Quite right L 600. Smiles had quite a few of them C & Ds Regs, they served the Co very well, 150 Gardners 6 Speed David Brown Boxes, 11 MPG, in some cases, mind you Smiles;s Had some bloody good drivers working for them, looked after their motors as if they were their own, Smiles allways paid good wages, & they had some long service men there, The Bull as he was called in those days, was Tom Smiles he was a hard man to work for, but he new the haulage game like the back of his hand, He could do wonders to get his tippers out to work, his younger brother Earl sadly to say passed away very sharp in life, but he was a real nice fellow & the drivers liked him, The demise of Smiles for Miles was a sad day, bit it all went ■■■■ up when Tom [the bull] retired, Im sure all the drivers that were there when this occured will agree with me. Regards. Lawrence Smiles Dunbar.
Hi Lawrence , I well remember passing Smiles yard just off the A69 at Blucher near to the Walbottle Co-op store and looking down admiring those wagons when I ran to the North East regularly 1964 to 80 but cannot remember when Smiles ceased trading. In the 1970s I ran regularly with bulk poultry feed to Keith Slaters of Barcombe Grove, Bardon Mill, Stannington site turning off at Throckley and through by Ponteland and Berwick Hills to Blagdon Hall. Sorry but I cannot recall seeing your lorries at that time it must be the age thing as I can usually remember the older companies.
Cheers L.600.
Well L600,We started on our own 1972. Now Kieth Slater is retired now & what was the egg place at Stannington is a sort of a zoo, with rare breeds of Sheep,Goats,Pigs, plus Llamas this too many to mention, its called The Whitehouse Center, We in fact rented the large Atcost building a the bottom end of the site, It was our operating center for quite a number of years, small world eh, Regards Larry.
L600. Hallidays are still on the go but only one motor I think left now. Eddie.
L600. Hallidays are still on the go but only one motor I think left now. Eddie.
Hi Lawrence 1972 was when I converted from flat haulage to bulk powder tanker then eventually bulk opentop bulker but carried animal and poultry feed in both types. With regard to Keith I always enjoyed a chat him at Barcombe Grove and the wee Polish chap who worked at North Whitehouse known as Joe the Pole and remember him telling me how he escaped the Russians during the war. A very interesting man to talk too. Keith used to pober how he could make his fortune quickly by harnessing the methane gas bubbling out of a muckspreader load of chicken sxxt and using it as motor fuel. I seem to remember there was a fuel crisis at the time.
Cheers L600
Aye thats right there was a fuel shortage, didnt last too long though, Getting back to Keith he lives at North Shields now his appartment looks onto the river Tyne, As far as I know his family run the Whitehouse Center operation, Regards Larry.
Hi Lawrence
Earl was a good chap i seem to remember he liked the delivery notes and paper work to be correct and tidy, what was the other brothers name who used to be in the workshops
I can not remember many of the other lads names Bobby …, …Mather can you remember the shovel driver at Scotlandgate loding shale was it George he used to smoke all kind of things in his old pipe,he was quite pally with Tom
It was Jeff Smiles that in the workshop, he was Tom [The Bull] son, Fred had an office on the Quayside, he ran the long distance side ot things, The only shovel driver that comes to mind that drove the Ford County at Seaton Burn Pit Heap was called Tait, I think his wife had a Fish & Chip shop somewere, The Bob Mather you mention , I sometimes see his son in the club at Ponteland hes called Norman, , Regards Larry. PS If you go back a bit on this thread I have some of Smilers motors on.
Hi Lawrence
I remember Jeff, if he was not a brother he was related i think he was a stocky old boy,yes that was his name Tait when at Scotlandgate he had a Cat. tracked machine
Yes i can remember the work sheets
Aye, that was Bob Smiles [Cannon Ball], he used to do a bit of welding & look after the tyres, he could be a real awkward bloke with some of the drivers he used to look after the service recorder clocks, he didnt have many friends I can tell you, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye, that was Bob Smiles [Cannon Ball], he used to do a bit of welding & look after the tyres, he could be a real awkward bloke with some of the drivers he used to look after the service recorder clocks, he didnt have many friends I can tell you, Regards Larry.
Were those Servis recorders ever any use Larry ? Cheers Dennis.
Well Bob Smiles used to wind them up & change the discs which were very similar to the tacho cards we have now, Im sure they were a 9 day clock, They were defo not popular with the drivers, But not all Smilers motors had them in, the general haulage ones had them fitted if the driver was naughtey, Ha Ha, The reason they were left out was sometimes when a rush job for London docks came on, the drivers would just say I cant do it because of the clock. the running dodgey days Eh, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well Bob Smiles used to wind them up & change the discs which were very similar to the tacho cards we have now, Im sure they were a 9 day clock, They were defo not popular with the drivers, But not all Smilers motors had them in, the general haulage ones had them fitted if the driver was naughtey, Ha Ha, The reason they were left out was sometimes when a rush job for London docks came on, the drivers would just say I cant do it because of the clock. the running dodgey days Eh, Regards Larry.
hiya,
All of the Fearings motors had the Smiths clocks fitted but there was more
keys than clocks and every driver was a semi-skilled clock " doctor " and you
can include me in that group have had mine " making money " when iv’e been
parked up and on the pop, the original attempt at putting a spy in the cab in
fact they were a joke and the gaffers would have got more out of the drivers
if they hadn’t fitted the things.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi Harry, a prestigeous company in my home town always had the very best of tackle when it came to buying their wagons as a C licensed company back in the early 1960s their transport manager had read in a Motor Transport or Commercial Motor of the day about the benifits of Servis recorders and had one fitted to their beautiful KV cabbed 66GX six wheeler, their long serving driver advised that they were unreliable and didn,t last long. However he made sure that his advice was not unfounded due to the company using a lot of strong acids in their manufacturing process some of which found its way through the key slot assisted by an eye dropper getting a double dose daily. Sure enough he prooved his point and the offending device removed.
Where there is a will there is a way.
Cheers Leyland 600.
Any of yous oldies remember a tipper firm from Gosforth, T.A.Parker green Bedfords, a couple of drivers lived at Hazelrigg Geo Ellis, Peter Ellis, Bob Greenlees, they were taken over by a firm that was based at Wideopen, Liddle Haulage, they had the filling station opposite the old Reno Cinema, any photos about lads ? Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Any of yous oldies remember a tipper firm from Gosforth, T.A.Parker green Bedfords, a couple of drivers lived at Hazelrigg Geo Ellis, Peter Ellis, Bob Greenlees, they were taken over by a firm that was based at Wideopen, Liddle Haulage, they had the filling station opposite the old Reno Cinema, any photos about lads ? Regards Larry.
Larry, I don’t remember Parker’s, but I do remember the one and only Bob Greenlees. He worked at Waugh’s with me in the 70’s and 80’s along with your old mate “Parky”, Brian Johnston, Tommy Flett and Ray Thompson. regards Kev.
Kev If its the Ray Thompson I think you are talking about, I went to school with him He was big Ray & I was little Lawrence, I was his minder, Sadley to say he now suffers from Alzimers, & he is in a home at Brunswick Village, My mate from Seaton Burn Arthur Lowdon & Ray are full cousins, but one of Rays sons told him he sadley cant remember anyone, Very sad, but thats life Eh Reagrds Larry.
