Leyland600:
Hi Bewick, Working for Jack Watt was never a problem always decent rates and paid regularly. I did a lot of work for them as did our mutual pal Norman D. I knew Jack , his wife had been a school friend of my mothers. They always had high tea every Saturday in the Silver Grill at Carlisle. I hauled a lot of canned goods out of Tyne Brand at Maryport to Tyne Brand at North Shields loading back home with my own farm feed traffic from Ranks and Spillers etc or fertilizer from ICI at Billingham. I have also had a few occasional loads out of the London area off Harold.
Happy days, Leyland 600
Aye those were the days L600 although I never loaded off J & W to run South as I had my own traffic out of Milnthorpe,in later years in the early/mid 70’s I sold Watts, first,a 33ft York EP30 tandem axle trailer which they were going to fix a container to,and later I sold them a fairly new Crane Fruehauf 40ft Van which I had bought new off Puzzle but it wasn’t a success for us and at the time this sort of trailer was in short supply and J & W were,apparently,desperate for vans for their contract with Uniroyal Tyres out of Scotland,fortunately for me,I got my “money back” so no harm done eh! and Watts got their badly needed van which apart from minimal tyre wear (Michelin X ) was as good as new.Cheers Bewick.
Hi ROF, When Jack Watt retired they had warehousing on London Rd at Carlisle and kept one or two motors operating I think run by the son who still owns the property as far as I know.
Cheers Leyland 600
Retired Old ■■■■:
Whatever happened to Watts? I remember them as a very tidy fleet with that green livery & gold signwriting.
Just going over this thread which brings back memory
of Geof Pinchbeck who worked from home think it was Heswall
or that area. (GCP) Moved boat loads of fruit imported to L/Pool docks.
Deliveries to all parts of the U/K fruit markets.Sadly he passed away.
Anyone done loads for him out there.
GUESTY44
Leyland600:
Hi ROF, When Jack Watt retired they had warehousing on London Rd at Carlisle and kept one or two motors operating I think run by the son who still owns the property as far as I know.
Cheers Leyland 600
Correct me if I’m wrong L600 but did Jimmy Strickland work in Watts traffic office after he would leave Nelson T school ? and did our mutual marra have a spell at Watts as a driver( when he was on “walkabout”) ? I seem to recall a J&W Ford 4D appearing in the village with a load of soft fruit from Evesham destined for Grasslot ! Cheers Bewick.
Leyland600:
Hi ROF, When Jack Watt retired they had warehousing on London Rd at Carlisle and kept one or two motors operating I think run by the son who still owns the property as far as I know.
Cheers Leyland 600
Thanks for that L600. Just retirement then- I was hoping that they weren’t taken over by that other local chap with the similar-coloured vehicles!
Well we used to deliver reels of paper to Watts depot on London Rd in the 80/90s They used to store it for the Carlisle Press who were on Daltson Rd at that time It was a quick tip so you could do 2 loads a day which was canny money those days, Regards Larry.
Hi Bewick, Yes Jim worked it Watt’s traffic ofiice after leaving school, we were both in the same class at NT school. Elsie his sister passed away about 3 months ago and was a friend of my wife. John & Mary Strick were good customers when I ran excursions and tours. I never forget John getting off the coach on The Crawford Arms Hotel car park at Crawford on the A74 when I had a coffee stop arranged en route to Aviemore on a tour in 1987’ The surface had a lot of large pot holes etc and always the professional tarmacking contractor took one look and says to his wife “By god Mary ah cud mek a gey gud job o this parking grund” Mary in very posh voice " Oh John for goodness sake you are on your holidays." I always did the village over 60s summer outing sponsored by ADB where they had a little afternoon tour returning to the village hall for a sumptious tea which was the highlight of my summer trips. Mary always proposed the vote of thanks to the ladies providing the tea, the sponsors and myself for driving them. She is now in a home at Caldbeck aged 94 and as alert as ever. I have never seen Jim for years. Yes RWB did drive a Ford 4D for Watts working out of Lakeland at Grasslot for a while.
Cheers Leyland 600.
peter coles bulk scrap at mottingham london , worked there on and of for years , small friendly firm but propa old dog trucks until there last few years , sadly packed up now , good memories tho , crawling up detling hill going to sheerness steelworks , hello to tony and all the old longtimers , cookie .
I drove coaches for Bancroft and powers back in the 1970 s. They had a small fleet of lorries on brick haulage. Friendly family run business run by Albert powers and Ron Bancroft both world war two veterans
Can anyone remember the clearing house in Farnworth that had all the traffic, mainly bagged starch, out of Lowercroft Warehouses at Bury? It was owned by a chap whose name escapes me and I was given the opportunity to buy it from him in the early 1970s.
