Ucc from brentwood

Just out of interest how many depots did Union Cartage have? I worked for a BMC dealer in Reading back in the 60’s and we used to repair the trucks based at Brigham Road in the town. There was a couple of BMC 701 seven tonner’s and a BMC WEK 100 five tonner which was later swapped for an elderly ERF with a coachbuilt cab and five pot Gardner. We also repaired Weddels lorries, I never knew that they were part of the same outfit?

Pete.

No Bill it was Joe LInwood,not Kingswood, it was Kingswood transport he said he worked for in Silvertown,don’t know why he emailed me and not put a post on this site,I have lost his email address,so he might send one on to us.As for the depot in Reading the only place I went to was Caversham Cold stores,Bill might know more than me. The only depots I can remember where Poplar,Brentwood,Liverpool but I think that was Ritsons.Then there was Van de mere in Belgium,Weddle was Vestys part of the Union Cold store,who had Union Cold stores in Italy and Portugal and other places. I remember before we came into Europe, I was given the 1st eu permit still got it somewhere to be able to load any where in the eu and deliver and pick up again for 3 months, I picked up in Boston Frans Butterla,on to belgium,unload reloaded to Italy unload reload to Germany,unload reload to Italy,but then got a phone call from one of the Union men to come home, I think they thought I was up to something,ha,ha. Bill might remember. Terry

That’s right Terry, UCC in Reading were based at Caversham Cold Store in Brigham Road. I just wondered where else they had depots as I cannot recall seeing any of their lorries when I moved to Derbyshire? I guess that stuff was fetched down to Reading from London and then the three BMC’s would distribute it around the region? I remember the Union tractors running around London in the 1960’s when I used to go with my father to Silvertown and Barking.

Pete.

Hi Windrush, When I joined Union Cartage in 1956 as a tractor driver based in Bow Common Lane Poplar, we had depots in Black prince rd Lambeth which had stables and a workshop fron the old horse and trailer days. Then there was a depot in Lambeth Bridge rd where the journey work rigids were based ie the 700 series. There were other depots at Reading , Southampton , Manchester and Liverpool We were part of the Vestey Union International organisation which had ranches ,abbatoirs cold stores blue star shipping line, oxo ,fray bentos, dewhurst butchers and even the stocking cloths that the meat was covered in were vestey owned . they also had Weddels wholesale meat depots all over, incidentally one was under the stands of Man uniteds ground. Bill, S. P<S< Those were the days when a young Terence Keating was running to school with the arse out if his trousers, also for the wisbech yokel, it was a typing error , I meant JOE LINGWOOD and have never heard of Kingswood transport.
Also Windrush, youre webname was the english troopship which was captured from the germans at the end of the war plus I was evacuated to Long Eaton in 1942 and had many happy times fishing the Trent. Bill

william sparrow:
(snip)
Also Windrush, youre webname was the english troopship which was captured from the germans at the end of the war plus I was evacuated to Long Eaton in 1942 and had many happy times fishing the Trent. Bill

Hi Bill, I know about the Windrush as I sailed to England on it!! One of the reasons for my username. :wink: Thank’s for the information by the way, there were a lot of companies involved with UCC it seems.

Pete.

Thanks for the kind words from mr sparrow and the other member about my grandfather les beal he lived in abbey wood after being made redundant he got a job with a small firm called ram repairs they had 2 f88 one a g 290 green and red with baker britt on the side grandads wa san705l they are quite sort after classic truck now im told . After an accident the old fella gave jp his licence and retired to cornwall he delivered the papers in an old van and drove a roller for weddings etc he died in about 1999 on his birthday of a heart attack i did manage to get him in the cab of my father in laws renault turboliner he could not believe the changes in the modern wagons from the stuff you guys drove and regaled us of tales of taking 2 days to get to cornwall .does anyone now what scania he drove fleet no reg etc i would love to now …ps my aunt tells me she has an old ucc licence and or id card will see if i can get it on site

