Hello terry,Dave townsend replying to your posts, so glad that brother ted and myself are not alone on this site.Sad to hear about filthy lucre people like him are very few and far between.All in all UCC was the only firm where it was a pleasure to go to work we all know the faces that you didnt mind going up the road with and them you didnt,namely tea drinkers.There has been much written about UCC but you had to be there to expirience it.Glad to hear your about keep writing.Midg e is still about. I must get george Curtis involced on the site,more later, dave.
Terry,thanks for your answer.I thought we were the only ones left.Poor old Filthy Luker’s death is a choker.There was only one of him and I remember,amongst other things,his knack of giving everybody a name,not to say his sense of humour.I’m truly sorry to hear that he’s gone. 
I left in '69,scratched around a bit,did a bit for London Carriers out of Croydon,then to BEA at Heathrow,finally,cracked it.I got a job on Shell at Wandsworth Depot and stayed there to the end.I still think UCC was the job to have though-they were all comedians who did a bit of driving.
I hope there are still most of the drivers amongst us and some might see this and get in touch.More later,regards to all,900X20.
I must say this,Lucker always had a word for every thing,all to do with lorrys,you will laugh at this,when he went to the toilet,Terry I am just dropping my tailgate and off load,Terry to lou,you old ■■■■■■■■,I am not old,I was born early,we went to brick lane to buy some boots, the man said ‘what size are your feet,look at them you can see they are 900x20s.’ We were at the glue pot cafe,he went for a ■■■■■,when I saw it I said bloody hell I can see why Grace has asthma,he said she loves my shunting pin.I was with Pete Johnson on the way to basingstoke,we had a lorry over take us,we pulled into a cafe,the driver had slabs of marble on,he was so proud he was polishing them,he walked in the cafe started to eat his breakfast,Lou walked in said to us did you see that ■■■■■■■■,with a load of concreat overtaking every one,the driver choked on his sausage.In yabsley st, the flats opposite with the single ladys,I was on stanby so i popped in to one of them,just got started when Lou walked in a box of filled steaks,well I wont say any more as to what happend.
Hi Terry , Ted and Dave, Somewhere I have a photo of George Curtis and me in Basle. I also
have a couple of photo’s of my Scania AGU 350G when it turned over on the FE5 outside Dover. I suppose that the Holbeach Whipper Snapper would say that the old girl was laying down on the job, Saucy Sod. At 77 I can scratch my arse if I want to, I’ll worry if I start to scratch his. In an earlier post, the son of the Warley night gate man George asked if anyone rememberred him. Do you recall his radio callsign was Rover Eight. Anyone passing must have thought it was the local looney bin cos any driver approaching the gate would start shouting Rover Eight over and over again, come to think of it they were all ■■■■■■ Mad. I still keep in touch with Gordon Hampshire who lives on the Isle of Grain. his missus is not too well at the moment. His wife and mine were school pals. I dont know if Ted Cook is still going, I did promise that I would take my dogs to pee up his headstone when he goes. Thats it for now, catch you all later. Bill S.
Hello Bill,glad you’re still around.We’re looking forward to seeing the photo of the pair of you.Dave has got in touch with George and told him the latest happenings on this site so we might hear from him soon.
Re.Basle,was it your Scania I took to Basle on my first trip?I can’t remember the number 
If you hear any news of the rest of the drivers,let us know.I hope they are all still with us and they get a computer for their birthday Regards,Ted.
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Hello Meritor,
Welcome to the UCC pages.You are not alone re.Sid.He was a straight man and treated us Poplar drivers well (if we did the same for him)
The firm’s hey day for me was in the sixties-the work was hard but the pay was good,compared to the average in Road Transport.We’d all like to see any photos you have
as Michelin Man and myself,among others have probably driven them.Keep in touch,regards to all,900X20.
Hello to ted @ dave terry bill and the rest on this forum i never ever thought you lot could use a computer the hardest thing we did was write out log sheets and see how many hours we could fiddle i was pretty good at that …the job today must be so boring and i don’t think it would suit us we were a different breed of drivers in those days all out to help each other and earn a few bob.
Its nice to hear the yank is still about sunning himself in spain …he was a one off like a lot of others there was something about UCC drivers i exspect you all remember Doug Hannant i still see him and have heard from George Curtiss and his good wife Shirley anyone know anything about George Burley and Tommy Page
and anybody else i can’t remember all thier names but they will come to me in time .
