Andy L:
Does anybody have information on ucc
where can i go for some pictures?
Here you go ANDY L: heres a couple of UCC photos.
Got a couple of Motor Transport cuttings telling how UCC went to Kuwait and Saudi.
I believe GRANGEWOOD took UCC over? Perhaps someone can put me right on that 
Hi andy,Yes i can tell you about Ucc,but not at Brentford but at Yapsley Street poplar.I was there in the 60s after the garage at Black Prince road Lambeth shut. Where all the night out men were based and the Bow Common Lane men with the tractors and trailers came together under oneroof.When I Joined here was a divide of us and them which slowly changed. We then drove Magnificent Thames Trader artics with four in line and single axle trailers,ERF 5 cylinder Gardner engined 4 wheel rigids that used to pull draw bars .Also there were a couple of very old ERFs with 4 cyl gardners in as wellas trader 4 wheelers the majority had lift boxs on.Then we got a new boss man called Mr Cooper.He Bought 70 odd Guy Big J units With AEC505 engins and Eaton 2 speed axles And HEATERS.Also 140 odd Crane fruehaul single axle trailers with Petter Gas powered fridges. The list can be endless of stories,I can remember Johnny sullivan (Bow common lane man).Have you ever heard of the truck that was buried in the yard at poplar when the Blackwall tunnel collapsed,I have two Paper photos of car no 722 plus trailer down the hole.In the pictures are Billy Denfrew and Frank Evans.My brother Ted was also there along with George and Eddie Curtis Midge GalbraithJim Bellman Bill Staples Ginger witt syd Dunn and loads more.Time to go when I think of more i will put it on.You are right about the Scanias and trailers they arrived new at poplar.
that picture was in a book to last saw midge a few years ago he and his son terry had a couple scanias on martintrux the chap i worked with was dave forrester
I can just remember UCC from way back. Day cab 110s. Very good job, paywise. Lots of SCA men contemplated going with them, but the day cabs were the big NO NO.
Welcome to TN Michelin Man, another newbie-oldie with a phenomenal memory - just what we need here.
My first memory of UCC was before I was a driver, I worked for Weddels the meat wholesalers also owned by Vesteys the owners of UCC. This would be in about 1960/1, when they used to deliver into the 2 depots I worked at, Nottingham and Bedford. Can’t remember much about the motors though. 
Thanks for the praise moderator,Working for UCC at the time was an obsolute pleasure it was a joy to go to work.All the journey men had lots of expirience to pass on to us young pups.Among the drivers were a lot of Tea Drinkers that was the biggest insult you could recieve.These were the days before Barbera Castle Naused it all up.The Scanias were 110s nothing more powerful than that,but a superb truck then. The brits were still making fibre glassed cabbed ERFs Akis and so forth,All fitted with the bosses chosen Gardner 150 or 180 lump.terrific engines last a lifetime but what sore things to drive when the govenor came in at 2000 rpm.Can you cast your mind back to night trunkers? J&h s out of Peckham,Suttons of St Helens.Brs,Silver roadways etc.Same guys same times great laughs at Blue boar (When it had a transport section only), and Toddington when home wood bound,To Our Younger audience the M1 Started at the busy bee and ended just after Blue boar.Then back to the old roads.You went as fast as the slowest truck then.Being a journey man on UCC you could start out from Poplar on a monday am to go to Southampton docks and work to instructions,This meant you could be sent to ANYWHERE in the country the union agreement was that after 9 days away you had to loaded for home.How many drivers want to do that now? We never gave a second thought it was part of the job.More later dont want you getting bored with my rantings.A D Forsey was part of the Vesty Empire.
Aren’t the Vestey family cousins of the Queen?
