georgeking:
On a side note I don’t know why Bewick did not sell out to the TDG instead of selling out to WRM (bizarre set up!), bearing in mind though in the mid 90’s TDG stopped their policy of buying up general hauliers.
TDG had stopped buying up “hauliers” by the 1970’s “george”,and once Sir James let go “of the reins” in the late 80’s ( I think) it was down hill from then on,unfortunately.Regarding the list of Scottish hauliers you quote,I believe that Strathclyde Motor Services of Motherwell was actually created out of McKelvies Motherwell depot.Peter McCullum was also a TDG subsiduary which was absorbed into one of the other hauliers the name of which I can’t recall.Cheers Bewick.
Boatchaser:
When i worked at Cert in Warrington Thomas Smith Jnr did a lot for Bells whiskey down to us and then reload soap powder from Levers Bros back up to Scotland , i,m sure the address on the side of the trucks was Broxburn ■■ and I,ll always remember they had a driver called Jimmy who had a wooden leg.
They could have relocated to Broxburn at a later date, the depot at Pitt Street, Leith, Edinburgh was quite small. When I lived in Edinburgh in 1984/85 I used to walk past this place quite a lot, other hauliers also had bases in Pitt Street such as Blue Band and a green parcels company from Armadale.
imperial183:
I am really sorry to hear about Neil Munro, he was a lovely bloke. I remember driving up to Paisley on a Friday night to go out on his stag night. Managed to put quite a bit of work his way when Highland Haulage re-emerged.
Since I left the Distribution industry, I have sort of lost touch with events. Having had first hand experience of how Williams Distribution operated, I knew that TDG would go downhill quicker than Frans Klammer! The emergence of Stobart and their policy of targeting huge volume clients with low rates has probably cost the industry thousands of jobs. I find it difficult that such an organisation have been glamourised by TV.
I drove past the old Inter City site at ■■■■■■■■■■■ about 18 months ago and it has gone. Even the OKI factory is now one of those horrific retail parks. I have been approached a couple of times to go back into the industry, but there is no way I would ever seriously consider it.
Got to know really well when they set up at Blochairn my dad was first driver there and i used to work in the “shed” or warehouse as Neil called it on my days off from my job as a butcher.I even helped him move house,in usual neil fashion he was still at work and his wife and me done most of the move.As you probably know he appreciated hard workvand if you were a grafter he d find you the work.The old intercity site is now operated Gist.Oki have moved to a smaller site not far from there old site.Funnily enough both my father in law and brother in law both worked for inter city at old inns along with a few boys who i now work beside at Morrisons rdc at bellshill.
Bewick:
TDG had stopped buying up “hauliers” by the 1970’s george,and once Sir James let go “of the reins” in the late 80’s ( I think) it was down hill from then on,unfortunately.Regarding the list of Scottish hauliers you quote,I believe that Strathclyde Motor Services of Motherwell was actually created out of McKelvies Motherwell depot.Peter McCullum was also a TDG subsiduary which was absorbed into one of the other hauliers the name of which I can’t recall.Cheers Bewick.
I’ve never heard of Peter McCullum. The Stratchclyde Transport I remember were based in Motherwell they had orange Scania 111’s and always hauled steel.
Never saw any Orange coloured motors “george”,the ones I remember were always a dark blue with a white roof.They had a depot just north of Stoke where the did changeovers.Bewick.
HI ,Folks , I remember PETER Mc ullums they ran red atkis and Guys with 150 &180 Gardeners ,done a lot of steel and coils ,we baught one of there Guys ,and used to run into there old yard when Charles Alexander moved into it ,they took our smalls ,up to Aberdeen for us ,a little useless info,YOURS Barry Waddy
Jf1970…When I was made redundant at TDG 1n 1995, I was offered a job as a Transport Manager at the Safeway (now Morrisons) site at Bellshill. I moved up there a few months later and believe that I know the ex Inter-City boys you mentioned, God Bless 'em!
