Hi guys I’m really new to this trucknet. My dad who drove for Frederick r miller ltd for 33 years was on for ferryline for about 10 years approximately and was wondering if I could locate some pictures of his lorries he had whilst pulling ferryline trailers. My dad got on very very well with Colin and bob. My dad was a very popular guy in terms of the drivers on there (ray cox) and he still says to this day it was one of if not his favourite jobs ever. Unfortunately he has had to retire due to ill health though he’d love to of carried on driving. It’s my turn at wagon driving now and done so for nearly 9 years but can’t help but think the job is certainly less enjoyable than it was in them days I used to travel with dad all over the place. Hope all the ex ferryline crew (drivers and office staff) are well and good and hope to hear from somebody soon
Dave cox:
Hi guys I’m really new to this trucknet. My dad who drove for Frederick r miller ltd for 33 years was on for ferryline for about 10 years approximately and was wondering if I could locate some pictures of his lorries he had whilst pulling ferryline trailers. My dad got on very very well with Colin and bob. My dad was a very popular guy in terms of the drivers on there (ray cox) and he still says to this day it was one of if not his favourite jobs ever. Unfortunately he has had to retire due to ill health though he’d love to of carried on driving. It’s my turn at wagon driving now and done so for nearly 9 years but can’t help but think the job is certainly less enjoyable than it was in them days I used to travel with dad all over the place. Hope all the ex ferryline crew (drivers and office staff) are well and good and hope to hear from somebody soon
Hi Dave,
Welcome to TruckNet, did your Dad live in the Aldershot/Farnham area ? and did he know a chap called Mick Channel who was Fred Millers first driver ?
Regards
Richard
First knew Chris Hudson when he was European transport manager for Jess Woodcocks out of Beckton, We where subbing for him on W & M Woods running France and Switzerland, good man to work with, W & M Woods asked him to join them in setting up a company to be called Trailer 70 Limited, initially with 100 trailers but he turned us down saying, he was going to do his own thing and set up his own company, and did so, becoming the success that he did. All the tilts on W & M Woods and Trailer 70 had their bodies built by Cooks of Rainham, the first few we had didn’t come up to much as the steel was too soft, and if the load lent on the frame and bent it, when you unloaded the trailer it tended to stay the same shape, but that was soon sorted by Cooks by using stronger steel for the frame, always liked working with the tilts they built
Happy days.
Ossie.
Hi Richard yes we know the channel family very well. Micks son Richard channel is a good friend of mine and yes we are from that area mate. Well hindhead really but near enough.
terryavc:
Hi Carl,
Yes, you mentioning Tamworth has just made me remember that we had an owner driver there called Dave Binder, it may be him or his drivers that you’re referring to. He followed me around from one company to another like several of the owner drivers I’ve mentioned.
Thanks for the warm welcome to the site.
Regards,
Terry
hi terry.my name is den wyld.i used to drive a DAF 2800 for a subby named geoff stevens. based at ALFRETON.DERBYS. frank carsons son was there at the same time.sorry but thats all i can remember.old age and all that.regards DEN.
Apologies as I started a separate thread and now discovered a lot of saved info.
Attached a leaflet of the to be establish company (on the premisses) of Chris
Hudson in Tegelen (close to Venlo and German border) of the monoframe.
Wheel Nut:
Good post, I must have known most of the Ferryline drivers as they came off the ferry into TTZ, grabbed a coffee and a brace of Stefans special sandwiches, plastic cheese and cardboard ham in a cellophane packet before shooting off into the night.I agree with the bit about Cooks Trailers. I used one for about a year, it was the best Tilt I had ever worked with
Hello wheelnut, on the topic of Ferryline drivers did you know a couple of lads by the name of Mick Parker or Dave Sharpe both from Colne, Lancashire. They used to drive at one time for a fella called geoff royle from burnley in lancashire who used to pull the ferryline trailers in to europe etc, I worked at Borthwicks slaughterhouse in colne at that time and they used to park in borthwicks yard when they were home, thanks.