Lawrence Dunbar:
R.D.B. Freightlines Sheffield were good but you could have 10 drops,all over the north east.Regards Larry
Also old company’s [/quote
The E. Nelson card is an interesting one,for me anyhow,I wonder who had presented it to who as it was obviously before STD dialing and postal codes.I wonder if it might have been Jack Breaks who was the manager at Nelsons for many years,he would retire around 1970 and went to live with his daughter in Australia IIRC.But Nelsons were never involved in subbing out their traffic as far as I recall,their main customers were Cape Asbestos who had an operation in the Kentmere valley where they dredged material out of the mere then dried it and shipped to their factory at Uxbridge via Nelsons of Arnside.Nelsons ceased operating in around 1990 IIRC,they ran a sizeable fleet in the 50’s and 60’s which was a mixture of Coaches/taxis,tippers and a long distance fleet which mainly ran to London and S.Wales and Scotland their fleet was always very well maintained by their own workshops with the three main fitters being all Nelsons,brothers Les and Frank (great bloke) and their cousin Jack,all three of them being cousins of Maureen Ross (ne’ Nelson) a.k.a.“The Queen” the owner of the firm…Apparently,when old Elija (the “E”) passed away he left the firm to his three Sons and Billy(one of the sons),Maureen’s dad, persuaded his two brothers that they should sell their shares to him as things weren’t so good at the time They apparently did sell to Billy who upon his death left the firm to his daughter and it was a bone of contention for Maureen’s 3 cousins over many years,but the lads carried on working for the firm with Frank passing away suddenly in the early 70’s and Jack was “fired” a while afterwards which left Les until he retired in the 80’s IIRC.Jack worked for me at Bewick Transport for a while which got right up “The Queens” nose no end at the time All the names I have mentioned are no longer with us now but they sure were characters as it was always said that the “Full Moon” had a peculiar effect on them but it may just have been a rumour Cheers Bewick.
I used to backload from London off JJ ■■■■■■■■ or Lloyd’s transport on Tooley St a young fellow called Terry would load us out of Imperial Paper Mills at Gravesend, then some loads off .Burrows there office was at Tower bridge ,( north of the river) always manage to get a backload though.Good days late 50s early 60s digs where sometimes at 147, Tooley St ( not very good), later on in early 70s digs where at Rose &Jim Connoly,S at Peckham Croppers paper lads always stayed there .that’s when I worked for Priestners of carrington.Happy days. Merry Christmas to all. Alec.
Huh,Clearing houses,Return Loads,The Headlght,The ABC Book,They were all crooks,they could"nt be satisfied taking a cut for themselves,They took always took out a huge cut for themselves,i dont know how these people slept at night with a guilty conscious…I remember taking a firm to County court in Taunton,the firm now gone,you mite know them,they had Magi Duetz"s,From Watchet,S/set,I won the case,they never paid me after all,do u lot remember wen u used to ring these people up after 3 months & say,i hav"nt received yr cheque in the post yet,oh its on its way mate,No, its in there other bank making intrest with all the other firms thats waiting for there payment,same old story,i should"nt think theres any clearing houses left now,“wat comes round goes round” Norman Croad,Torquay,Devon.
Old ■■■■,hows you,Hey,the Morons took out more than 10%,its not rocket science,greed! that wat it comes too,i"ll tell u a little yarn now,i remember back in the early 90s,i was empty in Grangemouth on a Friday,ringing round like mad,i thought weekended,oh no!,managed to get a load off Rion clearing house,40 ft long pipes with Goal posts supplied at Granton,Edinburgh,the price £380 to Okehampton,i thought to myself Mmmm! In the end i herd in the grapevine he had got it off a 3rd person down the line All getten a cut,crafty Norman got hold of the main man Pollock"s of MussleBurgh,i complained so mutch to the transport manager at Pollock"s office,he put me over to the Director At Pollock"s, i said that these clearing houses are making a killing off this load,he felt sorry for me in the end,he said long way fae hime,yes i said…he said i will give this load to u direct at £500 & leave the Goal posts there at the site,yes i expect Pollock"s took a cut,i expect that,at least i got it 1st hand,i thanked him,i got paid!! i told the clearing house Rion to shove it where the sun dont shine,haha…Norman Croad,Torquay,Devon.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Whatever happened to Watts? I remember them as a very tidy fleet with that green livery & gold signwriting.
Just going over this thread which brings back memory
of Geof Pinchbeck who worked from home think it was Heswall
or that area. (GCP) Moved boat loads of fruit imported to L/Pool docks.
Deliveries to all parts of the U/K fruit markets.Sadly he passed away.
Anyone done loads for him out there.
GUESTY44
When I was Bowker’s Liverpool Depot Manager (1987/8) I used to sub work to Geoff most days - he lived in Meols on the Wirral at that time.
I never actually met him, but he was a good subby to have on the books. I used to load his ODs down to London, mainly from Port Sunlight, after they had tipped the markets.
I recall that he used to go to Cyprus every year to negotiate the transport deal for imported Cyprus potatoes
) was as good as new.Cheers Bewick.
Cheers Bewick.
They apparently did sell to Billy who upon his death left the firm to his daughter and it was a bone of contention for Maureen’s 3 cousins over many years,but the lads carried on working for the firm with Frank passing away suddenly in the early 70’s and Jack was “fired” a while afterwards which left Les until he retired in the 80’s IIRC.Jack worked for me at Bewick Transport for a while which got right up “The Queens” nose no end at the time 
Cheers Bewick.