Hi all, anybody have any old photos of GESL, to add to hear think they ran Volvos on Tilt work , they are still going doing container work , cheers Alan.
Shame no one picked up on this thread!! I was with them, 1966, my first Artic. Old Albion unit out of Stratford, solo down to Bow, Sanders & Fosters, pick up trailer and deliver stell girders to Oldbury (Now M5) I couldnt belive my eyes, 60’ on a 40’ trailer. Wow what a introduction. 40mph at best. then onto newer vehicles, a tilt for Baxter Hoare at Borough market. I recall they had a Scania Varbis on euro work. The yard ws all cobble stones. good days a
hopey1945:
Shame no one picked up on this thread!! I was with them, 1966, my first Artic. Old Albion unit out of Stratford, solo down to Bow, Sanders & Fosters, pick up trailer and deliver stell girders to Oldbury (Now M5) I couldnt belive my eyes, 60’ on a 40’ trailer. Wow what a introduction. 40mph at best. then onto newer vehicles, a tilt for Baxter Hoare at Borough market. I recall they had a Scania Varbis on euro work. The yard ws all cobble stones. good days a
Hi mate, I worked for GES out of the Stratford yard started with a Leyland Buffalo doing Sanders and Fosters steel buildings all over the UK before going onto a mixture of both UK & European by then I had gone onto a Volvo F88, at that time GES were operating a mixture of trucks And Trailers Alongside The Volvos were Sed / Aks , Leyland Marathons , Scania`s , and a mixture of Flats & Tilts. The First European Job I had With GES was two JCB back hoes down to Italy. This was a regular run, the loads were often picked up as a back load on a Flat trailer and then transhipped in the yard into tilts. They were a great bunch of Lads to work with and I really enjoyed my time with them. From Memory I can only remember the name of Bernie one of the transport Managers he came over to GES from Sanders & Fosters when they shut up shop. I will try to find some pics but I lost almost all of my Pictures when I moved house never did find out how ■■
I met 2 of their drivers in the mid 80’s, one was Brian (the Dago) help me out the first time I went to Madrid, he had a 2800 Daf, the other I think was called Tom, met him in Turin had his wife with him, we stopped and had a meal with him on the way across to milan.
I recall, I got a wack of a tube that I was using to tighten the chain with, on the nut. George came over to take care of me. But he gave me a almighty bollocking as well.
Any of you lads remember john poulton my uncle? He worked for ges in the mid 60’s.
Surprised there’s no more tales of ges on here.
Anyone remember Tommy Conner ? Or Brian and Richard Stamp from Durham way ?
I bought a couple of motors from GES and the Daniels were proper good people
Tubbysboy:
Surprised there’s no more tales of ges on here.
Anyone remember Tommy Conner ? Or Brian and Richard Stamp from Durham way ?I bought a couple of motors from GES and the Daniels were proper good people
Hi mate, yes I worked with Tommy, he came from Ilford from memory. cannot remember the other names you mentioned.
I have a few tales that I will relay later, I must admit that I had some of the best times whilst driving for GES, great bunch of lads and the guys in the office were really good to work with.
The only problem is trying to remember the names, I can see all of the faces but cannot put names to them but I will put some thing together very soon.
I worked for GES in mid to late 60s in Stratford, owned then by George Snowdon (uncle), aided very inefficiently by John Daniels, every load was out of the yard by 2am or Jim , the night watchman would make a phone call and grass you up to uncle, he was so called because he was Daniels uncle. It was 50yrs ago but I can remember some of the drivers, Tommy Connors obviously was there, the only firm he ever worked for, started as a trailer boy and retired when he was in His 70s, a whole lifetime with the same firm. There was the Gilbert bros, first names I can’t recall, Albert Atkins, John Valentine and his dad, I can’t recall too many more cos as I said it was a long time ago, I think most will be gone by now, but the firm is still operating from Rainham, run by John Daniels son Richard.
Tubbysboy:
Surprised there’s no more tales of ges on here.
Anyone remember Tommy Conner ? Or Brian and Richard Stamp from Durham way ?I bought a couple of motors from GES and the Daniels were proper good people
A lot of people will have their own memories and opinions of John Daniels.
I will take it from the top, GES operated out of a yard in West Ham Lane that was cobbled and this was because it was an ex council depot, I was there in the late 60’s. The man at the top was George Snowden but the man who run the show was John Daniels who was assisted by Colin (no surname), In the garage was foreman fitter Fred and (noname) Harry the Hare was the grease monkey. The drivers I remember are Alec Towsey,Pat Brennan, Bill (blue eyes) Valentine, Dave (onions) Carey, Joe Atkins, Albi Hackett, Bobby from Bow common Lane, Colin (no surname) Vic and Georgie Gilbert, Peter (big wheel) Woodmansy, Brian the 4 wheeler driver and the Sanders and Foster shunter who’s name escapes me. The whole fleet consisted of Leyland comets and beavers, except for 2 albions, one was the 4 wheeler and the other mentioned in another post was a tractor unit converted from an Albion Caledonian 8 wheeler, this was due to the fact that Leyland Beavers were not readily available, so GES converted this 8 wheeler them self. I could not go without mentioning sniffy Jim who owned the cafe on the corner by the yard and also acted as the night watchman. Good old days.
I forgot to mention that i drove into the yard one morning solo after dropping an empty trailer and S+F, and there in the middle of the yard was a brand new ford D1000 V8 tractor unit, I must admit it looked really nice in the GSE livery. John Daniels came out and asked me would I like to try it out, I agreed and hitched up to a 40 foot trailer loaded with steel going to Rochford, the trailer had about 14/15 tons on it so of we went. Tipped in Rochford and made my way home. On the way home it started to rain and this D1000 did not like the 40 foot trailer pushing it about, I got to where Plessy used to be on the Southend Road and The traffic lights changed to red and I had yo slam them on a bit quick, the whole thing started skidding everywhere, finished up the pavement and head first down the pedestrian subway. The fire brigade had to get me out and I finished up in Old Church Hospital. When Daniels came to see me he said that the D1000 was definitely not man enough for a 40 foot trailer. I also forgot to mention in my previous post that we had a Leyland Badger that was big wheels pride and joy.
Tubbysboy:
Surprised there’s no more tales of ges on here.
Anyone remember Tommy Conner ? Or Brian and Richard Stamp from Durham way ?I bought a couple of motors from GES and the Daniels were proper good people
If you read my earlier post, would this be the same Brian & Tom.
Just looking about on t’internet found a photo of D885 one of the motors I bought from The Daniels.
Served me well,
Sorry can’t get the grip with the photos on this thing… Anyway you get the idea !!