I can sympathise with you there Carl, I got so fed up with checkout operators and salestaff in general asking me for ID whenever I purchased glue or alchohol that in frustration I dyed my hair white and ‘bingo’ there were no more issues! 
Pete.
Carl Williams:
One of our ERFs in its after life I can’t remember who drove it when i was new
Here is a photo when the ERF was new taking our 1938 Bedford 30 cwt to London to take part in London-Brighton run
Hi Carl,
Hope you are keeping well,I was on the Isle of Wight the other day and saw this photo of one of the vans on the car ferry.
Photo credit to Roger Bartrum.
Regards
Richard
MaggieD:
Hi Carl,Hope you are keeping well,I was on the Isle of Wight the other day and saw this photo of one of the vans on the car ferry.
Photo credit to Roger BartrumRegards
Richard0
Hi Thank you Rchard
I am keeping well. It surprises me where these photos come from .
The photo is of a drop frame Taskers of Andover trailer with van body built by Marsden’s od Warrington. For many years it was our largest cubic capacity van as being drop frame it was very high inside with very high wheel boxes at the rear of the body. We operated it for about 15 years and I was trying to see the reg no to see which tractor unit was pulling it.
We had vans gong over to Isle of Wight almost every week but I was wondering what it was carrying as we were charged on vehicle length so it much have been a large load or we would have sent a rigid.
Thank you so much.Regards CARL
Hi Carl,
I have enlarged it and it looks like MPT 784 J which I think was one of the Mastiffs.
Regards
Richard
MaggieD:
Hi Carl,I have enlarged it and it looks like MPT 784 J which I think was one of the Mastiffs.
Regards
Richard
Hi Richard
You’re right
I’ve just come back from Spennymoor where I saw 2 blokes with a 3.5 ton GVW ‘Luton van’ (No Operators licence or regulations required) stuggling without a clue to carry a settee (as I would call it) or now a sofa into a so called charity shop (Had I been young today I might have claimed to self identify as a woman called Charity if I thought I could get on the bandwagon).
It is now getting onto 70 years since I was taught how to carry a settee and believe it or not make it feel lighter, but I had the benefit in those days of one or two that had worked for my Grandfather since the 1930s, when furniture was made of solid wood and extremely heavy, to pass down their experience much of which they had learnt from previous employees working since the 1920s.
When I was young I sadly had the experience of having to carry several Bed Settees that had survived since the 30s and not only were they big, clumsy and extremly heavy if they sprang open with their heavy duty springs, a finger could easily be at peril. Then again I had the misfortune of coming across 2 or 3 of the Bendix Electric washing machines of the 30s and anyone who thinks an automatic washing machine is heavy today its like compairing a load of lead next to a balloon
In 1950s & early 60s an average removal in towns like Spennymoor consisted of 2 fully furnished bedrooms double bed bedside cabinets Single wardrobe, double wardrobe, dressing table in each room (In some cases made by Kenmire Bros (Furniture manufactures in the town who used solid heavy wood)Often 2 x 3 piece suits, (2 chairs & settee) One in front room & one in back room squashed in with dining table & chairs & sideboard TV Radiogram etc often a piano and on average a dozen heavy tea chests filled with all & sundries Then the carpets (People took the carpets with them in those days0 and finally as you finished the bags of coal. Spennymoor was a mining community where miners got tons of coal given each month much more than they required so it was sold off to neighbours and no-one wanted to leave their cheap coal. Towards the end of the sixties we limited it to 3 bags until we could persuade people the coal dust was dirtying all their possessions .
There has been a lot of good things achieved in my lifetime but I’m sad to say not all for the better
I guess as a professional, the last thing you loaded & first off was the kettle??
