Dennis,
Now there was a truck which when it was on song ( which wasn’t very often, like IMO most Perkins V8,s)went like stink. IIRC there was an article in Heritage Commercials about one of H&L’s maxim’s by an ex driver of H&L’s. Occasionally he rated it very highly. I did drive one now and again and my memory of the maxim was that the cab was nearly big enough to have a dance in! Conversely (and ,no I’m not trying to start anything !!) I had a Guy BigJ with a Perkins V8 in and it wasn’t a bad motor.
Cheers Bassman
Bassman:
Hi, Vertco,
You have just given me information about the background of certain haulage firms that I wasn’t aware of.
I am not sure just when CLS actually started. I started with them in 1968 and some motors were in CLS colours and as new ones came they too were in CLS colours, but they were still running a lot in the old North Lincs. Haulage colours. I was with them when Brunskills became part of the group , I believe that would be be 1970/1971.
At that time nearly all the firms acquired were ,with the exception possibly of Sellers&Batty, involved in steel in one way or another. It got so that you lost track of which company was in the group and who wasn’t.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman
North Lincs arrived in the north east 1964/65 when they bought Jeff Dixon’s business following his death, this was followed by S. Brown, Teesdale Transport, Corbetts of Weardale amongst others and developed the business on the back of the motorway construction boom, using a lot of KM Bedfords - Corbetts were Vauxhall/Bedford dealers - and Albion and Leyland six leggers with one or two 8w Fodens. They also took over Black Bull Garages from Lanchester who had a lot of work carrying foundry coke most of which they had previously subbed, but they took the work for their own fleet, and a firm who did a lot of local coke called (I think) Robinsons from Byers Green - Carl Williams may be able to help me with that one.
They also took over Bob Clifford’s business from Seaham which was flat work rather than tippers. They took over companies with good work or those with decent licences which required investment to meet the (then) new c & u regulations.
In the early 70s they took on a Dennis Distributorship which may be the origins of the CLS Maxims.
I hope that the above is of some interest
Cheers
Vertco
Bewick:
IIRC H&L of Workington were part of North Lincs group,H&L were started by a couple of former BRS managers in the mid/late 60’s.I can’t recall exactly what happened but they did disappear in the early 70’s and the “L” part went on to create and run a firm called Alco which handled waste and ran skips.I don’t know if they handled any of the “glowing” stuff from Sellafield though !!! Cheers Bewick.
You remember correctly Dennis, H & L was in Workington initally and i remember some of their garage equipment coming over to Immingham when Humberside Sea & Land Services were formed at their present Manby Rd depot which then was brand new.
This was in the late 60s and i was told to take a J C B to a field on the corner of Eastfield Rd South Killingholme and dig a very deep hole
so they could find out the water table. I did just that and before long a very big garage was erected and that became H & L garages first
depot, they became Mercedes agents and expanded into South Lincolnshire and Yokshire in due course.
I know that in those days Doug Holloway had purchased quite a lot of land from the local farmers which included the H & L site and the
land on which the Conoco Refinery stands.
Like him or not he was certainly an astute businessman.
Hi, El Griffo,
My recollections of CLS and Immingham differ slightly to yours.They did have a new purpose built depot built at the top of Manby Road , Immingham, but IIRC it was Consolidated Land Services(Immingham) that were the first tenants. This would be around 1964/5. I believe it was around 1971 when the name changed to Humberside Sea and Land Services. Also I believe the manager was John Holloway, but I don’t think he was the first manager.
H&L garages first started on Grange Lane at Scunthorpe , where CLS Tippers yard was, not long after CLS got the Mercedes franchise. Rumour had it at the time that Doug had it built to give his son Barry something to do.
When you said some of H&L Workington’s gear came over to Immingham this ties into the time period that H&L Workington quietly disappeared from the scene. Also when you said that you had to dig a big hole I felt certain that you were going to say you buried it!!
The garage of H&L Garages at Killingholme was the next to be built followed by others in Yorkshire and South Lincolnshire. Somewhere at the back of my mind something is saying that the Boston one was a former Sellers & Batty garage, I may be wrong on that.
I certainly agree with you that Doug and money seemed to go together.
Cheers Bassman
v7victor:
In our area they all cut rates and called each other worse than s— , but at times they would go to dinners and talk like old school mates from years ago,i was employed in transport for 43 years in the n/east, and do agree with what Carl as said.Vic.
