And the band played on ! Nmp
coomsey:
0You might know this gal Spardo !
Another useless piece of useless information…
Fleet no. on this was C15 - the last 8-legger they purchased was fleet no. C101, on an ‘F’-prefix reg, circa 1988-89; can’t recall the rest of the registration right now, but I’ve got photos somewhere(!) in the attic 
GCR2ERF:
coomsey:
0You might know this gal Spardo !Another useless piece of useless information…
Fleet no. on this was C15 - the last 8-legger they purchased was fleet no. C101, on an ‘F’-prefix reg, circa 1988-89; can’t recall the rest of the registration right now, but I’ve got photos somewhere(!) in the attic
No such thing as useless info! I used to see them all over the shop but don’t recall seeing them in scrapyard or steel works were they just coal movers ? Cheers Coomsey
coomsey:
GCR2ERF:
coomsey:
0You might know this gal Spardo !Another useless piece of useless information…
Fleet no. on this was C15 - the last 8-legger they purchased was fleet no. C101, on an ‘F’-prefix reg, circa 1988-89; can’t recall the rest of the registration right now, but I’ve got photos somewhere(!) in the atticNo such thing as useless info! I used to see them all over the shop but don’t recall seeing them in scrapyard or steel works were they just coal movers ? Cheers Coomsey
I worked there 1992-1995, by which time the company was much reduced from it’s heyday. During my time the artics worked on a mix of tippers & general flats/curtainsiders with some warehousing thrown in. As the local pits closed, so the coal work dried up and the fleet became smaller.
They were part of the AAH group, which included other hauliers such as Dorchester Transport, Watts Bros. of Goole, Grantham Road Services, Sutherell’s of Lincoln, plus othes I may have forgotten. After taking over Barnfather’s, AAH sold out the transport division to Baylis Distribution. K&M were also members of the Transport Association, which used to see folks coming to our yard for diesel, repairs etc.
They are still trading from the old aerodrome site, with warehousing, a repairs garage, tachograph bay and a couple of lorries.
Given the size of the fleet, it often seems odd to me that there aren’t more photos of their fleet posted on the net, etc. Having said that, the fleet was very much geared towards working, rather than ‘bling’!
Like many firms back then, they had a core of good drivers that could turn their hand to anything and put some graft in too.
Being a local lad I was well aware of there fleet way before then, but some others chaps on here (Spardo, Frankydobo?) who worked there might be able to fill in the gaps.
GCR2ERF:
coomsey:
GCR2ERF:
coomsey:
0You might know this gal Spardo !Another useless piece of useless information…
Fleet no. on this was C15 - the last 8-legger they purchased was fleet no. C101, on an ‘F’-prefix reg, circa 1988-89; can’t recall the rest of the registration right now, but I’ve got photos somewhere(!) in the atticNo such thing as useless info! I used to see them all over the shop but don’t recall seeing them in scrapyard or steel works were they just coal movers ? Cheers Coomsey
I worked there 1992-1995, by which time the company was much reduced from it’s heyday. During my time the artics worked on a mix of tippers & general flats/curtainsiders with some warehousing thrown in. As the local pits closed, so the coal work dried up and the fleet became smaller.
They were part of the AAH group, which included other hauliers such as Dorchester Transport, Watts Bros. of Goole, Grantham Road Services, Sutherell’s of Lincoln, plus othes I may have forgotten. After taking over Barnfather’s, AAH sold out the transport division to Baylis Distribution. K&M were also members of the Transport Association, which used to see folks coming to our yard for diesel, repairs etc.
They are still trading from the old aerodrome site, with warehousing, a repairs garage, tachograph bay and a couple of lorries.
Given the size of the fleet, it often seems odd to me that there aren’t more photos of their fleet posted on the net, etc. Having said that, the fleet was very much geared towards working, rather than ‘bling’!
Like many firms back then, they had a core of good drivers that could turn their hand to anything and put some graft in too.
Being a local lad I was well aware of there fleet way before then, but some others chaps on here (Spardo, Frankydobo?) who worked there might be able to fill in the gaps.
I certainly can’t fill in many gaps for you after that interesting insight. Never knew they were part of a larger organisation, though AAH does ring a familiar bell for me now you mention it.
Can’t remember when I was there, 70s perhaps? My brother went there first, they put him through his test and gave him an Atki artic flat. I was at a loose end and went into see if there was anything going. The manager was called Watts and he asked if I had ever driven a powder tank, on saying no but was willing to learn I got the job.
At first I had various Foden 8 wheelers like the one Coomsey posted, then for a time a Mickey Mouse one with half the bonnet missing due to restrictions on the gear lever. It was very, very noisy and hot. I remember ploughing through London in the middle of winter with both windows down just to avoid heat exhaustion.