b.waddy:
HI ,Folks , I remember PETER Mc ullums they ran red atkis and Guys with 150 &180 Gardeners ,done a lot of steel and coils ,we baught one of there Guys ,and used to run into there old yard when Charles Alexander moved into it ,they took our smalls ,up to Aberdeen for us ,a little useless info,YOURS Barry Waddy
Bewick:
TDG had stopped buying up “hauliers” by the 1970’s george,and once Sir James let go “of the reins” in the late 80’s ( I think) it was down hill from then on,unfortunately.Regarding the list of Scottish hauliers you quote,I believe that Strathclyde Motor Services of Motherwell was actually created out of McKelvies Motherwell depot.Peter McCullum was also a TDG subsiduary which was absorbed into one of the other hauliers the name of which I can’t recall.Cheers Bewick.
I’ve never heard of Peter McCullum. The Stratchclyde Transport I remember were based in Motherwell they had orange Scania 111’s and always hauled steel.
Bit of info for you “george” Burridges have restored a secondhand Atki tractor they once ran,to it’s origional operators livery---- Peter McCullum ! Cheers Bewick.
imperial183:
I am really sorry to hear about Neil Munro, he was a lovely bloke. I remember driving up to Paisley on a Friday night to go out on his stag night. Managed to put quite a bit of work his way when Highland Haulage re-emerged.
Since I left the Distribution industry, I have sort of lost touch with events. Having had first hand experience of how Williams Distribution operated, I knew that TDG would go downhill quicker than Frans Klammer! The emergence of Stobart and their policy of targeting huge volume clients with low rates has probably cost the industry thousands of jobs. I find it difficult that such an organisation have been glamourised by TV.
I drove past the old Inter City site at ■■■■■■■■■■■ about 18 months ago and it has gone. Even the OKI factory is now one of those horrific retail parks. I have been approached a couple of times to go back into the industry, but there is no way I would ever seriously consider it.
I am at two minds about Stobart, on one side it is sad to see them virtually dominate ■■■■■■■■ considering all the great fleets that the county had but on the other hand they exploited (they exploited it quite brilliantly) a flaw and a weakness in the UK transport industry.
It seems that transport companies are not suited to being quoted PLC’s, you need a special breed to manage them, the normal company types never seem to succeed in the long term. I remember all of these former listed companies that are now no longer in business:-
British Electric Traction
P&O
NFC (then managed by the legendary Peter Thompson)
Longton Holdings
Tibbet and Brittan
Seafield
United Carriers
Associated Distibution
Christian Salvesen
At the moment there are four quoted transport companies:-
Autologic
Wincanton
Stobart
Hargreaves
The first two are struggling and are in the process of being “turned around”
Stobart is still a bit of a bubble, however it’s current fleet size seems unwieldy.
Hargreaves has an interesting trading business
It will be interesting to see what happen to these companies in the long term.
I think that 30 years ago the Optimum fleet size was 30-60 lorries, today it appears to be 200-400 lorries anything larger seems very difficult to manage efficiently (Turners being the exception) it has been interesting (and sad) watching the development of the UK transport industry over the past few years. What happened to the TDG was a perfect example it started out being well managed owning some of the finest names in the industry, then it evolved into a badly managed logistics company, then it was asset stripped by an Hedge Fund and then finally sold to the French!
I would strongly disagree about calling Peter Thompson “legendary” “george” ! I would call it more like “being a jammy ■■■■■■■ in the right place at the right time”.If you were offered,say,a going concern with shares worth,say,£1 each but you only had to pay 1p a share you would be feted as a hero and that was just about the size of deal Peter Thompson was involved in.It was my understanding of the deal at the time and still is,nice work if you get it though ! Cheers Bewick.
shugg:
I had a rather shorter career than you with two of the named companies ( and not at your pay scale ) , but was at a level to observe some very very ! bad management at all levels . TGD from it`s inception was profitable and well managed so long as the original owners and management team were in charge , as they moved on or retired etc and new staff employed the rot set in .
As a follow on from my first post ,I was always amazed that when a smaller TDG company was merged with one larger in the main drivers etc were made redundant however jobs were created for management staff without loss of salary or perks ( cars etc ) . I remember in two head `quarters they ran out of desks and office space in an attempt to make room for everyone . The cost to TGD must have been horrendous , there certainly was a old boy network in place .