Never a truer word spoken Vic!!! I can recall a number of occaisions during my time in the transport business when so called competitors said to some of my customers “whatever Bewicks are charging you,we will do it cheaper” and in one instance at a now long gone engineers in Kendal a local haulier offered to cut our rate schedule in HALF! if he could take the traffic off Bewicks.The M.D. of the structral engineers couldn’t believe his ears,told him he wouldn’t be able to do the job better than Bewicks and ■■■■■■ him off!!! This same haulier,now deceased,hated us with a vengence for reasons best known to himself,we never bothered him as we never worked for the MMB or carried livestock,which was their basic traffic.But this same bloke was as nice as pie to our faces in RHA meetings and when I bumped into him round and about but the ■■■■■■■ would have stuck a knife in my back,providing I never saw him do it !! One thing we never did at Bewick Transport was cut any rates,quite the opposite,I was always after getting them increased,if possible! Trouble was,when we were growing the business I was the youngster on the block and the older hauliers didn’t like it one bit,so the only way they thought they could attack us was by undercutting.But I always had a good relationship with our main customers and they appreciated our service levels,and were always prepared to pay fair rates even though they would occaisionally tell me that they could get the job cheaper but the service wouldn’t be the same and that transport costs were never the most important element of their business.We did build up a great customer list on the back of our service levels and in many cases with support from existing customers,giving us a reference!! We never ever lost a customer we valued to “rate cutters” over nearly 30 years,we occaisionally declined to continue working for a few over those years,as a result of being unable to achieve a decent rate for our services though.Happy Days,Cheers Dennis.
Very true Dennis,a few of the people mentioned on this thread were noted for these acts in our area in the70s/80s.Vic.
v7victor:
Very true Dennis,a few of the people mentioned on this thread were noted for these acts in our area in the70s/80s.Vic.
Never mind about hind sight Vic,even in the early 70’s when I was in my 20’s I thought it was crazy,rate cutting! The monumental effort you had to put into operating a haulage operation for the the very slim returns that it produced meant you were always trying to achieve a better return,then some ■■■■■■■■ would come along and offer to run for less,this used to really ■■■■ me off because it was suggesting that we were ripping the customer off,which we never did.I recall quoting for a large contract with a Paper merchant at circa £825,000 per year over 3 years and Wincanton got the job for around 525K per year,I couldn’t believe it and neither could the customer this was a totally uneconomic below cost price!!! They wanted Bewick Transport but obviously had to go with Wincanton,the job turned into an absolute shambles and guess who finally got the job after 3 years ■■? We were origionally invited to tender for the job in the first place because we regularly delivered loads of paper from one of the Mills we ran out of and they were impressed that our motors were always there on time and had been for a number of years,they admired our drivers and the quality of our fleet as well.The trials and tribulations of a haulier !! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
v7victor:
Very true Dennis,a few of the people mentioned on this thread were noted for these acts in our area in the70s/80s.Vic.
Never mind about hind sight Vic,even in the early 70’s when I was in my 20’s I thought it was crazy,rate cutting! The monumental effort you had to put into operating a haulage operation for the the very slim returns that it produced meant you were always trying to achieve a better return,then some [zb] would come along and offer to run for less,this used to really ■■■■ me off because it was suggesting that we were ripping the customer off,which we never did.I recall quoting for a large contract with a Paper merchant at circa £825,000 per year over 3 years and Wincanton got the job for around 525K per year,I couldn’t believe it and neither could the customer this was a totally uneconomic below cost price!!! They wanted Bewick Transport but obviously had to go with Wincanton,the job turned into an absolute shambles and guess who finally got the job after 3 years ■■? We were origionally invited to tender for the job in the first place because we regularly delivered loads of paper from one of the Mills we ran out of and they were impressed that our motors were always there on time and had been for a number of years,they admired our drivers and the quality of our fleet as well.The trials and tribulations of a haulier !! Cheers Dennis.
Aye Dennis,it all went on the same with the n/east hauliers as you will know.pleased to be out of it now and just talk about how it was.Vic
vertco:
Bassman:
Hi, Vertco,
You have just given me information about the background of certain haulage firms that I wasn’t aware of.
I am not sure just when CLS actually started. I started with them in 1968 and some motors were in CLS colours and as new ones came they too were in CLS colours, but they were still running a lot in the old North Lincs. Haulage colours. I was with them when Brunskills became part of the group , I believe that would be be 1970/1971.
At that time nearly all the firms acquired were ,with the exception possibly of Sellers&Batty, involved in steel in one way or another. It got so that you lost track of which company was in the group and who wasn’t.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman
North Lincs arrived in the north east 1964/65 when they bought Jeff Dixon’s business following his death, this was followed by S. Brown, Teesdale Transport, Corbetts of Weardale amongst others and developed the business on the back of the motorway construction boom, using a lot of KM Bedfords - Corbetts were Vauxhall/Bedford dealers - and Albion and Leyland six leggers with one or two 8w Fodens. They also took over Black Bull Garages from Lanchester who had a lot of work carrying foundry coke most of which they had previously subbed, but they took the work for their own fleet, and a firm who did a lot of local coke called (I think) Robinsons from Byers Green - Carl Williams may be able to help me with that one.
