How about J.R. SMITH from Tring. Been around over 60 years with a very good looking mixed fleet. they started in the days of A. B. AND C. licenses by the father Joe and run now by the two sons Stuart and Jim witch is unusual as normally firms handed down by the founder to the family don’t survive long. you can always judge the good firms by the average length of the work force and most good drivers stayed with smiths for long periods and a lot who left for greener pastures were glad to go back. ( just on another thread it was when the o license came in and any tom ■■■■ and harry could carry any thing thing the industry started to decline)
keith 2:
must have to have A ONE TRANSPORT LEEDS LTD in the top 5 in the 80s when jack Robinson owned them
GOT TO BE DAWSONFREIGHT FIRST WITH A FULL VOLVO FLEET OF F88S DAY NIGHT TRUNK RUNS OF BRICKS EARLY 1970S FULL FLEET OF VOLVO F88 F89S ALL KEPT CLEAN SPOTLESS ALL SLEEPER CABS ENVY OF ALL TRUCKERS EVERYWHERE WE STOPPED TRUCKERS WOULD ASK TO LOOK INSIDE CAB. LOW LOADERS FLEET ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANYS TO GO CONTINENTAL SOMETIMES 12 TANKERS AT FOLKSTONE ON A SUNDAY WAITING TO CATCH FERRY TO OSTEND ALL GOING DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS THATS WHEN CLEARING CUSTOMS SOMETIMES TOOK HOURS AGAIN AT DESTINATION SOMETIMES ALL DAY AND GERMAN BORDER TANKSHINES FINES FOR TANK FULL OF DIESEL. BUT I AM SURE WE HAD THE BEST TIME IN THE HAULEDGE WHEN DRIVERS WERE DRIVERS JOHN WISSON
Ferryman:
My vote is forRobert Wynn & Sons
50 Shaftsbury Street
Newport
MonStarted in 1863 with horses, progressed to steam, then petrol & diesel power.
Gave a lot of employment in South Wales as they grew with the tippers,timber extraction, crane hire, tankers, heavy gangs and haulage.
They operated a nightly trunking service Cardiff, Newport, London back in 1931, something we take for granted today.
Didn’t they hold a world record for the heavyist load back in the 60,s
haddy:
What aboutCharlie Alexanders of Aberdeen,
WH Malcom,
Russell Davies,
Yes, however it is Robsons of Carlisle for me.
If we are going “cross border” in the UK I would say Smith of Maddiston in Scotland, Alf Sutton in England and Gwynn Bowen in Wales!!! Bewick.
I think for Wales,it has to be Mansel Davies & Son,been going since the days of the Horse & Cart and still run a big fleet of smart moters.
In my opinion the top hauliers were:-
Robsons of Carlisle
T Brady
WA Glendinning
Brain Haulage
Russell Davies
BFI
WH Malcolm
Curries of Dumfries
Charles Alexander
Today’s top hauliers are:-
Eddie Stobart
Bulkhaul
Turners
georgeking:
In my opinion the top hauliers were:-
Robsons of Carlisle
T Brady
WA GlendinningBrain Haulage
Russell Davies
BFIWH Malcolm
Curries of Dumfries
Charles AlexanderToday’s top hauliers are:-
Eddie Stobart
Bulkhaul
Turners
Question “George” are Bulkhaul road hauliers or rail operators? Dennis.
hi all,
the same as my mate bewick,i have two.pollock,s are the first name that i thought of when i read this,however,astran and bob paul have to be in there also.anyone who has read the brilliant book would surely agree.
regards andrew
mike68:
Ferryman:
My vote is forRobert Wynn & Sons
50 Shaftsbury Street
Newport
MonStarted in 1863 with horses, progressed to steam, then petrol & diesel power.
Gave a lot of employment in South Wales as they grew with the tippers,timber extraction, crane hire, tankers, heavy gangs and haulage.
They operated a nightly trunking service Cardiff, Newport, London back in 1931, something we take for granted today.
Didn’t they hold a world record for the heavyist load back in the 60,s
Hi Mike,
1964
Wynns moved an English Electric transformer weighing 220 tons and was the heaviest load moved by road in the UK at the time.
The transformer was moved from Stafford to Ferrybridge power station, Yorkshire.
1975
2 modules, 232 feet long, 43 feet wide and 56 feet high and weighing 1,400 tons each, part of a North Sea oil rigs, was moved 500 yards, with there Dutch colleagues. The move rolled them onto pontoons and then offloaded as required.
This was the heaviest load, ever carried on rubber tyres, at the time.
The move was at Whessoe Plant Yard, Dock Point, Middlesbrough.
Remember the hover trailer, developed with CEGB and British Hovercraft. A rubber skirt was fitted around the bed of the trailer and compressed air supplied from a following vehicle. The 4 large pipes were routed up over the rear steer cabin and down to the skirt. This design helped to relieve axle weights and spread the weight on bridges.
