Does anyone out their know how many trucks Swain operate. I drive throughout the South East and see at least one a day.
I think they have a depo in strood, but they appear to be more popular than good old Eddie Stobart.
They’ve got depots in Stoke, Manchester, Grantham and Bilston too. They do a lot of steel for Corus distribution & ASD. Not the prettiest fleet, but unlike many, they are still going.
Also got a yard in Woodville nr Swadlincote.Load out of our place in Rugby a lot too.
if its the one im thinking of green with yellow writing i know they do alot out of K&N trafford park the old acr beer place
Theres a guy in my town who brings his truck home very weekend or parks it on the A1 and goes home on his nights out its the oldest ■■■■■■■■■ bag of crap ERF I have ever seen so i just hopoe hes on a good wage.
jammymutt:
Theres a guy in my town who brings his truck home very weekend or parks it on the A1 and goes home on his nights out its the oldest [zb] bag of crap ERF I have ever seen
Probably leaves it unlocked as well in the hope it will get pinched 
I sometimes do a night shift for DHL which involves a delivery into their place in Strood. The kit they run may not be the flashiest but it all looks clean and well maintained. Whenever I am in there I see some very neatly roped and sheeted loads, which I always think is nice to see. I wouldn’t want to do it but don’t mind looking at the results. 
The lads in the warehouse are a good bunch as well and it all seems pretty well organized. Pull right into the warehouse with a curtainsider, open both curtains, 3 or 4 forkies descend on it and they have the whole thing tipped in minutes.
the woodville depot does a lot of work for tradeteam and bison and roger bullivants. mate of mine works nights out of there on the beer. they took over alot of companys (woodville used to be ensors). mainly dafs and erf’s at woodville.
jon
It’s proppa haulage with straps and chains and ropes and sheets 
It was a well known name in Europe several years ago, many a bottle of wine spilt with their drivers
did they take over hayseldens of strood or are they still going.
Bit of a washout by all accounts.
roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … graph.html
What will they think of next?
■■■■■■■ cyclists
looks a bit like a posed photo to me going by the smile on the drivers face, good fun though
it never swains it pours
ace pic
also seen them in basell, carrington lately pulling van bentum silo tanks.
Wheel Nut:
Bit of a washout by all accounts.roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … graph.html
What will they think of next?
The driver has to be an idiot to fall for that trick surely!
When do cyclists approach you for a good soaking for a photo using an artic? 
,
Does the dimwit not know that if reported to Police he could be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention and get fined upto £2000 and have upto 9 points on his license,his boss would be an idiot not to sack him IMHO
Warrior:
did they take over hayseldens of strood or are they still going.
Hasleden were taking over by Nuttals years ago, they then went by Hasleden Nuttal Distribution, originally it was all flat work (Hasleden) they had a decent sized fleet of Guy Big Js, after the amalgamation it was Scania & Daf. They did a bit of Swiss, I think they took over ROBA too, not quite sure though, but I seem to remember ROBA units pulling their trailers & vice versa.
Swains, as said, don’t run the prettiest fleet, they look after it well though. a lot of the Kent firms were very slow in getting sleeper cabs, IIRC Swain bought a batch of the last Leyland Marathons made, they were all day cabs, E H Nicholls ran only day cabs well into the 80s, Hasleden the same, many other smaller firms followed the same principals, a lot of paper & steel was carried by this lot & it was all done on flats, always used to puzzle me how they got any drivers, I don’t think the money was much good either, still one mans meat…
Read an article about this is the local paper, apparently the female lorry driver involved was approched by the cyclist to do it for an art project, but photographer wasn’t in on the scam. Am suprised that the driver didn’t ask for permission from her boss first, surely they wouldve said no, couldve caused damage to the truck by running through that puddle.
See quite a few of swainies motors down here, alot of old shape dafs (newest I’ve see are 51 platers) are nice and clean, most restricted to 52mph, am suprised they haven’t replaced em what with all these emissions regs, unless they’ve changed the engines?
I can tell you that they are still privately owned and the main man
Mr Bob Swain is a very switched on man and a gentleman to boot.
Her runs a very, tight opertaion with a number of very loyal
staff a lot of who have been with him for years.
If there was ever a model of how to run a Transport, Storage and
Distribution company this would be it.
The trucks, trailers are all there for a very good reason and you will
still see the odd few proud drivers turning up at shows next to the
never done a days work trucks !!
Good on you all at Swains… and its all “British”
Neville:
next to the
never done a days work trucks !!
That won.t go down well in some quarters Neville.
Other than that, having loaded out of their Strood depot, on a number of occasions in the 70.s and 80,s I agree with everything in your post. Mr.Swain does right to complain about the damage that the picture could have done , not only to his company, but also to the image of Waggon Drivers in general.