They also took over Bob Clifford’s business from Seaham which was flat work rather than tippers. They took over companies with good work or those with decent licences which required investment to meet the (then) new c & u regulations.
In the early 70s they took on a Dennis Distributorship which may be the origins of the CLS Maxims.
I hope that the above is of some interest
Cheers
Vertco
Hi vertco
You are correct Robinson’s Byers Green were coal dealers and I can faintly remember them running some tippers. Hwever, as I was never interested in tipper work, and we only ever had one which we used to move top soil and then bring back dolomite onto our Green Lane site, I cannot tell you wht type of wrk they did.
Carl
Aye Dennis there was allways some one who came along & offered to do the job cheaper, We had a customer that we did both tipper & general work for. The manager was a right ■■■ in my book but the owners were nice sensible people, anyway we got a new Leyland Roadtrain Artic in 1988 & we had plenty of work to go at, but the manager said Oh a new wagon we must be paying you too much, So I said to him what the f…k are you on about we give you a good service & we have had no complaints from your customers, & you are driving around in a brand new car , so perhaps you are overpayed for sitting on your fat arse, His reply was well I can get the London job done for 5 quid a pallet less the you charge so thats what Im going to do, Anyway he did just that but 2 weeks later we had the job back, because the haulier he gave the work to didnt deliver on time as we did, in fact the were a week late with 3 of the drops, Of course thats all water under the bridge , but Im sure its still a big problem in to-days haulage game sadley to say, Regards Larry.
Bassman:
Hi, El Griffo,
My recollections of CLS and Immingham differ slightly to yours.They did have a new purpose built depot built at the top of Manby Road , Immingham, but IIRC it was Consolidated Land Services(Immingham) that were the first tenants. This would be around 1964/5. I believe it was around 1971 when the name changed to Humberside Sea and Land Services. Also I believe the manager was John Holloway, but I don’t think he was the first manager.
H&L garages first started on Grange Lane at Scunthorpe , where CLS Tippers yard was, not long after CLS got the Mercedes franchise. Rumour had it at the time that Doug had it built to give his son Barry something to do.
When you said some of H&L Workington’s gear came over to Immingham this ties into the time period that H&L Workington quietly disappeared from the scene. Also when you said that you had to dig a big hole I felt certain that you were going to say you buried it!!
The garage of H&L Garages at Killingholme was the next to be built followed by others in Yorkshire and South Lincolnshire. Somewhere at the back of my mind something is saying that the Boston one was a former Sellers & Batty garage, I may be wrong on that.
I certainly agree with you that Doug and money seemed to go together.
Cheers Bassman
Hiya Bassman ,
Yes you are right when you say Immingham depot started off as a C L S depot and not HSLS until later on.
The first depot manager was Bob Dunsmore, yard foreman was Stan Grant and the only driver i can remember was Ted Greenfield RIP from Barton.
The garage was run as Allied Transport Engineering Ltd which was owned by HWP trailers of Doncaster and YEWCO tankers of Bradford the H W P was Holloway, Wilson of tyre co fame and Pearson dont know.
The garage engineer was Maurice Bassingdale ex Conoco fleet engineer and i was the garage foreman and it all opened in 1967.
Several fitters came over to us from Scunthorpe but the best of them all was Dougie Peart an absolutly cracking lad.
As for the H&L depots i have no idea.
Hi, El Griffo
I just remember Bob Dunsmore I also remember a fitter who moved over from Tanker Hire- Bill Harris-. I have memories of loading ships with wire out of East Coast across the road - all hell let loose when that was on .
Ted Greenfield , now there was a character. I can recall him going into a field ( not intentionally) near the cement works at Ferriby with a load of pipes on and driving out again, the only apparent damage being the loss of the crossover pipe between fuel tanks.I also came up against him in the early hours of one morning near Crowle Xroads trying to round some horses up which had got loose,I stopped to help. I don,t know which was the biggest laugh , Ted and I trying to catch them or the horses making fools of us !
Do you remember Eddie Johnson? and D Buck Dent from Brigg who met a10t steel coil head on which had come off one of Blakeys on Ulceby Skitter and was coming down the hill of it’s own accord.
Cheers Bassman
Bassman:
Hi, El Griffo
I just remember Bob Dunsmore I also remember a fitter who moved over from Tanker Hire- Bill Harris-. I have memories of loading ships with wire out of East Coast across the road - all hell let loose when that was on .