Hi z1000, I can’t remember Les’s exact wagon number but feel that it would have been anything from 807 to 810, mine was 805 which turned over on the FE5 breaking all the holding down chains on one side with 19 tons of pork on, and was a write off on return to Poplar. the ID card that you mention was probably a meat drivers registration card wich we all had. On the continental drivers last day, Midge Galbraith and I were in with the manager Mike Norris negotiating a redundancy package for the office staff, our steward Sam McAuley being in hospital, Norris looked out of his window and saw rhe continental men returning from the pub up the road and said : Never again in my life time will I have the pleasure of working with such a great bunch of men: that showed the comradeship that existed throughout the whole workforce. I did hear that later Mike Norris took his life, but why was unknown. If I ever get to Know how to put photo’s on the site, I have a couple of 805 on it’s side in the ship. Regards, Bill S.

Cheers bill it would be great to see the photos i do also remember grandad talking about a ship called the hauser or something like that the slides i have shoe the wagons on a mountain road as i remember i also remember the old fella talking about someone hitting a house and about being towed in by a fitter who drove like mad asif he wasent towing just driving .it wasent till recently i realised that the scanias were day cabs how did u sleep in them and live in them thay must have been cramped

Hi z1000, the truck which hit the house in Bridge Kent was driven by Tim Christopher who it appeared had a heart attack on his way to Dover with a trailer load that was going over unaccompanied during the night. After the accident happened when the wagon was right into the demolished terrace house, they found a young lady ,still in her bed on top of the trailer, but not hurt. as with the normal practice on UCC Tim had a name used by all, it was dogsxxt , due to him being a dog race betting man. You are also correct that the Scanias were day cabs which our general manager at that time decided that they were paying the continental drivers sufficient to use hotels. However some men found ways to get a nights sleep as they were, but later a bunk was fitted behind the seats, which weren’t too bad. When UCC began to think of going continental they tried to order Scammels with a Rolls Royce engine, but they were told that there would be a two year wait, so they opted for Scanias and we had the first six wheel units that enterred the country, in fact mine 805 was brought down from Scotland. Regards, Bill. S.

Good knowledge Bill, the load to Dover was for the Americans,I was with Dogxxt shunting that night,as the load came in late we were asked for one of us to take it to Dover,he decided to get some overtime in,during the night he was eating an apple and complaining about itergestion,I thought it was baby in a cot on top of the trailer but I might be wrong. Another subject,there is a Union Cartage Company in America,it is anything to do with Vesty?

Hi Tel, I dont think so but who knows the vesteys had their grubby mits into anything that paid. Mac was telling me a story that he had to pick up Xmas meat from Weddels at romford for the staffthe day after he was set to join our ranks of unemployed. He was waiting in the depot when a young Vestey came up and said that as he was no longer employed by the company he should get out of the shop or he would throw him out. Mac asked him outside and say it again without success. he then went back to the yard and said that they should collect the meat themselves. typical of the family. Bill.

Thanks for the info im going to my aunts in kent on sat will look for photos ps i think you should write a book.

Hi z1000, UCC drivers were the best bunch of blokes that I ever worked with. If written , a book would contain some of the funniest antics of the men there which caused many a laugh. One such incidemt when five of us were sent to pick up Belgian butter from Vienna, after being loaded and back through the border of Salsburg/Munich we all five pulled into a motorway services. There was Reg Revell, Bill Staples ,John Sadler, I think Les Beal and myself. Four of us parked up OK but Reg Revell decided to do another swing round to get closer to us. There happened to be a nice racing Yatch on a trailer and in the process of turning the front o/s of Reg’s trailer caught and knocked a bloody great hole in the hull of the boat. Now the owner was a little cross as he had been half a day getting through the border with the boat which he was intending to have a holiday on the Black Sea having boat races. Whist Reg was passing over his insurance details, Bill Staples ,on his first continental trip had learned some German, two words in fact. So whilst the Austrian owner was getting angrier and redder in the face, Bill Staples kept butting in with “IST GUD” and the Austrian was saying that it wasn’t ■■■■■■ good and Bill should sling his hook. But to no avail because Bill didn’t understand so then came a little pushing and shoving and the redface had turned purple. The other three of us were rolling around on the floor with laughter and it seemed to go on for about half an hour. We felt sorry for the boat owner, but the situation was hilarius. Regard Bill.

