shugg:
steelboyf10:
in TDG coloursI wonder if this DAF 80 came to Harris from Inter City Transport ■■■■■■■■■■■ who were running a large number when they closed .
Shugg
Did you work out of Inter City ■■■■■■■■■■■ if so did you ever work with a guy called Gordon Scott ?
steelboyf10:
Kenb:
B.Wadsworth:
H I, Folks Harris ran a dozen or so traders and tk bedford artic s with 4 in line coil carriers painted the same as Shotton steel a maroon , on contract licence based at cafe come service station ,just out side the works at wood bank , just a bit of usless info ,cheers BarryHi
Good info - you are correct that developed into a 36 vehicle feet working for Shotton steel inc a depot outside the works and then the purchase of the old vehicle entrance and parking area. At one meeting with the works director he referred to Harris’s as their taxi service for the coils!! A long business association developed inc Harris developing the curtain slide cover trailer for them and doing internal shunting. Not sure how it all ended?Kenb
Hi Barry, Kenb, Harris when they morphed into TDG took a lead with the external haulage for Shotton works, and any haulier, including the one I worked for had to trade via TDG, who took. % for the work…the end of independent hauliers…but popular at the time
, there were some costars on on the job in those days, long term driver Alistair who was also the Mayor of Mold at one time I think…Barry? Do you recall…I have a few pics of the Shotton fleet will dig them out, A series with 240 Gardner’s etc
Hi all
Harris had been in the TDG fold for a long time, in fact it was the first company to be denationalised in the Northwich area and was bought by Thames Lighterage and Warehousing - TDG’s former name that was about late 1950,s the depot manager - it was Harold Palin who had the contact with Shotton and developed the relationship. Palin went on to head Freight Transport Holdings based in Liverpool who were the divisional holding Company for TDG and went on to buy dozens of companies across northern England inc Williams of Wales at Queensferry. When I took over Harris in 1982 the fleet at Shotton was down to 5 vehicles due to lack of imaginative thinking by senior management - Ray Tuft ran the depot as well as drive daily, I took the action to build the depot including Shotton plus other companies on the industrial estate, Shotton Paper was ok until they brought in that broker company and we pulled out after painting units and trailers in their livery!! The coil trailer with canopy behind the FL10 was developed by Tom Coleman (fleet engineer) and Gerorge Gregory (body shop manager) from Harris Northwich who then commissioned Don Bur to build after a torrid time with AHP whose tare weigh was unbelievable - like 2 tons overweight.
Remember Alister well - quite a character. Shotton/Sealand was a good depot for Harris with good hard working people.
Ken b
Hi ken b, Interesting info you have posted about Harris/TDG ! Would the “Broker” you refer to be a firm called Linkflow by any chance ? Also I recall when I was running my first motor as an O/D I got to know a Harris driver who ran to Iver, in Bucks, from Shotton and back late afternoon everyday on an ERF and coiler. I can’t recall his name as it would be 69/70 time but he seemed to be a decent kind of a bloke who was a good Driver, IIRC he was going a bit “thin on top” and would have been 50’ish or so when I was 22/23 ! Cheers Bewick.
That information from Kenb makes more sense of Gaz70 post. I think it was 1979/1980 when I first went to Mars Slough with fat. Tate & Lyle and Napier Brown were doing the sugar and British Cocoa Mills doing the butter. It must have been before that when Harris / TDG were doing it.
Bewick:
Hi ken b, Interesting info you have posted about Harris/TDG ! Would the “Broker” you refer to be a firm called Linkflow by any chance
Spot on with Linkflow - lots of the established transport companies had a a go at a Shotton Paper but lost out - Downton’s have been the only one to stick it.
Cheers
Kenb
Hi ,Folks , Alistair know him well a star turn ,still going strong a bit unsteady on his pins so keep on trucking , Cheers Barry
Boatchaser:
shugg:
steelboyf10:
in TDG coloursI wonder if this DAF 80 came to Harris from Inter City Transport ■■■■■■■■■■■ who were running a large number when they closed .