Ted Greenfield , now there was a character. I can recall him going into a field ( not intentionally) near the cement works at Ferriby with a load of pipes on and driving out again, the only apparent damage being the loss of the crossover pipe between fuel tanks.I also came up against him in the early hours of one morning near Crowle Xroads trying to round some horses up which had got loose,I stopped to help. I don,t know which was the biggest laugh , Ted and I trying to catch them or the horses making fools of us !
Do you remember Eddie Johnson? and D Buck Dent from Brigg who met a10t steel coil head on which had come off one of Blakeys on Ulceby Skitter and was coming down the hill of it’s own accord.
Cheers Bassman
Hiya Bassman, yes they certainly were wild and wooly days when that depot opened, CLS sent us a fleet of vehicles over from Scunthorpe
“just come out of the workshop and ready for work” is what Roly Duncan the fleet engineer at Scunthorpe said and they were honestly junk.
Broken springs, knackered tyres, slipping clutches we worked hours attempting to get them something like and then 2 months later i’m on the carpet for spending money on a new fleet. Roly had shipped out his crap and Immingham depot had to pay for it. Eight wheel Guy tippers with every spring broken, spring hangers worn,shackle pins and kingpins worn because not only had they to work they had to be got ready for this new fangled MOT test so you can imagine we had our work cut out.
Bob Dunsmore called me in the office and said “good news, we have got 4 new Guy Big J units released this morning from Scunthorpe and they are now running Pyrites off the docks to the steelworks with tipper trailers but they all have to come in at the weekend for some modifications can you arrange it” “Yes of course what are the mods” " oh i dont know but i have been told it’s only a couple of hours work on each" “No problem Bob it will be done”.
You have obviously been on a pyrite boat, it is the most abrasive dusty and filthy stuff out it gets everywhere, the road between the docks and the steelworks turns red and if it rains they turn into skating rinks, it really is horrible stuff.
The next afternoon one of the new motors pull onto the fuel island plastered in this crap so i went across to have a look at it and then i went ■■■■■■■ mental. The engine was the ■■■■■■■ 8 cylinder vale,the air filter was fitted to the back of the cab and the mod we had to do at the weekend was fit the trunking between the filter and the engine. I got Bob out of his office and showed him " will it hurt between now and the weekend, Scunthorpe said it should be ok " Bob it will destroy it man dont you realise"
We pulled all 4 motors off and got the trunking fitted but that was some of the things that went on.
The lads you mention Bassman i can’t bring to mind but i do remember Alan Blakey who got himself into a bit of bother and i always had a lot of time for him but i can remember him trying to make the coil job pay better by loading 4 ten ton coils on a low loader and getting stopped by the police on Gunness straight,happy days.
I have just remembered the young lad in the office was called Rob, a nice kid who i believe went on to have vehicles of his own was his surname Redmile and a shunter was i believe called Lenny Leaper and i think his claim to fame was he had a spare box of workboots and got them out somehow and when they opened it and looked they were all left footed anyway Bassman my one typing is now sore so goodnight.
Carl Williams:
Bassman:
Hi, Dennis
This is turning into an interesting thread. I think my contenders would be 1) the late Doug Holloway who built up one of our areas biggest haulage concerns,mainly based on the steel industry,namely Consolidated Land Services. Many is the story of his deals and means to get contracts, stories of him sailing close to the wind but if you worked for him and did your job you were generally well looked after. A lot of his drivers spent many years with him and were quite loyal.
I would like to talk to him now because my father was one of his first drivers,when it was North Lincs Haulage ,which was Doug and three drivers.
I have memories of my father and Doug handballing two four wheeler loads of bagged fish meal onto my Dads eight wheeler for my dad to do umpteen drops round Devon and Cornwall, and then Doug and my dad sat at our kitchen table talking. Me,a tiddler who in later life went to work for Doug but owing to the size of the firm I was a driver among many. It would be interesting to see if he thought life was better in his early days ,when everybody pitched in and helped or later on when he had made his money and sold out to Powell Duffryn.
No.2)I think that would have to be Harold Woods. A man who built an empire out of other empires and became one of the names for tank haulage, what would his thoughts be about todays monopolies.
Lastly I would love to be able to talk again to one man who spent all his working life in haulage, never owned a truck or managed a company ,just went out every day and did his job, My father.
A man who as a kid for many years we saw at bed time Sunday and again on Friday night or Saturday dinner. In later years I suppose after the joy of the open road and cab hotel had worn off he moved onto tankers and more local work.
Now that I am about to retire I think my dad and I could spend many an hour comparing two generations of haulage, and even now I wish I could ask his opinion about matters transport related.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman,
If I a correct didn’t Doug Holloway, through Consolidated Land Services own Davison’s Transport Shildon. Co. Durham that following John Davison’s (John Dee) ‘sudden departure’, change its name to Direct Transport Ltd?
