 before it went out.
newmercman:
Dennis, the pictures are great, but let’s hear some more anecdotes, stuff that went on at Bewick Transport, you must have a long list of them
newmercman:
Dennis, the pictures are great, but let’s hear some more anecdotes, stuff that went on at Bewick Transport, you must have a long list of them
I would be interested to hear the background to the decision to buy those Scania 143s. Prior to their arrival, the fleet seemed to comprise 100% gaffers’ wagons. Was there a sudden dawning that a “luxury” specification could be just as profitable as an adequate one?
newmercman:
Dennis, the pictures are great, but let’s hear some more anecdotes, stuff that went on at Bewick Transport, you must have a long list of them
Well how about the time “Gotty” (SJB),Walt Allen ( E.N & S.) and Ernest K. and me were sat in a meeting at Croydon after been threatened with losing traffic from Milnthorpe to London area by Freightliner.All Earnest wanted to agree on,prior to the meeting was how much we would cut our London rates by to keep the traffic.Well I had done my homework prior to attending the meeting,unlike “rate cutter Ernest”,the other two didn’t have a clue how to respond but would have gladly gone along with the “fearless Ernest” no doubt ! Freightliner,at that time,had mainly 20ft and 30ft boxes and the most they get into a 30ft box was 16 pallets whereas we could load 20 pallets on a forty foot flat ( and deliver next day,which F/Liner couldn’t).The Freightliner price,per pallet,worked out at more than “ours” viz-a-viz 16 to 20,their per load (16) was indeed cheaper than our full load rate but our per pallet rate was cheaper.I told “Earnest the rate cutter” that he could do what he wanted but I wasn’t prepared to “cut” my rate,Gotty and Walt concurred with me so when we went into the full meeting I stated the obvious and Joe Peters the Distribution manager brought the meeting to an abrupt halt and apologised for wasting our time ! Needless to say we all kept our shares of traffic from Milnthorpe and,I kid you not,I actually got mass back slaps off the “three musketeers”(when they would all have happily "stabbed me in the back normally !) when we left the Croyden head office,me to see other customers I had to visit in the S. East and those three to catch the train home from Euston.That was the only customer we had in common and I had,really,no time for any of those three as they were all capable of been underhanded and,of course,none of them paid their drivers honestly (bonus schemes).Now is that an interesting enough anecdote for you NMM ? I have a few others but they are a bit too rich for the thread I think.Cheers Dennis.
newmercman:
Dennis, the pictures are great, but let’s hear some more anecdotes, stuff that went on at Bewick Transport, you must have a long list of them
Or shall I ask Chuffer for some?
Ask him about the time I caught up with him in my car decending Wigan bank on the M6,out of “stick” doing 70 MPH in his new Guy Big J,all I could hear was the tyres “screaming” on the trailer so when “Chuff” clocked me alongside he dropped back like a jet braking on landing .When he caught up with me at Keele( after I’d had my breakfast, and the cheeky ■■■■ asking if I wanted another cuppa !) he “swore blind” he was “in gear”,the lying ■■■■■■■ So there ensued a heated exchange of verbage,and a Police car pulled across to ask what was going on I got into my car and carried on to London.I dealt with “Chuff” on my return to Milnthorpe.Dennis.
) as Scanias in the fleet but I didn’t always get it right 
,it was just a case of snapping without thinking eh!.
.Frank was a great friend of 30 odd years and is sadly missed. Cheers Dennis.
But he really did like all things British and had one hell of a sense of humour which dosen’t come naturally to Le Frog 
So there ensued a heated exchange of verbage,and a Police car pulled across to ask what was going on 