rip brian
There was a firm with virtually the same paint job as Brians I think it was HAYMAN, the motor I saw a couple of times was a Steyr. Eddie.
erfguy:
There was a firm with virtually the same paint job as Brians I think it was HAYMAN, the motor I saw a couple of times was a Steyr. Eddie.
Haymans were based just inside the Devon border on the A38 near Morgan’s cafe. They specialised in the transportation of farm equipment and ran a number of Steyrs. I think the last foot & month outbreak damaged their trade a lot. There still is one vehicle operating under that name but not in that livery, I think it is a Renault outfit.
Taskman:
And I bet that little Erf chugs along on a four LW, but do any of you South West men know the other family firm from the South west that did alot of Scotch at that time the only thing I remember that they had a brown livery I think and it ain’t Gregories.
Have not noticed this thread before. The brown lorries from Devon doing a lot of Scotch would have been the long departed firm of W F Miners & Sons of Ashburton, who like Harris & Miners origionated in Widecombe in the Moor, moving to Ashburton in about 1960, the site is now a housing estate called Miner’s Close.
A bloke called Ken Sim worked for Harris & Miners and then Brian Harris. I think he was a long term employee.
Must have come up to the Fife area a lot as he stayed in Kingskettle most weekends and ended up getting married to a Kingskettle woman. I believe he still stays there, although long retired.
From the book, of which i’ve read 4 or 5 times, Ken Sim did the job the other way round, as in was based in scotland… !
Kinda worked that out Gunner.
I have recently moved back to the same village but haven’t seen Ken going about.
Will have to mention the book to him, if I happen to see him of course!
Peter Coaker:
Taskman:
And I bet that little Erf chugs along on a four LW, but do any of you South West men know the other family firm from the South west that did alot of Scotch at that time the only thing I remember that they had a brown livery I think and it ain’t Gregories.Have not noticed this thread before. The brown lorries from Devon doing a lot of Scotch would have been the long departed firm of W F Miners & Sons of Ashburton, who like Harris & Miners origionated in Widecombe in the Moor, moving to Ashburton in about 1960, the site is now a housing estate called Miner’s Close.
My dad worked for Fred Miners back in the `60s. I always remember the very narrow lane leading into the yard and the ramshackle workshops. I used to stand and watch the blokes working on the wagons while dad was loading.
anyone got any pics of this famous fleet .cheers 
somebody did a book, never seen it but must be plenty in there? available from nynehead books (no relation!)
It was John Corah who wrote the book about Brian Harris.
John did all the signwriting for Brian, and prior to that he was a driver for the precursor that was Harris & Miners.
It’s all in the book and there are loads of pictures in there to supplement the history of the business.
If it is of any interest I can vividly recal the days when I parked up at Lesmahagow and slept in the bungalow across the road from the cafe come shop back in the sixties, Harris& Miners always had beds booked there. And several years ago I was talking to an Harris driver who enlightened me when I asked him about the name on the cab door, my original question being, was this the same Harris what we knew in Miner and it was ‘Eureka’. And just to say what the lads did in those days running up from Devon doing all that Scotch and all stops in between, real grafters
Hope you liek this, I was in a layby on a Sunday morning like a sad muppet taking pics of the CTP roadrun last month!
Thanks for the great pictures of a great english lorry,
I often used to speak to Brian, backloading him to Plymouth. Nice number plate on the KV, was that by chance or design I wonder.
Nice pics, that E series looks tasty as well, a modern classic, but thast really aught to be draggin some boxes out of the freightliner! 
And I bet that little Erf chugs along on a four LW, but do any of you South West men know the other family firm from the South west that did alot of Scotch at that time the only thing I remember that they had a brown livery I think and it ain’t Gregories.
Spiers of Melksham? Not really proper S/W, but brown all the same…
I remember spiers, avon tyres work they did a fair bit of.
Taskman:
but do any of you South West men know the other family firm from the South west that did alot of Scotch at that time the only thing I remember that they had a brown livery I think and it ain’t Gregories.
Parsons?