I have black & white photos of all the above, but they are not very clear when scanned.
Wynns were ahead of the game, mostly it worked, but occasionally it went wrong.
At the Horse & Jockey pitch just outside Pontypool, while travelling up the hill towards Pontypool, a steel hawser failed on the front trailer, the load became detached and ran back down the hill. The rear bogie and vessel mounted the pavement and came to a stop resting against the hedge.
Getting stuck on the beach, on the Isle of Lewis, with a very large butane storage tank.
The Hixon Accident.
I would say Astran, they are the definition of Britishness (well what it used to mean anyway) pioneering, never say die etc etc, they have a loyal following from ex-employees & set the standards in their particular arena, not just for other British Companies, but for Johnny Foreigner too. They are & always have been the leader in their field.
BRS, no, they were originally made up of many smaller companies forced into nationalisation, they didn’t particularly excel at anything, their numbers were so great because nobody had any choice but to use them.
Stobart, from a Joe Public point of view, maybe, but they haven’t exactly forced rates up, so I doubt many hauliers would vote for them, although they were largely responsible for forcing everyone to up their game & tidy their fleets up.
There are many old established firms, like Bartrums, Prestons of Potto, Elddis, Swains of Strood, Turners of Soham, Mansell Davies, Pollocks, etc, they’ve all been around for years & survived recessions etc, they’re all worthy of such an accolade, as are many others no longer around, but there can be only one winner so, for me, it has to be Astran
Bewick:
georgeking:
In my opinion the top hauliers were:-
Robsons of Carlisle
T Brady
WA GlendinningBrain Haulage
Russell Davies
BFIWH Malcolm
Curries of Dumfries
Charles AlexanderToday’s top hauliers are:-
Eddie Stobart
Bulkhaul
TurnersQuestion “George” are Bulkhaul road hauliers or rail operators? Dennis.
They are a container company.
Bulkhaul started as a haulier didn’t they? yes they went in to intermodal stuff but it all came off the back of haulage.
Anyway, as earlier mentioned, I would say Prestons of Potto / FVS, but countrywide there are so many contenders.
gotta be dukes transport!
The ‘Greatest Haulier’ must be the ones who treats the drivers well, never mind fancy motors and how long they have been in business. Some of you have mentioned ‘Pollocks’ because they have a large fleet, nice motors and been going years. Fair enough, if they only treated the staff well ?
I think the only way of nominating a ‘Great British Haulier’ is if you actually worked there and were treated well, well payed, decent motor, decent work, worked legal etc etc as nobody else knows what happens behind closed doors ?
roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … driver.htm
what about brian harris transport,always ran a very tidy fleet doing devon to scotland every week for years,all run by one man from a little office in devon.
what about danskins of strathkinnes or cupar
Probably the most unanswerable question ever in this industry of ours.The one I liked working for most was a company known as W.F.Miners down 'ere in Devon,a wide variety of wagons usually the top spec of the time or I do believe it was more to do with which ever sales rep gave Fred,the boss the best night out.Truly general haulage we did everything tippers,tankers,flats,heavy and markets and even International,a fabulous education for anyone in our industry,even today I would match a Miners driver against anyone.We were obliged to do everything including finding our own loads at times and even ending up in court 5 or 6 times,well whatever.Was he the greatest,maybe not but whoever it was came from the general side.Stobarts might win if it could include getting the Financial Times to reveal that he should sell the trucking business and concentrate on the toys,the only part of the company that was making money at the time.Good try Will Shiers but the question is unanswerable!!!
Ferryman:
My vote is forRobert Wynn & Sons
50 Shaftsbury Street
Newport
MonThey operated a nightly trunking service Cardiff, Newport, London back in 1931, something we take for granted today.
A fine company and no mistake, although W. H. Bowker started night trunking between the North West and London in 1926! Perhaps Harry Gill was one of those Bowker night men whose clogs were said to have clattered down the corridors of the Strand Palace Hotel 
Im going to look at it a bit differently. Who were the companies who did something new or at least differently to how it had been done before, and smaller firms started by people who didn’t have loads of family cash.
That’s why i’m going to eliminate BRS because they took over lots of good companies through nationalisation.
- It has to be Astran.
- Russell Davies. He made container haulage a respectable and profitable business.
- Can’t decide. I want it to be a firm that was built on competing and growing in the european business. I’m thinking maybe, Lowe from Paddock Wood or maybe the early Pulleyn or Ralph Davies. Not as they are now, but when they were in there prime running around europe.
The one who just misses out has to be Robsons. Smart trucks all with names on, but running bottles and cans up and down the M6 ain’t rocket science, is it.