BigG-Unit:
Yeah, Thinking about it, I’m sure an old friend once told me he used to drive a Leyland Comet for them. He still lives in the area, so I’ll see what he remembers.
Spoke to my mate the other day, he said he was on for S. Jones in 1967. Got sent off before half time though when he put one in a ditch!! He also said when they ran down south east they would report to the london office to back load which was run by the legendary Ray Mason later of “Haywards of Walsall” fame. 
He was amazed at Ray’s knowledge of a wide area and he was able to direct them to places in many corners and back street places. 
they had an office in watford at one time
sorry for bumping this old topic but i had a chin-wag with curnock who said i should post a few of my photos of the s jones fleet in here. i worked there between 73 and 90.
saturday afternoon in the yard, all parked up
taken back when the tippers were in full power- half the fleet were tippers!
one of the last b-series driven by johnny williams from brand new
the fleet was never 100% erf- we had the odd atkie here and there! this was driven by jock hanna from new and he used to throw sugar lumps up the exhaust!
taken at weston park, this vehicle was restored in jones’ colours, but wasn’t actually part of the fleet
hope you enjoy these photos. i have more in my collection from the 70s and 80s, is anyone interested?
cookie1:
sorry for bumping this old topic but i had a chin-wag with curnock who said i should post a few of my photos of the s jones fleet in here. i worked there between 73 and 90.
saturday afternoon in the yard, all parked up
taken back when the tippers were in full power- half the fleet were tippers!
one of the last b-series driven by johnny williams from brand new
the fleet was never 100% erf- we had the odd atkie here and there! this was driven by jock hanna from new and he used to throw sugar lumps up the exhaust!
taken at weston park, this vehicle was restored in jones’ colours, but wasn’t actually part of the fleet
hope you enjoy these photos. i have more in my collection from the 70s and 80s, is anyone interested?
Hi cookie1,
Brilliant pics mate,keep sticking them on,great to see some well known british moters of a well known firm.
Cheers Dave.
Excellent pic’s Cookie, love the 70’s and 80’s stuff mate,
right, here’s five more from the archives
a, b and c series in the yard
447 driven from brand new by vince cooke (cookie), one of the finest machines to ever leave erfs
that little boy in front of that lorry is now 27 years old! how old does that make me 
driven from new by johnny matthews from lichfield
the first erf arctic ever owned by jones, driven from new by dickie grantham
jerry,where was that last photo taken ?
great pics them cookie i used to drive wfd 259x im sure was one of jones it was recabed and a ■■■■■■■ out of a mids brs transcon made up by that erf breaker at tamworth
Hiya this was ex Jones and it come out of a scrapyard in Tamworth.It also had a new cab it tipped over in Sheffield tipping scrap. Harrisons
purched her and sprayed her up and I had her for just under 2 years she went like a rocket not fast (65mph) but would go up past Hilton park services
and only drop 4 mph loaded at 32 ton. Sorry about the green spoiling Jones livery PRF 298L was the no plate.
John
curnock- that last photo was taken in middlewhich or sandbach around 1965/66.
3300John- i remember that lorry well! there’s a bit of history behind that one- driven from new by Andrew from leicester, and was a tipper from new as a day cab. when it tipped over in sheffield it had a new cab with a sleeper pod and had a new role on international tanker work for about 2 years. then it was sold off. thanks for posting that pic!
and now 7 more from the archive.
driven by paul holmes from new. the bus at its side was used for psv driver training.
photo taken by vince cooke (cookie), either going on a boat or coming off in dover.
now here’s a motley crew! johnny link, john shirley and his wife, graham bolton, e.r. whitam, and thomas tobias allowicious whitehouse.
three lorries off the contract fleet.
i told you they were never 100% erf- that’s why we had a daf sneak in.
two views of srf 302L, probably parked at the bakehouse at aousta, france/italian border, around 1974, when real drivers with real lorries weren’t afraid of real work!
Hiya Cookie 1. That history of PRF298L is correct when Harrisons found her the top of the cab was showing above a fence and Harrisons always had spare windscreens. Gordon was collecting a new Hiab trailer for me from George cohen’s somewhere near Tamworth and stopped off to buy the windscreen
did a deal and i got the 240.The name on the door was all splurged out with black runny paint that had dripped off the wing(what a mess) but as you can see they did a good restoration.when they got her she had no windows in the back of the cab(no problem they robbed a scrapper in their yard)there was no rear wings just half mudguards so you could fit chains…Some one told me they run the tankers at 34/36 tons and i wondered if they tweeked the engine.
The reason been i was loading bricks at Ensor (sanbach)at 800revs and no8 nocked out CLONK…CLONK i got her back to Stoke solo and the engine was stripped and the pump sent to be checked out.NEXT minute all hell let loose have you touched this pump(you see i worked at ERF)so John Harrison thought
i had opened the pump up.Dales(diesel experts)made Harrisons have a new pump as the trigger and the casting had been seriously modified.
She never went quite as well after the rebuild but not that bad. In 1982ish some !!! nicked her and chopped her up into bits, we only found out
by the cops, they stopped a transit pickup for a weighbridge check and this !!! had 2 8lxb’s on his pickup alarms went off and the chap got nicked
Harrisons got the unit back in ten bits less batteries so she had a sorry ending.Have you a photo of her when she was new.
Cheers John
hi 3300 john i am sorry to say that i do not have a photo of her new as i was only an apprentice in the garage at that time and did not have a camera. about the weight she ran at it would have anything up to 38tonne when coming from germany but most loads shipped into hull or immingham and were tipped into tank farms in the docks. the story behind the fuel pump is the first driver used to del coke regurlary to brighton and needed a machine that would pick her feet up so she was taken to the workshop and under the foremans instruction had the wicked uncle performed on her in other words she was interfered wih as were quite a few of jones’ motors!
bubbles enjoing his retirement 
I was very surprised to see this one as I didn’t think Sammy ever had foreign motors on the fleet. The old Atki rings a bell but I reckon this 3300 caused a few bitchy arguments between the star larkers.
Found this photo from the truck pull we did in the late 80’s. Yours truly in in the middle on the cab. Some familiar faces here !!!
Cheers
Ian.
On the Roof. Steve Bickley. Yours truly. Son of Yoyo.
Pulling L to R
Joe ■■. Gibbo, Horror, Bob and Yoyo, Big Daz, Phil Stokes and Pancho…
Great picture,I wonder how Health & Safety would view the guys on the roof today!!!
Rgds,
David
the flying foden:
did a couple of years on there on the tanks, one of the best job’s going at the time . had some good lads working for them as well . yo yo, gypsy dave, mouse, terry and john plant, talcom malcom .sadly taken over by hargreaves
REMEMBER MOST OF JONES TANKER DRIVERS AS I WAS ON DAWSONFRIEGHT AND USED TO RUN WITH THEM TO ITALY WE ALL USED TO RELOAD AT SAME PLACES.
Hello All
Just posted this pic on the tanker thread,i think its more at home on here (sorry if its been posted before)
Regards R-Jacko