Then a steel cabbed Foden with a bottom discharge tank trailer. 205 ■■■■■■■ and Foden 12 speed box, easily the best box ever imo. I left after a disagreement with the yard foreman whose name escapes me. Can’t remember the details except that it was something silly and should have been quickly resolved, but I was younger and a bit arguementative then and jobs were ten a penny. Walked out the yard in the morning and started somewhere else in the afternoon.
While I was there they took over Bulk Powders (Midlands (or was it Nottm?)) Ltd. Brown wagons mostly Atkis I think. One name I remember was Graham Watts who had previously been on petrol tankers. Another lad was ex-army and almost the first thing he did was take all the lids off under a low bridge in Macclesfield or somewhere like that. 
I think it was my first introduction to Fodens, but I liked them so much that, in the 80s when I became Transport Manager at Samuel Courtauld (later Toray) in Bulwell, I bought 3 of them, a tractor and 2 6 wheelers for drags. Only later changed to Volvo because Fodens couldn’t supply air suspension all round, which I needed because of the way we used our demount bodies. The first 2 Fodens used hydraulics to lift the bodies.
I was also there when the HGV test came in, but got my licence under grandfather rights. A couple of brothers there, Poole I think, had been away from driving for the required period and had to take the test. One of them kept failing because he held it on the clutch when coming out of a junction.
When Toray took over we were released from the obligation to take all the wagons to Courtauld’s at Spondon (British Celanese) for repairs and servicing. A real pain for a small fleet as I had to send a car each time a truck was left or collected. So after a comparison with the company who ran blue ERFs not far away (memory is shot to bits these days but they had a very smart fleet) I concluded a deal with the service manager at K&M who were much closer and collected and delivered. His name has also gone but I remember that his first name was very unusual.
That’s about it, I seem to have created more gaps than I filled. 
Thanks for info on K n M lads,surprised they’re still going! Pit closures fettled most! cheers Coomsey
Hi Spardo, thanks for the info. The garage manager’s name was Byron Morton - bit of a character, and we had a few ding-dong’s, but no hard feelings in the end. Sadly, Byron died about 7 or 8 years ago.
Byron’s garage office forman was Jack Ward (not 100% on the surname). Jack had served in the Naval Military Police, and done a bit of cloak & dagger stuff there apparently (!)
A few other names for you…
8-wheel tippers
Dennis Maltby
Dave Maltby
Johnny Hughes
Horace Stirland
Ron Lane (always wore a shirt & tie)
Artic tippers
George Ord (shop steward from Geordie-land, used to wear a ‘Russian’ fur hat)
Ray Bell (another shop steward)
Derek Hodgkinson
General haulage (and possibly tankers)
Bob Townsend (wore a Tam o’ Shanter cap)
‘Pip’ aka Derek (…surname?)
Malc Andrews
Brian Rowe
Reg Barlow
(Black) ‘Billy’ Hall (his actual forenames are Fitzroy Vincent !!)
Tony Daley (aka frilly knickers), always wore a blazer, shirt & tie
Brian Pounder
SAPA fleet
Rex Worley
Paul Eastwood
Tom Priestley
Walt Bunting
Yard staff
Roy Bowers (might he have been your nemesis?!)
Noel Sellors
Garage staff
John Hodgkinson
Ray Batterson (aka Batto)
Lincoln tippers
Pete Jubb
Ted Garfoot
Management/office staff
Peter Atkinson (MD?)
Gerorge Rimmington ™
Mick Fell
Some of these folks may have been after your spell there mate, but a lot of them were ‘lifers’, dating back to the yard next to the zoo at Butler’s Hill just outside Hucknall, or even Picadilly at Bulwell !!
Will post more if & when it comes back to me (!)
Hi again Spardo – Off-topic alert
Small world you working at Toray’s… the company I now work at is Joseph Merritt Group (Machinery Removals & Installations). We used to be based on Nuthall Road, just up from the Commodore International at the traffic lights, but we’ve been up at Kirkby in Ashfield now since October 1989… we used to do plenty of moves at Toray’s Bulwell factory (older folks called it Spray & Burgess?). I remember your Fodens there, and an old ERF (LV chassis) day-cabbed rigid 4-whl flat that was used on locals and then internals?
We still do work at the current works at Forest Town too 
An old pal of mine was on the shop floor at Toray’s in Bulwell too, Phil
GCR2ERF:
Hi Spardo, thanks for the info. The garage manager’s name was Byron Morton - bit of a character, and we had a few ding-dong’s, but no hard feelings in the end. Sadly, Byron died about 7 or 8 years ago.
