Scotnat:
Saddlers of Edinburgh
Had depots in Glasgow Liverpool & Manchester
Ran Night Trunks between Edinburgh to Liverpool and Manchester
and Glasgow to Liverpool and Manchester
Saddlers, Swans & Forth Haulage were taken over and operated under the Morrisons Group
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Thanks to Scotnat for 3 great pictures. I recall seeing Saddlers lorries in Liverpool in the 1960s,
but I was not aware that they had night trunks from Edinburgh and Glasgow. Perhaps they had
Liverpool and Manchester based drivers so that they could operate a balanced trunk, and maybe
use a changeover routine at Carlisle or Penrith. Kind Regards, Ray Smyth.
Scotnat:
Saddlers of Edinburgh
Had depots in Glasgow Liverpool & Manchester
Ran Night Trunks between Edinburgh to Liverpool and Manchester
and Glasgow to Liverpool and Manchester
Saddlers, Swans & Forth Haulage were taken over and operated under the Morrisons Group
2
1
0
Thanks to Scotnat for 3 great pictures. I recall seeing Saddlers lorries in Liverpool in the 1960s,
but I was not aware that they had night trunks from Edinburgh and Glasgow. Perhaps they had
Liverpool and Manchester based drivers so that they could operate a balanced trunk, and maybe
use a changeover routine at Carlisle or Penrith. Kind Regards, Ray Smyth.
Hi Ray The night Trunks were straight through From Edinburgh & Glasgow and Return with Drivers in Digs
During the day in Liverpool and Manchester. With Shunters at each end
Ray Smyth:
Hi Dean, Thank you for the A.Clegg & Son ERF picture. Until I was 22 years old, I lived about 500 yards
from Cleggs factory which was in Gateacre Village, on the south side of Liverpool. The locals pronounce
Gateacre as “Gatticker”. Their factory was originally Walkers Brewery, and I believe Cleggs occupied
the building from the 1930s to produce felt and flock for the furniture and mattress industry.
More recently, the building has been converted into apartments, called “Brewery Gardens”.
Ray Smyth.
A nice picture of Cleggs ERF. The company was taken over by W.E.Rawson of Wakefield around the turn of the century, and with the purchase came a couple of Scanias, one with a curtainside body, the other (later model) had a skirted van body with a cab-top sleeper compartment, and was registered S336 LFV. It was a very nice wagon to drive, but was deemed impracticable for loading due to no side access, and was soon sold on.I have a photograph of it somewhere, if I find it, I’ll post it.
Hi Dean, That’s a smart looking Bedford TK, at Liverpool docks, which I remember well. Cheers, Ray.
Did you recognise the Hino on the previous page Ray ?
Hi Dean, I recall seeing Vicon lorries on the road in the 1970s. Perhaps Vicon were new to Liverpool
after I left in 1966. Hopefully some Trucknet members can let me know where they were based.
The Hino has a Birkenhead Reg. No. KInd Regards, Ray.
Hi Dean, This KM Bedford drawbar outfit operated by Dougie Chadwick of Halewood
did a lot of work for Jefferson Smurfit Corrugated Cartons from a factory just
100 yards from Junction 25 M6, near Wigan. With 12 pallets on the Bedford, and
12 Pallets on the trailer, the total load weight would be between 6 and 8 tons.
Well done Robert for spotting the deliberate mistake…It should have read 1961.
This is me aged 18 in 1962, on a part time Saturday only job, driving for the Transport Division of
W.H.Smith, (Newsagents), known as W.H.Smith Transport. The job involved a 4pm Saturday start at
Leeds Street Garage, make your way to The Liverpool Daily Post & Echo on Victoria Street, and
about 4.45pm, load up with approx 50 bundles of the “Sporting Pink” edition of the Liverpool Echo,
containing the football results of that afternoons games, and set off through the Mersey Tunnel,
heading for North Wales. First drop was Queensferry, then every town along the A55 as far as
Bangor. It was quite common for Denbighshire Police to pull you in at Penmaen Head, just above
Old Colwyn, and for them to scrounge a few free copies of the “Sporting Pink”, and then offer to
give you a chase as far as Colwyn Bay Railway Station, Blue Lights etc. W.H.Smith Transport had
about 40 vans on regular contract to Liverpool Daily Post & Echo. This picture is me on my first
day, learning the route and the drops with George Smart, also a Saturday only driver, his full time
job was as a rent collector for Liverpool Corporation Housing Department. This is on the way back,
having stopped for a swift pint of Draught Bass at the Alexandre Inn at Penmaenmawr.