Bewick:
I would strongly disagree about calling Peter Thompson “legendary” “george” ! I would call it more like “being a jammy [zb] in the right place at the right time”.If you were offered,say,a going concern with shares worth,say,£1 each but you only had to pay 1p a share you would be feted as a hero and that was just about the size of deal Peter Thompson was involved in.It was my understanding of the deal at the time and still is,nice work if you get it though ! Cheers Bewick.
Hi Dennis, at that time when brs was part of nfc shares were offered to all employees, unions advised workers not to get involved but when I learnt that a lot of directors were re-morgaging houses to buy 1p shares i took a gamble !
Yes it was a rip off from tax payers money but what was good for them made me a few bob too.
Bewick:
I would strongly disagree about calling Peter Thompson “legendary” “george” ! I would call it more like “being a jammy [zb] in the right place at the right time”.If you were offered,say,a going concern with shares worth,say,£1 each but you only had to pay 1p a share you would be feted as a hero and that was just about the size of deal Peter Thompson was involved in.It was my understanding of the deal at the time and still is,nice work if you get it though ! Cheers Bewick.
Hi Dennis, at that time when brs was part of nfc shares were offered to all employees, unions advised workers not to get involved but when I learnt that a lot of directors were re-morgaging houses to buy 1p shares i took a gamble !
Yes it was a rip off from tax payers money but what was good for them made me a few bob too.
Well done Trev,I hope you “filled your boots” mate,have you ever read Peter Thompson’s book,he really was a smugg ■■■■■■■ that dressed the deal up as a personal triumph for him and a few of the other airesols on his Board of directors,it was bloody breathtaking to read the ■■■■■■■■ he had written and would have us believe as a true record. Cheers Dennis.PS it was a bit like Rover/MG debacle that got BMW stuffed !
Never read his book Dennis but I knew what types there was on the board at that time and what they were out for, so I figured it was a good gamble for my meagre funds, I sold the lot when the Germans took over !
Trev_H:
Never read his book Dennis but I knew what types there was on the board at that time and what they were out for, so I figured it was a good gamble for my meagre funds, I sold the lot when the Germans took over !
Ja! Ja! mien herr,snell snell and all that bollox Trev !!! Dennis.
imperial183:
Jf1970…When I was made redundant at TDG 1n 1995, I was offered a job as a Transport Manager at the Safeway (now Morrisons) site at Bellshill. I moved up there a few months later and believe that I know the ex Inter-City boys you mentioned, God Bless 'em!
Any of these names ring a bell?Jimmy Gibson,John Gibson,Graeme Logan,Gary Robertson,Geordie Johnstone,Phil Mclaughlin and Colin Francis.
I knew Graeme very well, he was the shop steward at the time. Also knew John, Gary and Geordie. Some good people there, but also a lot of cliques. I was asked to apply for the Distribution Manager’s job when Davie B. left, but decided to move across to Tradeteam.
I still miss Scotland very much, had a nice home in Stirling and great neighbours, but moved back down South in 1999.
imperial183:
I knew Graeme very well, he was the shop steward at the time. Also knew John, Gary and Geordie. Some good people there, but also a lot of cliques. I was asked to apply for the Distribution Manager’s job when Davie B. left, but decided to move across to Tradeteam.
I still miss Scotland very much, had a nice home in Stirling and great neighbours, but moved back down South in 1999.
Graeme and John are both at Farmfoods.Gary is still at Morrisons,Geordie left Morrisons after a fall out!My dad s name is Willie Fraser he came from Connal Highland when it merged with ict.Davy Ballentine is running a company called Tradimar running fish oit of Bellshill.There is still a lot of cliques in there.
I vaguely remember your Dad, although I didn’t know him well. Graeme spent a lot of time at the Leigh depot when he was at Inter City, at Irenes digs in Hindley Green. Was pleased when I got to Bellshill and found out he was the shop steward, always good to deal with someone that you trust. If you see him say hi from me (Steve Sharkey)…
Davie B. has been to stay here a few times, we go back almost 35 years.