Byron’s garage office forman was Jack Ward (not 100% on the surname). Jack had served in the Naval Military Police, and done a bit of cloak & dagger stuff there apparently (!)A few other names for you…
8-wheel tippers
Dennis Maltby
Dave Maltby
Johnny Hughes
Horace Stirland
Ron Lane (always wore a shirt & tie)Artic tippers
George Ord (shop steward from Geordie-land, used to wear a ‘Russian’ fur hat)
Ray Bell (another shop steward)
Derek HodgkinsonGeneral haulage (and possibly tankers)
Bob Townsend (wore a Tam o’ Shanter cap)
‘Pip’ aka Derek (…surname?)
Malc Andrews
Brian Rowe
Reg Barlow
(Black) ‘Billy’ Hall (his actual forenames are Fitzroy Vincent !!)
Tony Daley (aka frilly knickers), always wore a blazer, shirt & tie
Brian PounderSAPA fleet
Rex Worley
Paul Eastwood
Tom Priestley
Walt BuntingYard staff
Roy Bowers (might he have been your nemesis?!)
Noel SellorsGarage staff
John Hodgkinson
Ray Batterson (aka Batto)Lincoln tippers
Pete Jubb
Ted GarfootManagement/office staff
Peter Atkinson (MD?)Gerorge Rimmington ™
Mick FellSome of these folks may have been after your spell there mate, but a lot of them were ‘lifers’, dating back to the yard next to the zoo at Butler’s Hill just outside Hucknall, or even Picadilly at Bulwell !!
Will post more if & when it comes back to me (!)
Hiya GCR2ERF I used to live a few doors up from “Black Billy” I went to school with his son Michael
I can remember Byron he was a bit of a character I went to college with a lad named Julian Tennant who was at K&M we both went to Broxtowe College
They had a Atkinson Defender from Sam Longsons and a 6 wheeler Leyland Bison from J W Dunn that we used to work on
GCR2ERF:
Hi again Spardo – Off-topic alertSmall world you working at Toray’s… the company I now work at is Joseph Merritt Group (Machinery Removals & Installations). We used to be based on Nuthall Road, just up from the Commodore International at the traffic lights, but we’ve been up at Kirkby in Ashfield now since October 1989… we used to do plenty of moves at Toray’s Bulwell factory (older folks called it Spray & Burgess?). I remember your Fodens there, and an old ERF (LV chassis) day-cabbed rigid 4-whl flat that was used on locals and then internals?
We still do work at the current works at Forest Town too
An old pal of mine was on the shop floor at Toray’s in Bulwell too, Phil
Blimey, you must be very young or have had some memory training. Sadly I am neither and don’t recognise any names there except for Byron Morton, I told you he had an unusual first name. 
He was a bit of a character as you say. When I was researching local garages to maintain my fleet He and his wife took me and mine out to some swish dinner, I think it was the transport Engineers’ annual do or something like that. And we did give him the job (no corruption there, the dinner wasn’t that good ) and he did it very well but there were a few hiccups along the way, little things like when my driver Paul Evans had his cb knicked from the cab while at the aerodrome and it took months to get him restitution, but good stuff too. In those days we had some artics and unable to move trailers round the yard I bought a scrap 5th wheel dolly that someone had cut up from an old chassis and he collected it and put it into fine working order for us. It did good service because I only needed one vehicle on site to move a trailer, tractor or rigid drag puller.
I don’t remember an ERF at Toray or Courtauld’s though. Spray and Burgess was the original company that was taken over by Courtauld’s, then later by Toray. My wife’s first husband, not a driver but becoming redundant from the rag trade took and passed his artic test and S & B took him on and sent to Boots but on his first day he jacknifed it at Boot’s island coming down off the railway bridge and never touched a wagon again.
BTW I was always corrected by older hands that the G in Burgess was hard, not soft. Perhaps it should, maybe was, spelled Burgass?
I do have some pictures of my Fodens there, but they are on an external drive that I don’t use regularly. I’ll try and dig them out.
Could the Phill you mention at Toray be ‘Bopper’ ? I think his surname was Draycott, and he had the sad distinction of jacking the job in a week before lucrative voluntary redundancies were offered. 
Look after that lot at Mansfield btw, they are all that stands between me and penury these days, well almost, pensions weren’t compulsory when I joined but I bless the name of the man who advised me to go for one, Ray Baker. He followed his own advice and went further doubling up on it, I believe he is still living in Mansfield to this day.
GCR2ERF:
Hi Spardo, thanks for the info. The garage manager’s name was Byron Morton - bit of a character, and we had a few ding-dong’s, but no hard feelings in the end. Sadly, Byron died about 7 or 8 years ago.