I had a motor on Ferryline for a while while working with Owner Drivers UK from Bristol in, I think the end of the 80’s my trailer was TP812. Bob Humphries & a lad called Jonathon in the office at Sandwich. I remember it as a ‘keep going job’ mostly between Bridgend & Sarlous. Lots of characters on there then, Barbecue Billy, Billy Two Bridges, Numb Nuts, Squeeky, Calamity, Biggles & quite a few more that I’m struggling to remember, Happy Days
How interesting. Before Chris formed Chris Hudson Intl. he was employed by W B Woolley & Co.Ltd subsidary comnpany called The National Freight Co. (GB) Ltd ( The name was later bought by the newly nationalised National Freight Corporation when that monolith was formed ). Woolleys were a lkarge UK based private forwarder and got into the emerging trailer market in 1966/7/8. Chris ran this business for some time before heading off to successfully form Chrish Hudson Intl. I was at the time Manager of W B Woolley & Co Ltd Southampton office.
We ran trailers in 1966-8 in conjuction with A M GARAGE LTD of Birmingham, notably full loads af Massey Ferguson tractors and parts to and from Beauvais, near Paris. Full load rate then was £475.00 ferry paid. About the same to-day nearly 50 years later !!! Ah happy pioneering days.
It was great reading about how Harvey Shaw came about, I had always wondered who he was so to speak,I typed in Harvey Shaw on Google & it bought me to this link on TruckNet so thought I best add to the chat.
As a kid I always spent any spare time or school holiday in the passenger seat of any truck my dad was driving at the time,mainly local stuff with the odd day out to further afield now & again,so imagine my delight when a guy who lived down the road from us parked his 2800 Daf hitched up to a brand new Harvey Shaw trailer oitside his house one day, I knew all the family & usd to knock about with his kids, so that weekend I popped round to see him to see if there was any chance I could go out with him one day in his truck, so began a regular journey for me that night when i accompanied him to Folkestone to do a trailer swap, he was working for Brian Baldry out of Bletchley MK who had 3x 2800’s on traction work for Harvey Shaw & I got to know all the drivers & many subbies who we often used to meet up with our journeys, remember the drivers who were on for Peter Roff when he had the two 141’s doing traction as well as another Scania for Robinson’s of Stewkley, many a happy memory running down to the port whenever I was able to, when Baldry went bust my mate went to work for a guy out of Tamworth still doing the same work who had a F10/12? White with a brown angled stripe on the door, I used to have load a of pics of these trucks but sadly gave them all away many moons ago so it’s great to see some of the pics on here, really great memories
I have just found this site and was surprised to see the posts regarding Chris Hudson International and Ferryline and my name mentioned.
I am Terry Poulson and I was a director of Chris Hudson during the early 70’s.I had visited Chris on a mission to obtain his customs clearance business for my then employer,W.Mathewson & Co. at Felixstowe, and by the time I left his office, I was employed by him to open a brand new office at Ramsgate as he was supporting a new shipping line that was starting up. We formed a company called Seaclear Forwarding and I was there until the Shipping Company ceased trading.
Chris then asked me to join Chris Hudson International at his office in Romford, as a director, and I thus became officially number two in the company.
As a previous poster has mentioned, Chris began to surround himself with family members, and early in 1976, he made me redundant to make way for his brother, Russell.
In August 1976, I started a company in Felixstowe, called Harvay Shaw (no one seems to have mentioned it yet on here)and we achieved great success very quickly, mainly through Ford Motor Company giving me business.I also had several of Chris’s owner drivers join me, notably, the much mentioned Peter Roff, Terry Brewster, Robin Taft, Gordon from Ramsgate and several others which I’m afraid I can’t remember at the moment.
As the company grew so quickly, I could not finance it myself and I allowed the Anglia Forwarding Group to take it over, with me staying as the front man.We eventually became one of the largest shippers with Sealink Ferries and the company grew to a very large outfit.
This worked for a while, but by 1980 I had grown tired of the interference I was getting from Anglia Forwarding, I felt stifled under their control, and so in the same year, I founded Ferryline Trailers, at Dover.
