Greetings,Bill,Terry and hopefully any of the old drivers looking in.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.I agree about the weather but it 's not too bad down here re. flooding.Hope the year brings all you wish for and keep the thread going.
All the best from Ted and Dave. 
Hi Ted and Dave, just in case you missedf it, Young Tel has a Japanese car to sell , it’s a Mitsubishi in dark brown, last used as a tank at the battle of Kohima. He has removed the gun turret and now say’s its a sun trap roof. low mileage, its only done half a million miles. He states that the body is in good condition with a few scratches and a couple of old bullet holes (put in by one of those Bloody British snipers) but a little bit of cellutape should do a good repair on them. If I knew your mail address I would send a picture of his double, trying sell Doug Hannant and myself dirty pictures in the Reeperbahn, I wonder if he still wears his shabby mac. Keep Smiling. Bill.
Hello lads sussex team again. Terry I have a name of a man who took the pic of the Scania in Turkey. The name is Peter Cannon he was I have been informed a Asian transport driver at the time. I also have been told that he went into the office and appears in The Road to Doha. I do have original vhs tapes of that show.If you are interested could maybe put them on DVD. Dougie Hannants name crops up from time to time we were opposite drivers on 421.He used to live near The Dutch house pub just off the Sth Circular road. Keep it up lads till later.Dave and Ted
the road to doha is on youtube in 3 parts, fredm
Thanks for that info Fred didn’t know about it should have guessed.Dave.
Hi The Sussex Branch, I have just found and spoken to Dougie Hannant on the phone. He isn’t doing too bad and is back living in Orpington. He wishes to be rememberred to any UCC men looking in. I’m on sky, you know my name. I hope that the flooding is still keeping away from you, but if our little mate up there in the provinces gets a bit damp , he’ll have to sell ducks instead of cars. I am also on f b , are you?. Bill.
Well,Well, Dougie what a nice bloke to be away with,he taught me how to take a fillet out of the beef,ha,ha. Peter Cannon I cant remember, but he would know John Frost and ■■■■ Snow,at the time they were the only ones doing Doha,yes it was Asian Transport then not Astran,and UCC were the other we were the first do do fridge work that side of the world,on the Astran website they talk as if they started the work, but they were 10 years behind what we done. Last year I was in Felixstowe in a pub,speaking to a driver who had done Saudi,he said what an easy job,but then he told me he caught a ferry from Greece to Jedda,well he missed out Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, and the bottom part of Saudi all the way up to the top,about 3000 miles the worst part of the journey.And we did not have air con,because we had 900x20s hard wall tyres we had to low the pressure right down because the heat blue the pressure right up.Bill I have got 3 people who want the KIA now new year is finished,it is not a Jap car but Korean,so there,will let you know my next project,as if you are interested. well time to put more logs on the fire,so the wife is nice and warm when she gets home from work,love you all Terence
Greetings,All. Tel,I agree with you about the 900x20 tyres.Whoever had the idea to fit them should be handcuffed to a pile of (zb).I never did a trip abroad without getting ast least one puncture.One trip,Mack the
Yank,Johnny Sadler and I were coming home from Frankfurt to Zeebruge (luckily empty) on a New Year’s eve.I had four inner punctures on the trailer.Mack and John had a couple each.Couldn’t get them mended so we ran them all the way up to Zeebruge.They were a pain and only having two spares was a bit awkward.They were a false economy! Anyway,all the best from the Sussex branch,Dave and Ted.
Hi Dave, Mac would have been aware of the answer to the tyre problem. Mr Dodge and John Cooper had asked the tyre manufacturers on the possibility of fitting radials to our trailers which would normally be carrying hanging loads of beef. They replied that radials are more flexible and with softer walls would result in a higher rate of the trailers turning over with a swinging load and therefor stated that on our trailers cross ply tyres would be best to allay the roll over risk. There is the reason that we had the tyres used. Thinking about it, the only turn over that our lorries had was my 805 which rolled over on the FE5 ferry on leaving Dover harbour. Actually it would be interesting to find out whether any other firms which carried hanging loads used radials or cross ply. Bill.
Hello,Bill.Thanks for your info on the tyres. I still think it was wrong to fit them as in all my travels abroad I never did see any of the other lorries over there on silly little cross plies,regardless of the load.I.e.,meat haulage,liquid carriers etc.Back home,I drove for Shell on 10/1100x20 radials,sometimes with a part load and none of our fleet ever turned over.I often wonder what the UCC tyre bill was running on them. Anyway,all the best from Ted,AKA 900x20. 