The Commer Van, Reg.No. 3408 KB is quite close to the number of the ERF above. Regards, Ray.
Question Ray, WH Smith Transport, were they operating on a “B” licence as a carrier. I know they piled into the transport of anything they could stick in their vans when Operator Licencing came in and they ruffled quite a lot of feathers IIRC but I believe they realised all that glistened was not gold so they went back the news papers ! But in those far off days carrier Licencing was still a requirement so I just wondered . Cheers Dennis.
Ray Smyth:
Well done Robert for spotting the deliberate mistake…It should have read 1961.
This is me aged 18 in 1962, on a part time Saturday only job, driving for the Transport Division of
W.H.Smith, (Newsagents), known as W.H.Smith Transport. The job involved a 4pm start at
Leeds Street Garage, make your way to The Liverpool Daily Post & Echo on Victoria Street, and
about 4.45pm, load up with approx 50 bundles of the “Sporting Pink” edition of the Liverpool Echo,
containing the football results of that afternoons games, and set off through the Mersey Tunnel,
heading for North Wales. First drop was Queensferry, then every town along the A55 as far as
Bangor. It was quite common for Denbighshire Police to pull you in at Penmaen Head, just above
Old Colwyn, and for them to scrounge a few free copies of the “Sporting Pink”, and then offer to
give you a chase as far as Colwyn Bay Railway Station, Blue Lights etc. W.H.Smith Transport had
about 40 vans on regular contract to Liverpool Daily Post & Echo. This picture is me on my first
day, learning the route and the drops with George Smart, also a Saturday only driver, his full time
job was as a rent collector for Liverpool Corporation Housing Department. This is on the way back,
having stopped for a swift Draught Bass at the Alexandre Inn at Penmaenmawr.
The Commer Van, Reg.No. 3408 KB is quite close to the number of the ERF above. Regards, Ray
I found those Commer vans handled well for the period Ray! Robert
Bewick:
Question Ray, WH Smith Transport, were they operating on a “B” licence as a carrier. I know they piled into the transport of anything they could stick in their vans when Operator Licencing came in and they ruffled quite a lot of feathers IIRC but I believe they realised all that glistened was not gold so they went back the news papers ! But in those far off days carrier Licencing was still a requirement so I just wondered . Cheers Dennis.
We did the more major repairs for W.H.S Transport in Reading (they did have their own fitter for the day to day stuff) and all they carried was newspapers. That would be the late 1960’s/early 70’s, mostly BMC LD one ton vans with a roller shutter and a low tailboard at the rear, and a few FGK’s. The LD’s had a brass ‘T’ handle on the floor close to the gear lever which you pulled to operate the starter, normal LD’s had a button on the dash so this must have been a ‘Smith’s Special’ adaption? Full of useless info aren’t I Dennis?
Bewick:
Question Ray, WH Smith Transport, were they operating on a “B” licence as a carrier. I know they piled into the transport of anything they could stick in their vans when Operator Licencing came in and they ruffled quite a lot of feathers IIRC but I believe they realised all that glistened was not gold so they went back the news papers ! But in those far off days carrier Licencing was still a requirement so I just wondered . Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, Thank you for your comments re W.H.Smith Transport. Of the 40 or so vans at Smiths in Liverpool,
almost all of them were classed as “One Tonners”, the exceptions being 3 Morris FG box vans, and a bonneted
Morris with coachbuilt integral bodywork, these 4 in todays language would be 7 & 1/2 tonners.
The “One Tonners” were a few Bedford J Type with “Hawson Garner” type bodywork, but most of them were
Morris LD 1 Ton vans with standard bodywork, apart from a low tailboard, and roller shutter at the rear.
