Muckaway:
Muckaway:
Witney Goods Yard with a James Marriott lorry loading in the background. When the line shut completely in 1970, Marriotts leased the goods yard as their main office.
Charringtons (to the left of the Goods office) took over Bernard T Frost in the '60s.
I found this picture I took for school coursework in 1995 of the old yard being demolished by Careys to make way for Sainsburys.
It always seems a shame to me that these lovely old places have to go in the name of progress! 
These pictures sparked off a memory for me, back to about 55 years ago, to my youth and my time on the footplate as a fireman. About that time we had a clutch of young, newly made up drivers move to the Oxford shed, from Wales & some names I remember were, the one I was to work with Emlyn Evans, also Harry Coupey, Harry Hope & Charlie Williams. I had some great nights with those guys in the club, back of the station, lots of drinking & singing! 
Anyway, we had a job on the Fairford branch running goods down & back, but the time I remember was a week in summer & Emlyn was on Holiday & another driver was covering for him. Each evening when we got to the Witney yard we would spend a considerable time there shunting wagons etc. Now this chap who could well have been described as an egg on legs! Had sussed there was a pub near by, so instructed me to look after things & have a go at driving 'til he got back, as the answer to his thirst was calling! I don’t know how far away the pub was, but I remember having some very anxious times waiting,when all the work was done & being sooo relieved to see his little wobley figure trying to run down the yard. As Buzzer on the Davies thread would say, another Mary Hopkins moment! 
adr:
Hi Bubbs,
Thanks for the pic mate, I have no idea if that was before or after I had the old girl!!! Do you know when that pic was taken? Cos I no idea who she belonged to before Cannons.
Hope I not whacking too many pics on, but I’ve driven for a few Oxford firms so hoping they might be of interest to someone, cheers!
Hi, I used to work on Milton Park, and remember this truck going to Ron Peploe, when Cannons sold her…then the engine blew up…poor old Ron!
Just found this on Scrapbook Memories posted by Bubbleman, hope you don’t mind me moving it Bubbs, new it would be of interest on Oxford site, Betts are only 5 mins away from me in the next village! Thanks Chris
Finally found my old photo album’s with pictures of my Dad’s old lorries in…
oiltreader:
From a flickr contact.
oily
Ray still likes to fit his big wheel trims He started putting them on when he started buying the Merc’s, they were sacred, if you lost one you risked being hung/drawn & quartered 
I remember one trip I had about 5 drops in France on the way down, then 1 in Barcelona, then last 1 was right down Southern Spain somewhere (sorry it was over 25 years ago, so memory faded on detail), then I had a collection over by Huelva, big house stuck out in the middle of no-where, miles of pot-holed dirt tracks to get to it, shook the crap out of my Merc’, 2 wheel trims were shaken off I had another collection in Spain too, I remember ending up week-ending in Benidorm (it’s a hard life ), & getting the spanners out & having to put them back on so that she looked smart again, I then had 2 or 3 pick-ups in France on the way back up! I do remember having God’s own job finding somewhere to park in Benidorm, obviously trying to park close to the Bars/Restaurant’s & the likely spots for female company 
, I eventually squeezed into a gap right outside a bike-hire/sales shop, the owner took exception to this cos he clearly thought this bloody great English removal wagon was stopping people seeing his business, so he asked me to move, I don’t know what the Spanish is for “F**k off you English (I understood that bit) tw*t” is, but by his tone of voice & waving arms I don’t think I was far out, I didn’t like his tone so I “politely” declined his request, after a bit more shouting he pulled a wad of notes out & offered me some money to move, just at this moment I looked across & noticed that a gap big enough for me to get into had appeared opposite, so I quickley grabbed his kind donation to my dinner fund, fired her up & shot down the road & turned round & back up to slot into the gap bang opposite Biker Boy’s Gaff, & went & had a free dinner
, Ray is and was a ppppppppppppppppppprat.
Might aswell stick Dads’ new motor on here… 
Chris I’m surprised you had a job to find somewhere to park in Benidorm as there is a big truck and coach park just off the motorway which was quite cheap and a short walk into the town or a quick taxi ride to a hotel, we used it several times on Arrows GP test team in the early 2000’s as did a lot of the other local test teams eg Benneton, Williams or Jordan while travelling from Jerez test track to Valencia, lots of bad heads and memories not so good of bars and Sticky Vicky the next day, it was a good thing there were a lot of other drunken English people to blend into.