Hi Bil and Tel,I pulled for Mike Swallow doing basically Europe with a Volvo f88 and a crane frauhauf trailer on 11x22.5 Michelin radials.Did the hanging beef bit to Runges and elsewhere. Never had a problem, never had a puncture, never had to change a tyre. OK did not do the tempretures that the sand and glory wallas did but you would have been a lot better off on the radials. Good years must have been rubbing their hands conning such a big company into using something that was not up to the job.They did not make a lot of radials at the time. Only Michelin they were the big boys.All the best Dave and Ted
No bias there then Dave 
Well I think I should add a comment to this,they were the same tyres put on the London transport trolley buses,which run with over head rails,I used to watch the 647 which run from dock street Stepney to Stamford hill,many times the top deck was full but I never saw one of those turn over.Stop laughing Dave. Bill, woke up this morning,had a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee,knock on the door,she bought the KIA, cash,yes the Korean one not the Jap.Cant wait to start the next one.By the way the 900x20s only lasted to Kuwait,worn out,so I had Tokuamer radials put on there,spelled it wrong,like new when I got back,cant remember if they were taken off.£9.00 per tyre,I think I put a bigger bill in,not shore,ha,ha. Terry
Tel your not the only one to remember trolley buses. I used to turn up at school on them. Bit of a waste of time and money that one .Dave and Ted
Greetings,All.
Tel,I rest my case re the tyres.Your last post sums it all up.Thanks,Ted.
Hi, all I got an email from Joe Linwoods son,have told him to send a post through,Bill might be able to give more information,he said he went abroad with him a few times,then he went on to a continental firm in silvertown,he died in 1999.
Hello gents im not a driver nor have i ever worked for ucc but my grandfather was his name was les beal ive seen his name on the forum he is sadly no longer with us but i remember the big scanias and been taken out when i was young for a ride also tales of some of the good times he had at ucc including tales of the breakdown driver who drove like a madman i have some slides of the trucks at my aunts i will try to get them on the site like i said im not a driver but i was one of the kids who loved lorrys like my kids love i pads and thought the drivers were supermen good luck to you all …ps we always had plenty of meat in the freezer and i remember my grandad on the day he was made redundant crying because he had lost not just a job but a family long live the last of the ucc men from the kid that always stoped to watch lorrys and made air brake sounds on his push bike…bring back the days when drivers were respected and looked up to …
Welcome to the Forum,z1000.
We all knew Les,a good friend.Sad to hear of his passing.There was the odd time I used to take his Scania on the Germany run,when he was having his rest days,which we all did after a length of time on the Continent.We were all sad when the firm folded up as it was the best job we’ve ever had. You’re right about the fridges being well filled too,we all ate well in those days (even our dog). I can remember how chuffed he was when he bought the Mercedes,a car he always wanted.He was the dog with two tails.They were good days,working with some of the best long distance men in the business.We’d all be happy if you can put any photos you have on this website as there’s still some of us left and they’d be good to look at.We all look in on a regular basis.Wishing you all the best,regards,900x20.
Hi z1000, your grandad Les was well known and liked by everyone at UCC, and as you may have gathered from this website they were a great bunch of P*** takers, those two brothers on the south coast being among the worst. I remember the laughs we had about Les. Apparently your Nan /his wife was either French or the daughter of French parents. He therefor used to tell us the way to eat French cheese was to bite a piece off, take a swig of wine and chew the two together. Naturally the Pee takers among our number would then make a great show of taking his advice. Having said that , Les was one of the best and well liked by everyone at UCC. It’s a pity that we didnt know when he died, because one or two of us would have attended his funeral. I seem to recall that he lived at Erih or thereabouts. Anyway keep looking in because the dinner nickers of ex UCC keep popping up from time to time. Regards Bill Sparrow.
Hi Keats, how did Joe Kingwoods son find you amongst those Wisbech hillbillies. I always wondered where Joe went, he was another funny character from the firm. I can’t think of another continental firm in Silvertown . As a lad of 16 I worked for a firm there called Macks Hauliers in 1948 which was evetually taken over by thr BRS, that was in Bradfield road and where I learned roping and sheeting, which I could still do today. I would be interrested to hear from Joe’s son if he comes back. Bill,