If I am correct, I believe he went on to spend a year or two residing in one of Her Majesties Prison, because of being convicted of bribery and corruption of British Steel Executives.
I attended several meetings and discussions with Direct Transport and John Dee Ltd, whie he was away, who were by then deadly enemies and to say the least Direct always appeared a strange run company, compared with say John Dee. (And that’s saying something)
Direct under Holloway’s control went on to start making worktops as Direct Worktops Ltd and somehow ended up being controlled by George Reynolds.
How it passed from Holloway to Reynolds would, I am sure make a very interesting story. I have heard one explanation that I would not choose to repeat.
In view of these facts, perhaps you might like to change your opinion.
Carl
Hiya Carl,
If memory serves me correct you may be wrong about Doug Holloway being put in prison. Quite a few of his hierachy and himself were accused of bribery with British Steel execs and put on trial. It was a long case and all were aquitted but at the end of it one of Doug’s sons
had a go at a juror and was hauled back before the judge and given a small sentance of about a month for contempt of court.
I know it was a big case and it was also tragic because a participant was travelling from the North east by car and he was involved in a car accident and lost his life and i believe there was no apparent reason for the accident,Bassman may know more about this because it was more than 30 years ago.
El Griffo:
Carl Williams:
Bassman:
Hi, Dennis
This is turning into an interesting thread. I think my contenders would be 1) the late Doug Holloway who built up one of our areas biggest haulage concerns,mainly based on the steel industry,namely Consolidated Land Services. Many is the story of his deals and means to get contracts, stories of him sailing close to the wind but if you worked for him and did your job you were generally well looked after. A lot of his drivers spent many years with him and were quite loyal.
I would like to talk to him now because my father was one of his first drivers,when it was North Lincs Haulage ,which was Doug and three drivers.
I have memories of my father and Doug handballing two four wheeler loads of bagged fish meal onto my Dads eight wheeler for my dad to do umpteen drops round Devon and Cornwall, and then Doug and my dad sat at our kitchen table talking. Me,a tiddler who in later life went to work for Doug but owing to the size of the firm I was a driver among many. It would be interesting to see if he thought life was better in his early days ,when everybody pitched in and helped or later on when he had made his money and sold out to Powell Duffryn.
No.2)I think that would have to be Harold Woods. A man who built an empire out of other empires and became one of the names for tank haulage, what would his thoughts be about todays monopolies.
Lastly I would love to be able to talk again to one man who spent all his working life in haulage, never owned a truck or managed a company ,just went out every day and did his job, My father.
A man who as a kid for many years we saw at bed time Sunday and again on Friday night or Saturday dinner. In later years I suppose after the joy of the open road and cab hotel had worn off he moved onto tankers and more local work.
Now that I am about to retire I think my dad and I could spend many an hour comparing two generations of haulage, and even now I wish I could ask his opinion about matters transport related.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman,
If I a correct didn’t Doug Holloway, through Consolidated Land Services own Davison’s Transport Shildon. Co. Durham that following John Davison’s (John Dee) ‘sudden departure’, change its name to Direct Transport Ltd?
If I am correct, I believe he went on to spend a year or two residing in one of Her Majesties Prison, because of being convicted of bribery and corruption of British Steel Executives.
I attended several meetings and discussions with Direct Transport and John Dee Ltd, whie he was away, who were by then deadly enemies and to say the least Direct always appeared a strange run company, compared with say John Dee. (And that’s saying something)
Direct under Holloway’s control went on to start making worktops as Direct Worktops Ltd and somehow ended up being controlled by George Reynolds.
How it passed from Holloway to Reynolds would, I am sure make a very interesting story. I have heard one explanation that I would not choose to repeat.
In view of these facts, perhaps you might like to change your opinion.
Carl
Hiya Carl,
If memory serves me correct you may be wrong about Doug Holloway being put in prison. Quite a few of his hierachy and himself were accused of bribery with British Steel execs and put on trial. It was a long case and all were aquitted but at the end of it one of Doug’s sons
had a go at a juror and was hauled back before the judge and given a small sentance of about a month for contempt of court.
I know it was a big case and it was also tragic because a participant was travelling from the North east by car and he was involved in a car accident and lost his life and i believe there was no apparent reason for the accident,Bassman may know more about this because it was more than 30 years ago.
Hi ElGriffo
I am reliably advised he was in prison, but it is possible he was remanded in custody, awaiting trial. However it wuld be very unusual for him not to be granted bail, and the magistrates would have had to have been provide with very strong evidence not to have granted bail. I do know Reynolds was remanded in custody at that time, for several months and it is said they shared a cell.