Once again, the usual suspects (owner driver wise) joined me and with Colin Hillman and Bob Humphreys as my co-directors we set to work.
Once again, the company flourished and again, with the help of Ford Motor Company, we became one of Townsend Thoresen’s biggest shippers. I think it was in our 3rd or 4th year, the company turned over in excess of eleven million pounds, so we’re talking BIG here.
Early on in the life of Ferryline Trailers, I formed Ferryline Forwarding and David Elvy (Bob Humphrey’s brother in law), was employed to run it, which he did, very successfully.
In 1990, I retired from the business and came to an agreement for Colin Hillman and Bob Humphreys to take over Ferryline Trailers and a separate agreement saw Dave Elvy take over Ferryline Forwarding.
I then tried to be clever and invested heavily in a building project which I thought would make me comfortable for life, but a recession hit the property market and I basically lost all my wealth.
I now live an ordinary life, surviving on the old age pension and a small pension from Ferryline, but at least I managed to live a little.
I have, over the years, met many of the drivers on this site and I have fond memories of those times.
On one occasion, the usual suspects invited me over to The Northwood Club in Ramsgate where Jimmy Jones (the comedian) proceeded to take the ■■■■ out of me all night. (I think I was set-up).
Kind regards,
Terry Poulson
Hi Terry and welcome to Trucknet 
Nice to read your history and to understand a little about the Hudson/Harvay Shaw/Ferryline connection.
I did some work for Peter Roff in the 1980’s, pulling Ferryline trailers to load at Bridgend and taking them to Dover with some trips to Ford factories in Germany. I drove Roff’s trucks and also double manned with Colin Field who in turn subbed for Peter with a couple of his ex units. There are many stories banded around about Peter, but frankly I never had any quarms with him or the way he treated his drivers. Some of the stories are quite amazing 
I thought I’d add to your writing with some photos. Hopefully they will bring back some evocative memories for you.
Peter’s first truck on for Hudson; Check out that “Montracon” trailer and those super single wheels!
Was this at Romford?
On route to Valencia; PLY 575L
Peter’s first Volvo F12 - GFC 366S - posing at Felixstowe for professional photo shoot
One of two Scania 141’s that Peter ran - HRY 466V. What was the Edmond Depaire connection?
Hi,
Nice to hear from you.
Yes it was indeed in Romford, and my office was just above the folding doors.
This was our second home, we started out in Romford High Street, above a shop, opposite Woolworths I think.
The Edmond Depaire connection was that they were Harvay Shaw’s agents on the continent and had responsibility for providing the traction for our unnaccompanied trailers and also for finding us backloads.
There were a lot of trailers around with “TP” prefixes as their number,which of course were my initials.
I will have a look in my loft sometime and see what I can find, I think I have surprisingly little, considering my past, but If I find anything, I’ll get your address and post them to you so you can copy them.
You may have to be patient though, as unfortunately, my mother passed away on Thursday and I am having to deal with that at the moment.
Please don’t hesitate to remind me though if you think I’ve forgotten, my memory isn’t what it used to be.
If there’s any other info I can give you, I will gladly try although again, depending on my memory.
Regards,
Terry
hi terry & welcome
its good to hear about some success stories in the cut throat world of road haulage.
sorry to hear about your mum.
cheers
gaz
Thanks Gaz, I appreciate that very much.
Terry
And my sympathy too Terry. Keep in touch. ASH
i remember harvay shaw,chris hudson and edmond depaire.a guy called pete harding from tamworth used to park a unit and trailer at mile oak on the a5 i remember an f88 and f10 and trailers behind them from all 3 firms if i remember rightly.great story terry welcome to trucknet
Hi Carl,
Yes, you mentioning Tamworth has just made me remember that we had an owner driver there called Dave Binder, it may be him or his drivers that you’re referring to. He followed me around from one company to another like several of the owner drivers I’ve mentioned.
Thanks for the warm welcome to the site.
Regards,
Terry
hi terry it may well be dave then and not pete i thought it may be pete as im sure it was his yard,i,ll ask my mate if he remembers dave binder