Shugg
Did you work out of Inter City ■■■■■■■■■■■ if so did you ever work with a guy called Gordon Scott ?
I can recall a gent with this name leaving Inter-City just before I joined the company , I’am sure he moved to manage a company which specialised in wines and spirits distribution , his wife worked in the main office during my time with the company .
Kenb:
Bewick:
Hi ken b, Interesting info you have posted about Harris/TDG ! Would the “Broker” you refer to be a firm called Linkflow by any chanceSpot on with Linkflow - lots of the established transport companies had a a go at a Shotton Paper but lost out - Downton’s have been the only one to stick it.
Cheers
Kenb
Was the Linkflow geezer’s name Graham Mc Crindle by any chance ? Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Kenb:
Bewick:
Hi ken b, Interesting info you have posted about Harris/TDG ! Would the “Broker” you refer to be a firm called Linkflow by any chanceSpot on with Linkflow - lots of the established transport companies had a a go at a Shotton Paper but lost out - Downton’s have been the only one to stick it.
Cheers
Kenb
Was the Linkflow geezer’s name Graham Mc Crindle by any chance ? Cheers Dennis.
Hole in one again
Cheers
Kenb
Kenb:
Bewick:
Kenb:
Bewick:
Hi ken b, Interesting info you have posted about Harris/TDG ! Would the “Broker” you refer to be a firm called Linkflow by any chanceSpot on with Linkflow - lots of the established transport companies had a a go at a Shotton Paper but lost out - Downton’s have been the only one to stick it.
Cheers
Kenb
Was the Linkflow geezer’s name Graham Mc Crindle by any chance ? Cheers Dennis.
Hole in one again
CheersKenb
The plot thickens 
All I will say is neither Linkflow or Mr Mac dictated terms to Bewick Transport and believe me it ■■■■■■ them off Big Style as our large Paper Mill customers who we worked directly for dictated terms in no uncertain manner to Linkflow as to who delivered their woodpulp. Consequently Linkflow’s involvement was reduced to producing the delivery notes for the '000’s of tons of pulp we hauled from Hartlepool and Royal Portbury. We did however maintain a cordial relationship with Linkflow as we did work directly for them with a regular job from Portbury to Barrow but there was always an undertone that we were viewed as an irritant because they were unable to interfere with the relationship we had with our customers and therebye they were unable to give the tonnage to every man and his dog at a much lower rate than we ran for and then be able to carve themselves a slice of the rate while still charging the customer the same rate as we were running for, ■■■■■■■ Parasites !! Bewick
B.Wadsworth:
Hi ,Folks , Alistair know him well a star turn ,still going strong a bit unsteady on his pins so keep on trucking , Cheers Barry
When you nxt see him - please pass on my regards
Ken Broster
HI, Ken I was talking to Alistair to day he said the M D , ever ,cheers Barry
B.Wadsworth:
HI, Ken I was talking to Alistair to day he said the M D , ever ,cheers Barry
Hi again - in those past years we used to hold a weekend in Chester for our various customers using the Mollington Banister Hotel and giving them an evening out on the River, we hired a couple of coaches to move them around and guess who was one of those coach drivers - Alister. So that caused some amusement .
Cheers
Ken b
Hi KENB , I FINISHED UP ON THE coaches ,he was on Eagles and crawford ,i was on Pand O LLOYDS USED TO SEE HIM OFTEN Cheers Barry
B.Wadsworth:
Hi ,Folks , Alistair know him well a star turn ,still going strong a bit unsteady on his pins so keep on trucking , Cheers Barry
Hi Barry, do say hi to Alistair when you see him, from Graham from Shone’s. He used to drive for Jonny Eagles in Mold, evenings and weekends…don’t tell VOSA 
Ref the papaermill, Shotton Paper, one local haulier got a good foothold, WG Foulkes, got in early and benefited well, WH Malcolm ended up buying them to get the work back in the 90s, or early 2000s.
Happy days
ERF.