Byron’s garage office forman was Jack Ward (not 100% on the surname). Jack had served in the Naval Military Police, and done a bit of cloak & dagger stuff there apparently (!)A few other names for you…
8-wheel tippers
Dennis Maltby
Dave Maltby
Johnny Hughes
Horace Stirland
Ron Lane (always wore a shirt & tie)Artic tippers
George Ord (shop steward from Geordie-land, used to wear a ‘Russian’ fur hat)
Ray Bell (another shop steward)
Derek HodgkinsonGeneral haulage (and possibly tankers)
Bob Townsend (wore a Tam o’ Shanter cap)
‘Pip’ aka Derek (…surname?)
Malc Andrews
Brian Rowe
Reg Barlow
(Black) ‘Billy’ Hall (his actual forenames are Fitzroy Vincent !!)
Tony Daley (aka frilly knickers), always wore a blazer, shirt & tie
Brian PounderSAPA fleet
Rex Worley
Paul Eastwood
Tom Priestley
Walt BuntingYard staff
Roy Bowers (might he have been your nemesis?!)
Noel SellorsGarage staff
John Hodgkinson
Ray Batterson (aka Batto)Lincoln tippers
Pete Jubb
Ted GarfootManagement/office staff
Peter Atkinson (MD?)Gerorge Rimmington ™
Mick FellSome of these folks may have been after your spell there mate, but a lot of them were ‘lifers’, dating back to the yard next to the zoo at Butler’s Hill just outside Hucknall, or even Picadilly at Bulwell !!
Will post more if & when it comes back to me (!)
We subbed for k&m for years right to the end in late 90s, there really was some characters in the drivers and garage staff, you could fill a book of some the incidents / accidents that happened to them , cutting a square hole in floor of a Wilcox body on a 8 wheel foden to change first diff is one I remember so they could use overhead crane but there were many more , there doesn’t seem to be many photos of them wished I’d have taken more photos
Lawrence Dunbar:
0
That’s a nice motor Lawrence i would definitely swap my DAF for that
ramone:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0That’s a nice motor Lawrence i would definitely swap my DAF for that
It sure is, Its a working motor, Regards Larry.
Spardo:
GCR2ERF:
Hi again Spardo – Off-topic alertSmall world you working at Toray’s… the company I now work at is Joseph Merritt Group (Machinery Removals & Installations). We used to be based on Nuthall Road, just up from the Commodore International at the traffic lights, but we’ve been up at Kirkby in Ashfield now since October 1989… we used to do plenty of moves at Toray’s Bulwell factory (older folks called it Spray & Burgess?). I remember your Fodens there, and an old ERF (LV chassis) day-cabbed rigid 4-whl flat that was used on locals and then internals?
We still do work at the current works at Forest Town too
An old pal of mine was on the shop floor at Toray’s in Bulwell too, Phil
Blimey, you must be very young or have had some memory training. Sadly I am neither and don’t recognise any names there except for Byron Morton, I told you he had an unusual first name.
He was a bit of a character as you say. When I was researching local garages to maintain my fleet He and his wife took me and mine out to some swish dinner, I think it was the transport Engineers’ annual do or something like that. And we did give him the job (no corruption there, the dinner wasn’t that good
I don’t remember an ERF at Toray or Courtauld’s though. Spray and Burgess was the original company that was taken over by Courtauld’s, then later by Toray. My wife’s first husband, not a driver but becoming redundant from the rag trade took and passed his artic test and S & B took him on and sent to Boots but on his first day he jacknifed it at Boot’s island coming down off the railway bridge and never touched a wagon again.
BTW I was always corrected by older hands that the G in Burgess was hard, not soft. Perhaps it should, maybe was, spelled Burgass?
I do have some pictures of my Fodens there, but they are on an external drive that I don’t use regularly. I’ll try and dig them out.
Could the Phill you mention at Toray be ‘Bopper’ ? I think his surname was Draycott, and he had the sad distinction of jacking the job in a week before lucrative voluntary redundancies were offered.
Look after that lot at Mansfield btw, they are all that stands between me and penury these days, well almost, pensions weren’t compulsory when I joined but I bless the name of the man who advised me to go for one, Ray Baker. He followed his own advice and went further doubling up on it, I believe he is still living in Mansfield to this day.
Hi Spardo, further updates…
I’ll happily accept the ‘young’, as I’m 49 later this month! The surname of the Phil I mentioned was Stovell (he lived in Bulwell).
As for that mystery ERF… I can see it now, looking a bit odd as it was sprayed into the half n half white/grey livery that Toray introduced - looked most odd on a 70’s cab (unless I’m cracking up!)
Another couple of K&M names, that may might ring a bell with other folks… Bob Crich who was from Ilkeston - a top bloke who was the spitting image of Joe Brown (of ‘The Bruvvers’ fame)… also, Pip’s surname was Spencer…
Regards,
Tony
Hi Longpod, I was in the traffic office at K&M and used to speak to Mrs Meer when handling the subbing - often as not, a large-sounding dog could be heard in the background!!