Apart from a few exceptions, the vans were painted in a deep red colour, similar to the original deep red
used by Ribble Buses, which I am sure you remember well. Would vans as little as Morris LDs etc be required
to have a B licence back then ?. At Smiths depot in Leeds Street, there were always 2 Scammell artic tankers
in the same deep red colour, but signwritten in the name of Peerless Refinery, whose factory was on
Dunnings Bridge Road, not far from the present end of the M57 and M58 motorways. Perhaps these Artics
were also W.H.S Transport on a regular contract to Peerless. Regards, Ray.
Bewick:
Question Ray, WH Smith Transport, were they operating on a “B” licence as a carrier. I know they piled into the transport of anything they could stick in their vans when Operator Licencing came in and they ruffled quite a lot of feathers IIRC but I believe they realised all that glistened was not gold so they went back the news papers ! But in those far off days carrier Licencing was still a requirement so I just wondered . Cheers Dennis.
We did the more major repairs for W.H.S Transport in Reading (they did have their own fitter for the day to day stuff) and all they carried was newspapers. That would be the late 1960’s/early 70’s, mostly BMC LD one ton vans with a roller shutter and a low tailboard at the rear, and a few FGK’s. The LD’s had a brass ‘T’ handle on the floor close to the gear lever which you pulled to operate the starter, normal LD’s had a button on the dash so this must have been a ‘Smith’s Special’ adaption? Full of useless info aren’t I Dennis?
Pete.
Pete, Thank you for your comments, Did W.H.S Transport have similar operations in many cities and towns in the U.K. ■■ Regards, Ray.
Bewick:
Question Ray, WH Smith Transport, were they operating on a “B” licence as a carrier. I know they piled into the transport of anything they could stick in their vans when Operator Licencing came in and they ruffled quite a lot of feathers IIRC but I believe they realised all that glistened was not gold so they went back the news papers ! But in those far off days carrier Licencing was still a requirement so I just wondered . Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, Thank you for your comments re W.H.Smith Transport. Of the 40 or so vans at Smiths in Liverpool,
almost all of them were classed as “One Tonners”, the exceptions being 3 Morris FG box vans, and a bonneted
Morris with coachbuilt integral bodywork, these 4 in todays language would be 7 & 1/2 tonners.
The “One Tonners” were a few Bedford J Type with “Hawson Garner” type bodywork, but most of them were
Morris LD 1 Ton vans with standard bodywork, apart from a low tailboard, and roller shutter at the rear.
Apart from a few exceptions, the vans were painted in a deep red colour, similar to the original deep red
used by Ribble Buses, which I am sure you remember well. Would vans as little as Morris LDs etc be required
to have a B licence back then ?. At Smiths depot in Leeds Street, there were always 2 Scammell artic tankers
in the same deep red colour, but signwritten in the name of Peerless Refinery, whose factory was on
Dunnings Bridge Road, not far from the present end of the M57 and M58 motorways. Perhaps these Artics
were also W.H.S Transport on a regular contract to Peerless. Regards, Ray.
Hiya Ray, from what I recall of Carriers Licencing i.e. The 1933 Transport Act if you carried out “Third Party” transport even with a 5cwt van you had to have either an “A” or a “B” Carriers Licence unless you ran your motor/van exclusively for one customer on what was called a Contract Licence. You may recall the firm SPD which was the “in house” transport operation of Lever Bros ( Unilever) and they ran on a “B” licence and later on they did take on no more than 10% of their deliveries for Third Parties. Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, Thank you for the information regarding Carriers Licences. I think that W.H.S. Transport
must have had a Carriers Licence, one of Smiths lesser jobs was loading at Eric Bemrose Printers at
Long Lane in Aintree, their main work was printing TV Times, Practical Motorist, etc, so the magazines
slotted in rather well because they were delivering to Newsagents every day. I have just spotted two
tax disc holders in the windscreen of the little Commer in the above picture. Kind Regards, Ray.
? Robert
Full of useless info aren’t I Dennis?