When i finished i spent my redundancy money on a unit it paided off finished up with a small haulge company and warehouse in the basildon area 2 142 Scanias 2 112s and a Man and a Daf and some good work done a lot for our rivals from the 60s Martintruks with a lot of continental work to france italy and some UK work.
When i retired my son didn’t want to continue the trade fed up with the pace of things so i went into the taxi trade to keep him employed and he now runs that with his son and i owe all of that to UCC still the best i worked for with a great bunch of mates who i miss very much, Midge Galbraith…
Hi Midge, its nice to know that you are still around and still down in Basildon, I thought that you had moved back near Doug. After I left Blackwall Tunnel I worked as a night foreman shunter in Fords. Most of their drivers were cash in hand and on the dole. It used to be funny to see them like greyhounds out of the trap each morning before their house got a visit from the DHS, it reminded me that UCC weren’t the only fidlers. If you look on the scrapbook memories entry, on the page three there is the press cutting of when Charlie Wise loaded for the first run to Kuwait. I wrote a list of loads of our old drivers. Once again its nice to hear from you. Regards Bill Sparrow.
Hello Midge,
Great to see your post.I’m seeing Dave today and I’ll tell him you are about.You’re right about computers (log sheets were easier to fill in) and we hope some more of the old crew get on line with us.It’s growing steadily.More later Midge,all the best,900x20. (Ted Townsend.)
Nice to here from you Midge,Ive posted some photos on the astran book foram,Chris Wilson and me in kuwait,that was on Chis 50th birthday,I left ucc and went on to simons internation out of stepney,doing afganistan,pakistan,iran ,iraq,then opened a garage in Hackney.Still in touch with Ray Smith,hes doing some work for a company in london,was nice to here from Bill,as I still do some driving,I asked him if he wanted a job,but as the lorry didnt have a SAT NAV he turned it down,he always did get lost,especialy in the Reeper barn in Hamberg,ha ha.I live in Holbeach near Spalding,have some photos of the old tractor and trailers,one is towing 2 trailers,bill said they used them to do the docks in Tilbury,I will post them on.Terry
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Hi guys many thanks for the pictures spoke to my dad we are hoping to scan/post some pictures
Hi Meritor, The Scammell tractor posted 590 was driven at Bow Common Lane by a chap named Tom Marshal, as a point of interest the old tractors were a Fowler chassis and a 4 pot deisel engine, I forget the make of them. We did have one 551 which had a five cylinder engine. Those tractors were stripped down completely and rebuilt every couple of years by about four fitters and a welder managed by a bloke named Archie Gibbs. One day my fathers tractor came out of the workshop with a newly made front wing, half an hour later my old man drove it back in and said " ere Arch make me another front wing, ive just wrecked the new one" nothing would be said and thats how it was in them days. P,S the engines were ■■■■■■■■ Bill S.
Hello UCC old boys that don’t include you Terry your still a boy compared with the likes of bill and me we are past our sell by date but we still keep going …the pictures on view bring back a lot of memories thanks to meritar for them …i have a few will sort them out and post them
Spoke to doug hannant last night he is not a computer nut so i told him to get over here and we could write a few words from him im sure he has a message for ted and dave they all liked a drink together by the way he finished up on Brains Haulage after getting the bullet of UCC .
That driver who spoke about the two stick Scania it was a Scania Varbis we had on loan they called it the yellow peril and it went to sammy williams transport after us instead of having a splitter it was a second gear-stick a great motor to drive i done a bit of work with it ,they stopped building them after the 110 came along.
Has anybody got news of Dennis Burley and Reggie Revel would like to know how they doing till then Bye for now Midge
Hello Midge ,Dave townsend here lovely to hear you are still about and enjoying life.Ive just sent george the details again of how to get on the site so we all may hear from him.This is a superb site and its smashing to know that there are so many of us left (the hardwork didnt kill us).To all of you keep putting on the photos its a bit of nostalgia.Alan ■■■■■■ is still about living in Chinnor Oxen I dont know if he has a computer,when and I find that he has one ill put him on the circuit .Dougie Hannet was my opposite man on 422 is he still living next to the Dutch House? More later her behind the doors wants to go out. Oh I do miss some nights out. cheers d
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