Charlie
Reference Betts, is he still running several artics as the last time I saw him was in Smurfits in 2009 and he had an old FH12…
chazzer:
Chris I’m surprised you had a job to find somewhere to park in Benidorm as there is a big truck and coach park just off the motorway which was quite cheap and a short walk into the town or a quick taxi ride to a hotel, we used it several times on Arrows GP test team in the early 2000’s as did a lot of the other local test teams eg Benneton, Williams or Jordan while travelling from Jerez test track to Valencia, lots of bad heads and memories not so good of bars and Sticky Vicky the next day, it was a good thing there were a lot of other drunken English people to blend into.
Charlie
Hi Charlie, as time went on mate as we all did I got to know, but I was 21 & this was my 1st run to Spain so it was very much ■■■■-it & see & where the “flip” am I 
Especially on Removals, cos finding antique shops & obscure back street houses/addresses was every day agro . But it was good fun & we had a good crew on there, & when I did go onto tilts/fridges etc finding a lot of those drops was a doddle after the removals .
Regards Chris
JAKEY:
:lol:
I think you could find a good few 100 or 1000 people that would agree with you there Steve Ray was shall we say a “complex” character to say the least, he had some great blokes work for him over the years, but as he was slightly lacking in man-management skills most of them ended up telling them to shove it where the sun don’t shine If you wanted to see Europe then that was the job though, cos you really did see all the back lanes/ dirt tracks/ side streets etc of God knows where, in Switzerland you could drive half way up the side of a mountain to deliver a couple of boxes of personal belongings, I also moved stuff to the houses on the “Costa del Crime” of some very big men with crooked noses & scars & South-East London accents, who plied you with cold beer all the time you were ■■■■■■■ boxes into their Villa, then told you that you were their guest for the evening (who was I to argue!), let you swim & lounge around their pool for a couple of hours, then put you in a very big car & take you to a lovely sea-view restaurant where you ate & drunk what you liked on them, then give you a tip that was nearly a weeks wage before you drove away the next morning . So there were a few plus sides to the job, thank God though there were no cab-phones in those days cos Ray would have been a total knightmare then, at least you only spoke to him when you called him, & you could put the phone down when he started shouting & screaming & he couldn’t call you back
chazzer:
Reference Betts, is he still running several artics as the last time I saw him was in Smurfits in 2009 and he had an old FH12…
I think he only runs 1 wagon now, that’s what someone told me not long back!
Hi ADR was you on Cannons when we was running to Drax back to thatcham■■?
Paul
adr:
chazzer:
Reference Betts, is he still running several artics as the last time I saw him was in Smurfits in 2009 and he had an old FH12…I think he only runs 1 wagon now, that’s what someone told me not long back!
so ADR you must have known bob Kirk !!! Steve.
mixer 11:
Hi ADR was you on Cannons when we was running to Drax back to thatcham■■?
Paul
Hi Paul. I don’t think I was, I left Cannon’s in about '88, did a bit of the tanker work but not a lot, only tended to do it if my F7 was in for Service & they didn’t have a spare wagon for me to use on General, & a tanker bloke was off so a tanker was spare, wasn’t sure where the tankers went half the time cos there were the set tanker blokes & what with being in/out & away on General didn’t see a lot of them at times, didn’t bother me cos I preferred General, although sometimes they’d get you to go down on the coal run to Wales & bring a load back to the Power Station.
Chris
shakysteve:
adr:
chazzer:
Reference Betts, is he still running several artics as the last time I saw him was in Smurfits in 2009 and he had an old FH12…I think he only runs 1 wagon now, that’s what someone told me not long back!
so ADR you must have known bob Kirk !!! Steve.
Hi Steve, Bob Kirk 
You know when a name or a face rings an immediate bell but you just can’t place it ? Give us a clue please mate! Chris
adr:
shakysteve:
adr:
chazzer:
Reference Betts, is he still running several artics as the last time I saw him was in Smurfits in 2009 and he had an old FH12…I think he only runs 1 wagon now, that’s what someone told me not long back!
so ADR you must have known bob Kirk !!! Steve.
Hi Steve, Bob Kirk
adr, Bob also drove for Miller Bros of Lechlade and drove a 8x4 maggie tipper ,the same time as Dennis Hatton ,regards Steve.
Hi Steve, I think I got him now, but now I got another 1 going round in my head, Dennis Hatton Know the name can’t put face to it Drives you mad don’t it, all the people whose path you cross over the years This must be the only job where you know someone you have never actually met or spoken to, the amount of wagons over the years that you pass regularly on a particular road/route, 1 day you will just raise your finger off the wheel in acknowledgement, next time they will get in 1st probably raise their hand, before you know it you are flashing lights etc, you’ll never know his name or anything about him but in a strange way you are mates It’s called cameradery, something sadly disappearing from our Industry
Regards Chris