Greetings,All. Bill.we agree.They were all characters in their own way and all had a well developed sense of humour.Filthy Luker was the one who dished out nicknames.He had it about right.Great blokes to go up the road with too.Do you remember the boat at Immingham loaded with frozen peas.24 of us up there for a week loading for Lowestoft.Dave,me and Jim Bellman were the last ones home.We stayed in Cleethorpe and had some great times in the local pubs. Gioing up on the A1 it looked like a convoy.You’ll never meet another crew like that again.Halcyon days.All the best to you all and hopefully z1000 can find some photos and put them on. Regards,Ted and Dave. :smiling_imp:

I now that my grandfather had agreat sence of humour usualy at someone elses exspence but he always taught all us granchildren right from wrong and to stickup for what was right and most of all to go to work no matter what but i do think he was shaped buy people he new and worked with it must have been a great time i will look for the photos as promised and get them posted .ps you were right bill my grandmother was of french decent and ive also had the cheese and wine lecture… all the best z1000

william 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,

Hi bill when my dad left Ucc he worked for rooksdale international he called them crooksdale for some reason there yard was at canning town he mainly went to Italy with them I used to go with him a lot then. I remember going in the office in Brentwood as a kid looking at a large model showing the positions of units around the country with flags on I think.like all of you who worked for Ucc my dad always had fond memory’s from those days driving for Ucc shame I didn’t find this site while he was alive.all the best laurence

Hi Laurence, your father Joe was a character who again was always good for a laugh. If you saw him coming you started to giggle because you just knew that he had another funny story to tell . And again liked by all who worked there. I was a Bow common lane tractor driver when John Cooper took over management of the firm and he decided to close Lambeth ,Black prince and BCL depots and put us all in the ex BRS depot in Yabsley Street Pooplar. He then decided to go continental and asked for volunteers, eventually choosing six men, they were Sam Mc Auley , Charlie Wise Reg Simpkins, Eddiie Curtis, Who was then held back due to failing a diabetes check at County Hall, Reg Revell, Myself and George Curtis. When going in for our interviews we had to point out on a map where different countries were and also informed that we could eventually go to Australia.Then after a few weeks others saw how well we were doing and more people applied. At first we were issued with racing drivers overalls complete with logos which we had to cut off. After Mr Cooper was sacked and Mike Norris came in to close us down we lasted about two years and then following redundancy I worked as night foreman at Blackwall Tunnel for 11 years until Maggie Thatcher got rid of the GLC. Best Regards, Nice to hear from you, Bill, S.

Hello,Bill. I didn’t know that Cooper was sacked.He was instrumental in turning the firm round.I.e.,look at the crap fleet we were going up the road with,5 pot Gardners,Guy Invincible Gardner 150’s and worst of all the 4 speed Comets,364 and 365!
When the Big J fleet came in it was a sea change.A bit of speed and heaters too.Would you know why he got the sack? He seemed a decent enough bloke to me. All the best.Regards,Ted. :unamused:

Hi Ted and Dave, it all came apart when John Cooper had the open day at Warley, He was telling one of his jokes to a crowd of guests and the chap from the Banchory abbatoir kept bursting in the room looking for Coopers secretary who he fancied, but she was in hiding. John said to the man “Who are you Sir” and the Jock said “I’m me , Who are you”. John said " I am the general Manager , and if you dont get off the premises , I am a black belt and will throw you out". Apparently the Scot supplied the Vestey estate in Scotland with meat, so he complained of his treatment at Warley. The Vesteys immediately told Cooper he was sacked and to leave his company supplied Jaguar at the gate of Warley and dont go in, because he was fired without explanation. Ted Cook then told Cooper that the men would strike to support him, but Cooper refused this assistance. His 2IC was sacked as well. Incidentally, the rep at the opening for our insurers drove one of our Scanias and crashed it. Hence Norris coming in from Blue Star Lines to shut us down. Regards , Bill.

Hello,Bill. Thanks for that.It doesn’t say a lot for the Vesty family.Shame too,as JC was a decent man in my book. Regards,Ted and Dave. :cry: