routier:
superb snaps there, does anyone recall Swallow freight, think they were from Stoke on Trent
Didnt the managers from Comart setup Moorlock ?
Routier,
I do remember Swallow Freight - they were’nt from Stoke, don’t know where they were from ■■
Yes, some of the Comart team and drivers went to set up Moorlock, Clive Smith who owned Comart’s sold out to Unilever in I think in 78 and then immediatly set up Moorlock, using Dennis Moor and Morris Locket as the directors - hence the name Moor - Lock, they took some of the work with them,I think there was some clause in the sale of Comart that Clive could not start up in transport in his own name for a number of years.
141super:
I See one of the volvos said dublin eire on the side of it,Did you do irish work,
Comart had an office address in Dublin, it was to do with the fact that they carried a lot of Irish Beef , I imagine to do with export licence etc. Thye used to load a lot of trailers out there
mr bluecity:
brilliant thread and great photos, i hope you dont mind me asking but what actually happened regarding you dads accident.
No I don’t mind you asking,
He was on his way to Romania with swinging lambs, heading off the Munich ring road towards Austria he was cut up by an Italian woman driver on the bridge over the ring road below, when he swerved to avoid colliding with the car the lambs apparenmtly hit the side of the fridge with such force that they slplit the fridge open and casued the unit to smash through the barrier, causing it to land on the motorway central reservation 30ft below, he was driving the F10 (XFD 988 S) at the time and they said that the seat taw away from the cab floor and saved him. He suufered severe injuries and was flown by helicopter to Munich general hospital where he was put on life support machine for 3 weeks, it took him aprox 3 years to get back to some normal life. He evetually got compensation about 8 years later - very complicated process.
Unforunately he died in 96, through septasemiar (sorry if thats the wrong spelling) anyway they were not screening blood in Germany at the time and he had several blood transfussions, never liked being part German, but they did save his life thankfully.
German paper cutings of the accident below - sorry there not very clear, not much left of the F10 and trailer.
I do have some more somewhere, I’ll see if I can find them
Hello Ant, had the pleasure of knowing your dad when he did his short spell at Beresfords, in the 80s’. I think if I remember rightly he had a Seddonatky. Good company with lots of stories to tell. His photo was on the board at the continental drivers reunion, at the Moat House last month and he was remembered along with other drivers who have passed over the great divide, by the blokes present. mick f.
mandator mick:
Hello Ant, had the pleasure of knowing your dad when he did his short spell at Beresfords, in the 80s’. I think if I remember rightly he had a Seddonatky. Good company with lots of stories to tell. His photo was on the board at the continental drivers reunion, at the Moat House last month and he was remembered along with other drivers who have passed over the great divide, by the blokes present. mick f.
Mick,
Thanks for that, yes he had a sed atki when back at Berrisfords, did not find out about the re union until the Friday before the event, and had already other plans that I could not get out of, however, it’s nice to know that he was rememberd there, he would have been pleased at that, I’m sure there was plenty there that knew him.
Do you mean Swallow or Swift.
There was a firm by the name of Swift I think came from Scarborough originally that operated out of Fenton Industrial estate.I think they were swallowed up eventually.(Forgive the pun).
mandator mick:
routier wrote:
does anyone recall Swallow freight, think they were from Stoke on Trent.
Swallow were blue motors and were based at Shrewsbury, I think
Great thread this. Some crackin photo’s and stories
M J Swallow International Transport Ltd. Is that the one you refer to?
white and blue F88’s and F10’/12s with a beautiful big picture of a Swallow on the side of the fridge. If so they were based nr High Wycombe, Bucks and were sadly brought out by Cadwallader in approx 1980.
Got a few pics of em I will post. still see a couple of the ex drivers.
Cracking pictures mate i salute you for sharing your treasured photos
with us, there used to be a big guy worked for Comart mid seventies
had a big beard liked a drink, cant remember his name had to drive his motor off the boat once in Dover as he was well lets say happy anybody remember him
CRACK ON TO MACON:
Cracking pictures mate i salute you for sharing your treasured photos
with us, there used to be a big guy worked for Comart mid seventies
had a big beard liked a drink, cant remember his name had to drive his motor off the boat once in Dover as he was well lets say happy anybody remember him
Hi Crack On, Thanks for the comments, the only guys I can remember that had beards , were Macey and Jake Smith, Terry Lewis may have had a beard then, he has now ! as for the Beer, that could have been any of them !!! Knew most of them, as I was always with my Dad in the Holidays and more !!! beat going to school, learnt more on the road than I could have ever done in a classroom !
M J Swallow International Transport Ltd. Is that the one you refer to?
white and blue F88’s and F10’/12s with a beautiful big picture of a Swallow on the side of the fridge. If so they were based nr High Wycombe, Bucks and were sadly brought out by Cadwallader in approx 1980
Found some more slides, which I have scanned - enjoy.
Cedone - France
And from when Drivers used to change wheels at the side of the road !!
Thats all for now, I’ll keep digging to see if I can find anymore - Feel free to post any of your own if you have them. Would like to keep this thread going with photos, so he if you have photos, but can’t scan them, PM me and I’ll scan and post them for you.
I notice some of the early trucks are day cabs. Where did the driver sleep if he was doing an international trip in a day cab? Digs?
They either used to sleep across the seats and bonnet or have a board and mattress behind the seats that folded down afte you had gotten out of the cab, folded the seats forward and then dropped it forward, suitcase kept in the footwell or the trailer and they complain today !!!