Carl
Bewick:
Speaking only of Hauliers long departed,if you could ,who would you like to chat to for a couple of days.Name your 3 favourites and Why !! Mine ,I think, would be 1)Alf Sutton,surely one of the greatest hauliers of the 20th century,an absolute A.C.E. at his trade.2) James and Alexander Smith who created a nationwide operation from Maddiston.3) Jack Brady,because I never had the time to absorb all he imparted to me and a re-run would fill in some blanks !! There may,hopefully,be some very interesting responses,or none at all !!! Cheers Bewick.
Sam &Sid Preston Carnforth hauliers,how did they start,was it after the war,did they buy midland sheds off the railway,what price in those days,what price for fuel,tyres,wages ect.I have a distant family connection and this probably sparked my intrest in road haulage…
jackslad:
Bewick:
Speaking only of Hauliers long departed,if you could ,who would you like to chat to for a couple of days.Name your 3 favourites and Why !! Mine ,I think, would be 1)Alf Sutton,surely one of the greatest hauliers of the 20th century,an absolute A.C.E. at his trade.2) James and Alexander Smith who created a nationwide operation from Maddiston.3) Jack Brady,because I never had the time to absorb all he imparted to me and a re-run would fill in some blanks !! There may,hopefully,be some very interesting responses,or none at all !!! Cheers Bewick.
Sam &Sid Preston Carnforth hauliers,how did they start,was it after the war,did they buy midland sheds off the railway,what price in those days,what price for fuel,tyres,wages ect.I have a distant family connection and this probably sparked my intrest in road haulage…
Interesting choice “jackslad”,I think “truckfing” might have a few anecdotes about the Great Sydney!! However,I have it good authority from one of our retired drivers that Sam was more of a hinderence to Syd over the years they were alive.When I started as an owner driver in the late 60’s Syd was running quite a large fleet,a mixture of 4 wheelers,Steers and six wheelers,he ran out of the local Quarries around Carnforth but probably his main traffic throughout the years he operated was Pig Iron out of Millom and if anyone knows the road in,and out of Millom,it’s a right bloody goat track!!!All his tippers had Steel dropside bodies as he also ran a lot of scrap out of Scotland to the Midlands and Foundry sand back up from Bromsgrove ( I think)I knew a number of his drivers,some from Millom,others from Milnthorpe and Carnforth,I used to come across them at Durose Cafe in Newcastle,Stoke.I believe that when Millom Iron closed down suddenly in 1968 it was a serious loss to Syd although he did carry on for a few years I’m not just sure when he finnished? He ran quite a mixture of tippers,mainly Commers and Dodges but he did have a number of Ergo AEC Marshals in the later years.There was a tale that a tipper once pulled into the yard loaded with scrap engines and Sydney spied a 2 Stroke engine and decided that this engine looked in “better nick” than the spare one in the workshop,so with no further ado,they swapped said engines,some bloke was our Sydney !!!Someone must have plenty of other tales/incidents about him,there is more about Syd but it gets a bit “fruity” but I am,never-the-less assured its perfectly true!!! Cheers Bewick.
Carl Williams:
El Griffo:
Carl Williams:
Bassman:
Hi, Dennis
This is turning into an interesting thread. I think my contenders would be 1) the late Doug Holloway who built up one of our areas biggest haulage concerns,mainly based on the steel industry,namely Consolidated Land Services. Many is the story of his deals and means to get contracts, stories of him sailing close to the wind but if you worked for him and did your job you were generally well looked after. A lot of his drivers spent many years with him and were quite loyal.
I would like to talk to him now because my father was one of his first drivers,when it was North Lincs Haulage ,which was Doug and three drivers.
I have memories of my father and Doug handballing two four wheeler loads of bagged fish meal onto my Dads eight wheeler for my dad to do umpteen drops round Devon and Cornwall, and then Doug and my dad sat at our kitchen table talking. Me,a tiddler who in later life went to work for Doug but owing to the size of the firm I was a driver among many. It would be interesting to see if he thought life was better in his early days ,when everybody pitched in and helped or later on when he had made his money and sold out to Powell Duffryn.
No.2)I think that would have to be Harold Woods. A man who built an empire out of other empires and became one of the names for tank haulage, what would his thoughts be about todays monopolies.
Lastly I would love to be able to talk again to one man who spent all his working life in haulage, never owned a truck or managed a company ,just went out every day and did his job, My father.
A man who as a kid for many years we saw at bed time Sunday and again on Friday night or Saturday dinner. In later years I suppose after the joy of the open road and cab hotel had worn off he moved onto tankers and more local work.
Now that I am about to retire I think my dad and I could spend many an hour comparing two generations of haulage, and even now I wish I could ask his opinion about matters transport related.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman,
If I a correct didn’t Doug Holloway, through Consolidated Land Services own Davison’s Transport Shildon. Co. Durham that following John Davison’s (John Dee) ‘sudden departure’, change its name to Direct Transport Ltd?
If I am correct, I believe he went on to spend a year or two residing in one of Her Majesties Prison, because of being convicted of bribery and corruption of British Steel Executives.
I attended several meetings and discussions with Direct Transport and John Dee Ltd, whie he was away, who were by then deadly enemies and to say the least Direct always appeared a strange run company, compared with say John Dee. (And that’s saying something)
Direct under Holloway’s control went on to start making worktops as Direct Worktops Ltd and somehow ended up being controlled by George Reynolds.
How it passed from Holloway to Reynolds would, I am sure make a very interesting story. I have heard one explanation that I would not choose to repeat.
In view of these facts, perhaps you might like to change your opinion.
Carl
Hiya Carl,
If memory serves me correct you may be wrong about Doug Holloway being put in prison. Quite a few of his hierachy and himself were accused of bribery with British Steel execs and put on trial. It was a long case and all were aquitted but at the end of it one of Doug’s sons
had a go at a juror and was hauled back before the judge and given a small sentance of about a month for contempt of court.
I know it was a big case and it was also tragic because a participant was travelling from the North east by car and he was involved in a car accident and lost his life and i believe there was no apparent reason for the accident,Bassman may know more about this because it was more than 30 years ago.
Hi ElGriffo
I am reliably advised he was in prison, but it is possible he was remanded in custody, awaiting trial. However it wuld be very unusual for him not to be granted bail, and the magistrates would have had to have been provide with very strong evidence not to have granted bail. I do know Reynolds was remanded in custody at that time, for several months and it is said they shared a cell.
Carl
I seem to remember that Direct Transport/worktops was run by a chap called Monk before Reynolds took charge
El Griffo:
Carl Williams:
Bassman:
Hi, Dennis
This is turning into an interesting thread. I think my contenders would be 1) the late Doug Holloway who built up one of our areas biggest haulage concerns,mainly based on the steel industry,namely Consolidated Land Services. Many is the story of his deals and means to get contracts, stories of him sailing close to the wind but if you worked for him and did your job you were generally well looked after. A lot of his drivers spent many years with him and were quite loyal.
I would like to talk to him now because my father was one of his first drivers,when it was North Lincs Haulage ,which was Doug and three drivers.
I have memories of my father and Doug handballing two four wheeler loads of bagged fish meal onto my Dads eight wheeler for my dad to do umpteen drops round Devon and Cornwall, and then Doug and my dad sat at our kitchen table talking. Me,a tiddler who in later life went to work for Doug but owing to the size of the firm I was a driver among many. It would be interesting to see if he thought life was better in his early days ,when everybody pitched in and helped or later on when he had made his money and sold out to Powell Duffryn.
No.2)I think that would have to be Harold Woods. A man who built an empire out of other empires and became one of the names for tank haulage, what would his thoughts be about todays monopolies.
Lastly I would love to be able to talk again to one man who spent all his working life in haulage, never owned a truck or managed a company ,just went out every day and did his job, My father.
A man who as a kid for many years we saw at bed time Sunday and again on Friday night or Saturday dinner. In later years I suppose after the joy of the open road and cab hotel had worn off he moved onto tankers and more local work.
Now that I am about to retire I think my dad and I could spend many an hour comparing two generations of haulage, and even now I wish I could ask his opinion about matters transport related.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman,
If I a correct didn’t Doug Holloway, through Consolidated Land Services own Davison’s Transport Shildon. Co. Durham that following John Davison’s (John Dee) ‘sudden departure’, change its name to Direct Transport Ltd?
If I am correct, I believe he went on to spend a year or two residing in one of Her Majesties Prison, because of being convicted of bribery and corruption of British Steel Executives.
I attended several meetings and discussions with Direct Transport and John Dee Ltd, whie he was away, who were by then deadly enemies and to say the least Direct always appeared a strange run company, compared with say John Dee. (And that’s saying something)
Direct under Holloway’s control went on to start making worktops as Direct Worktops Ltd and somehow ended up being controlled by George Reynolds.
How it passed from Holloway to Reynolds would, I am sure make a very interesting story. I have heard one explanation that I would not choose to repeat.
In view of these facts, perhaps you might like to change your opinion.
Carl
Hiya Carl,
If memory serves me correct you may be wrong about Doug Holloway being put in prison. Quite a few of his hierachy and himself were accused of bribery with British Steel execs and put on trial. It was a long case and all were aquitted but at the end of it one of Doug’s sons
had a go at a juror and was hauled back before the judge and given a small sentance of about a month for contempt of court.
I know it was a big case and it was also tragic because a participant was travelling from the North east by car and he was involved in a car accident and lost his life and i believe there was no apparent reason for the accident,Bassman may know more about this because it was more than 30 years ago.
El Griffo,
The accident you have mentioned,did the death occur when his car ran into the rear of a trailer and unit that had broken down?I seem to recollect something of that if that is the case?
David
vertco:
Carl Williams:
El Griffo:
Carl Williams:
Bassman:
Hi, Dennis
This is turning into an interesting thread. I think my contenders would be 1) the late Doug Holloway who built up one of our areas biggest haulage concerns,mainly based on the steel industry,namely Consolidated Land Services. Many is the story of his deals and means to get contracts, stories of him sailing close to the wind but if you worked for him and did your job you were generally well looked after. A lot of his drivers spent many years with him and were quite loyal.
I would like to talk to him now because my father was one of his first drivers,when it was North Lincs Haulage ,which was Doug and three drivers.
I have memories of my father and Doug handballing two four wheeler loads of bagged fish meal onto my Dads eight wheeler for my dad to do umpteen drops round Devon and Cornwall, and then Doug and my dad sat at our kitchen table talking. Me,a tiddler who in later life went to work for Doug but owing to the size of the firm I was a driver among many. It would be interesting to see if he thought life was better in his early days ,when everybody pitched in and helped or later on when he had made his money and sold out to Powell Duffryn.
No.2)I think that would have to be Harold Woods. A man who built an empire out of other empires and became one of the names for tank haulage, what would his thoughts be about todays monopolies.
Lastly I would love to be able to talk again to one man who spent all his working life in haulage, never owned a truck or managed a company ,just went out every day and did his job, My father.
A man who as a kid for many years we saw at bed time Sunday and again on Friday night or Saturday dinner. In later years I suppose after the joy of the open road and cab hotel had worn off he moved onto tankers and more local work.
Now that I am about to retire I think my dad and I could spend many an hour comparing two generations of haulage, and even now I wish I could ask his opinion about matters transport related.
Cheers Bassman
Hi Bassman,
If I a correct didn’t Doug Holloway, through Consolidated Land Services own Davison’s Transport Shildon. Co. Durham that following John Davison’s (John Dee) ‘sudden departure’, change its name to Direct Transport Ltd?
If I am correct, I believe he went on to spend a year or two residing in one of Her Majesties Prison, because of being convicted of bribery and corruption of British Steel Executives.
I attended several meetings and discussions with Direct Transport and John Dee Ltd, whie he was away, who were by then deadly enemies and to say the least Direct always appeared a strange run company, compared with say John Dee. (And that’s saying something)
Direct under Holloway’s control went on to start making worktops as Direct Worktops Ltd and somehow ended up being controlled by George Reynolds.
How it passed from Holloway to Reynolds would, I am sure make a very interesting story. I have heard one explanation that I would not choose to repeat.
In view of these facts, perhaps you might like to change your opinion.
Carl
Hiya Carl,
If memory serves me correct you may be wrong about Doug Holloway being put in prison. Quite a few of his hierachy and himself were accused of bribery with British Steel execs and put on trial. It was a long case and all were aquitted but at the end of it one of Doug’s sons
had a go at a juror and was hauled back before the judge and given a small sentance of about a month for contempt of court.
I know it was a big case and it was also tragic because a participant was travelling from the North east by car and he was involved in a car accident and lost his life and i believe there was no apparent reason for the accident,Bassman may know more about this because it was more than 30 years ago.
Hi ElGriffo
I am reliably advised he was in prison, but it is possible he was remanded in custody, awaiting trial. However it wuld be very unusual for him not to be granted bail, and the magistrates would have had to have been provide with very strong evidence not to have granted bail. I do know Reynolds was remanded in custody at that time, for several months and it is said they shared a cell.
Carl
I seem to remember that Direct Transport/worktops was run by a chap called Monk before Reynolds took charge
Yes you are correct. Davisons was run by John Davison, managing director, and john Monk, an accountant, as company Secretary. When John davison suddenly left to subsequently form John dee the name was changed to Direct and John Monk was Managing director, although it was effectivly run by Dennis Coates (Another real character/likeable rogue). Reynolds then came along (said to be a friend of doug Holloway) and got rid of Coates and evetually John Monk claimed he no longer could work with Reynolds, resigned.
It is difficult as a lot I know is hear say, but I have spoken to John Monk, and George Reynolds years ago, and have their conflicting views. I hope I have the intelegence to have formed my own opinions, but I think it is better to keep them to myself. However John Monk definatly was trying to play cricket in a lion’s den., and a one stage after John Davison left the words Taking over lunatics and asylum rearranged could describe the situation.
Carl