Seem to recall, from many years ago, that they only paid absolute minimal income tax on all the annual profits of their vast business empire. Hope they’re broke now, although I doubt it.
michelin man:
Thanks for the praise moderator,Working for UCC at the time was an obsolute pleasure it was a joy to go to work.All the journey men had lots of expirience to pass on to us young pups.Among the drivers were a lot of Tea Drinkers that was the biggest insult you could recieve.These were the days before Barbera Castle Naused it all up.The Scanias were 110s nothing more powerful than that,but a superb truck then. The brits were still making fibre glassed cabbed ERFs Akis and so forth,All fitted with the bosses chosen Gardner 150 or 180 lump.terrific engines last a lifetime but what sore things to drive when the govenor came in at 2000 rpm.Can you cast your mind back to night trunkers? J&h s out of Peckham,Suttons of St Helens.Brs,Silver roadways etc.Same guys same times great laughs at Blue boar (When it had a transport section only), and Toddington when home wood bound,To Our Younger audience the M1 Started at the busy bee and ended just after Blue boar.Then back to the old roads.You went as fast as the slowest truck then.Being a journey man on UCC you could start out from Poplar on a monday am to go to Southampton docks and work to instructions,This meant you could be sent to ANYWHERE in the country the union agreement was that after 9 days away you had to loaded for home.How many drivers want to do that now? We never gave a second thought it was part of the job.More later dont want you getting bored with my rantings.A D Forsey was part of the Vesty Empire.
Wow, your memories come thick and fast. 
Scania 110 was the last of the marque I drove, just about everything else but no more Scannies after the 70s.
Gosh The Busy Bee, now there’s a blast from the past. That’s where Alfie (Michael Caine) loosened the ropes on Sidney Tafler’s load coupled to a Davison’s of Shildon AEC Mandator, so he could run off with Jane Asher. I’d never do that to another driver but might have made an exception for the pale redhead. 
All the trunkers I remember well, but Silver Roadways occupies a special place in my memory. My first trip down the road with a 4 wheeler Albion loaded with Stanton pipes and armed with a copy of Headlight for the backload.That came from Silvers in London who loaded me with 2 pickups and 2 drops Bath and Bristol. Loaded from there for Scotch and never looked back. I loved it.
That working away bit never bothered me, in fact it was part of the attraction of the job, but then most of the time I was free and easy loading myself from place to place. Funny you should mention that 9 day rule because I did time in the Merchant Navy and there was something similar on there. I joined a Shell tanker in Rotterdam and the previous crew were being ferried home after spending 18 months backwards and forewards across the Caribbean. The rule was you could pay off anytime if you hit a UK port, after 9 months if you hit a N. European port, or 18 months worldwide.
Didn’t know about Forseys but Vestey certainly was a vast empire including UCC, Weddels, Dewhursts, Blue Star Liners and cattle stations in S. America and Australia. In the latter place they were running road trains pulled by British built Rotinoff prime movers with Rolls Royce 250 diesel engines.
I have just spoken to john sulivans daughter eileen and told her about this post she remembers the reg of her dads scammel it was UYL920 and the fleet no.was 592 she said his other lorry was reg FGC773 fleet no.567 she also said she remembers bill sparrow,she would often go to work with john and knew some of his freinds and was realy pleased when i told her about this.
Heres more,I remember bill sparrow and his son both at Poplar, another tractor man was a big feller called Dan I cant remember his surname apologies for that.Any body remember Charlie west Charlie westgate Georgie Bruce “Filthy Lucre” and Jethro,his dad was a pitcher on Smithfield.4 people in a car near Blackfriers Cold srores accused him of cutting them up no contest he put all4 in the land of nod,Bless him.He went to Aussie to work. More later
I dont know if you all know that Ray Smith died about 2 years ago,i knew something was wrong as he came up just before and paid me a visit, but never mentioned it.
cav551:
boyzee:
vernonbish777:
where they Union Cartage Company ? part of the Vesty Group ?My uncle Johnnie Sulliven worked for ucc years ago in the 50,s an60s he used to drive a foden tractor with a drawbar trailer later he had a scammel.When they finnished he went on to Fyffes monroe.I remember one of ucc,s scania,s running into a house in Bridge on the old A2 i dont know if the driver was killed or someone in the house.The people of Bridge had demo,s for months after they would keep walking on the zebra crossing holding traffic upThis was around 1971.Hope this is of interest.
Unless there were two very similr accidents the one I’m pretty certain it was in Summer 1967 - I was still at School at the time and it was all over the local paper at the time (then the Kentish Gazette). There are rather grainy pictures of the smash on t’internet. The protests were to get a bypass built, which eventually happened.
i was on the night shunting shift with him,nick name dogs ■■■■, taking a trailer from Warly to dover down the hill at bridge foot hard down must have passed out before he went through the shop a baby was found in its cot on top of the trailer when they pulled it out unharmed,cant remember his actual name as most had nick names,before he left Warly he was complaining to me about chest pains ,i said i would take it but he said he needed the overtime.
have sent a message to ted, hope he is still ok.
I worked there from the middle sixties until just after the move to Warley. As Michelin man says, it was a great old job.It was like a social life with lorry driving in between. The wages were above that of the normal run of things and there wasn’t a better place to meet some great characters. Men like Long John Browning,Teddy Prendegast,Guinness,Pete Johnston,Mac the Yank,Scratcher (Bag of Sweets) Revell,Reg (the Chinaman) Lintott. There’s many more but that’s enough for now. I did the continental runs to Switzerland,Belgium,France but spent most of the time in Germany doing the U.S. bases there,supplying them with hanging beef from Ireland via the B+I line in Liverpool Docks. I still have a permit issued by the Mayor of Hamburg to allow us to run to Bremerhaven on a Sunday as normally it was forbidden to run lorries on Sundays. I’ll try to dig it out and attach it to one of my future letters-it might be of some interest to the old UCC men. More later,best wishes to all from 900X20.
Welcome in 900X20, blimey what was it they put in the tea at UCC to give you all such memories? 
Hello Spardo,
It certainly wasn’t the tea in those days as being called a tea drinker was a form of derision. Seriously, it was just a great old job and the good times always outnumbered the bad- ergo you can remember a lot more than with some jobs. We didn’t even mind the night work as you were with the same gang all the time so the job was the same regardless. I, when in the UK,drove a “Big J” No. SJJ 612F, Fleet No. 412. It had an AEC 505 engine with the luxury of an Eaton two speed axle fitted. It used to pop along too! The memory doesn’t dim on a job like that,hence the total recall. There’s miles more to tell but later. I just hope that all the drivers we knew are still with us. Regards to all,Happy Christmas all round,yours,900X20.
Brilliant Post. Thanks all.
I just got to go and scream about the 900 x 20 memory 
[Hi Spardo,Its a bit gratifying to know that there are people interested in our previous lives.While at poplar we were involved in a big job for a frozen food Co.23 of us left on a sunday morning to go to Immingham docks to load frozen peas.Digs were arranged at Cleethorpes for us all,I should add it was winter and no sleeper cabs.Basically we were there all week cos the marks were not showing.I was among the first to arrive and the last to get back.I will leave it up to imaginations as to what went on.Needless to say it was brilliant.900x20 was one of them. Happy days. Has anybody info about the fridge man at the start of this page?Happy xmas to you all.Keep on with the comments its good.By the way spardo i never did either of the two weddel shops you were at must have done all the others.Bye for now.
michelin man:
[.By the way spardo i never did either of the two weddel shops you were at must have done all the others.Bye for now.
Yes, that was when I was still dreaming of a driving career. At Bedford I lodged with the delivery driver Ernie Wiseman and his wife Auriol. He drove one of those old Austin/Morris vans, I think they called it an LD or something. Sometimes he took it home with him and others I went on deliveries, never got to drive it for real but seem to remember sitting behind the wheel and trying to remember all the twists and turns on the (old) road back to Nottingham.
I was on the frozen pea job at Immingham too. It was a long old week but we didn’t mind as we always had company - there were enough of us up there. We, Michelin Man,Jim Bellman and myself finally got loaded on the Friday and made our way to Lowestoft where we unloaded on the Saturday morning and we arrived home in the afternoon. Just one of the jobs I remember. Going up there on the Sunday was quite a sight - UCC in line ahead. I don’t think the A1 had seen it before. The “Willow Pattern” in Cleethorpes took some digs money that week! Great old days,more later,regards to all, 900X20.