That was what I was taught on day 1 
Here is a photo of MPT 393J the first of three BMC 350FGs we had built by Marsden, once again photo taken & loaned to us from ■■■■ Barratt-Atkins the Sales manager who orriginaly sold us the chassis cabs. At ■■■■’s suggestion we had the larger 3.8 litre BMC engine fitted and for once the three performed as exceptional vehicles. Not too good to drive, but reliable. The reason for the original choice was at 3.5ton gross they were exempt from operator’s licening. This photo must have been taken by ■■■■ when the van was new arriving back at Spennymoor directly from Marsden’s Warrington who built the body and painted. ■■■■ incorrectly thought that this was the van I drove over the Alps to Naples and back, but in fact that was its youngest sister, the thirds in the batch CUP305L
■■■■ Barratt_Atkin then working at Byres Dunn Turveys Sunderland who sold them to us advised us to fit the 3.8 diesel engine instead of standard
2.2litre as the larger engine was bullet proof and so was the crash gearbox He said he never had heard of anyone having to fit a replacement gearbox and although difficult for some to drive clutch problems also would be nil ,Also the cab doors some would claim about would last for ever with no hinge or door wear
I always thought they were a smart looking small van, with the advantage of being built on a prppper chassis as opposed to a van derived vehicle like the Ford Transit and most other 3.5 ton gross vehicles in those days
> Carl Williams:
> and so was the crash gearbox He said he never had heard of anyone having to fit a replacement gearbox and although difficult for some to drive clutch problems also would be nil
You’re right about the gearbox, a friend who worked for an agency once begged me to help him out on a job where he couldn’t get a driver and I reluctantly agreed.
When I got there they gave me an FG, IIRC it was a bigger body than in your pics, it was quite a long run, and the firm where not that friendly, but Hey Ho off we go.
What an absolutely horrible thing to drive, so I reckoned I could break it. But absolutely indestructible - I never used the clutch once, just a slight crunch and they slotted straight in.
Definitely a Gaffer’s motor 
whisperingsmith:
> Carl Williams:
> and so was the crash gearbox He said he never had heard of anyone having to fit a replacement gearbox and although difficult for some to drive clutch problems also would be nilYou’re right about the gearbox, a friend who worked for an agency once begged me to help him out on a job where he couldn’t get a driver and I reluctantly agreed.
When I got there they gave me an FG, IIRC it was a bigger body than in your pics, it was quite a long run, and the firm where not that friendly, but Hey Ho off we go.
What an absolutely horrible thing to drive, so I reckoned I could break it. But absolutely indestructible - I never used the clutch once, just a slight crunch and they slotted straight in.
Definitely a Gaffer’s motor
The biggest problem I found was 1st gear was extremely low, that you never needed to use it and was OK to pull away, even on a gradient in 2nd so in fact you only had a 3 speed useable gearbox.
WE had a 2 tonner 4.2 ton GVW (DPT100B reg 1964) that I drove a bit when I was 17 years old and I was travelling to Manchester over Standedge where I was overtaking slower HGVs where there was one of those overtaking lanes and it was coming to an end and I needed a bit more power as I was slowing down and I changed down to 3rd at about 32mph and you would have thought I’d thrown an anchor out as the speed suddenly dropped to 20, Fortunately I’m still here to tell the tale as I just managed to squeeze in before the lane changed
Working for a BMC dealership even the smaller synchromesh 'boxes fitted to the smaller FG’s and LD vans were pretty much trouble free as well. Not so the optional Borg-Warner auto 'boxes though as they had a nylon ‘gate’ that wore and drivers were inclined to ■■■■■■ the lever through the gate and encounter ‘park’ with disastorous results! 
The same four speed non synchro constant mesh (not crash) gearbox was also used in the larger FFK models up to 22 tons gtw and again they were pretty reliable.
Pete.
PHOTO TAKEM 1908 OF HIS NEW CHIP VAN by my great Grandfather with my 17 year old grandfather inside W.H.Williams who in 1919 funded by his gratuity from serving in 1st World War. founded our Removals and haulage business which followed by my dad also called W.H Williams and myself to eventually employ 250 employees based in Spennymoor with depots in Newcastle Sunderland London Sheffield and Wellingborough
Bedford 'O ’ Model. We had 6 'O 'models in our fleet. This one an OB (Passenger chassis) which stupidly my dad & grandfather had fitted with a standard cab instead have spending the extra and having an integral pantechnicon built. The chrome overiders on the front bumpers are the only indicators it was a bus chassis as they came with the chassis scuttle to which the standard cab was fitted Dad had these removed when it was repainted as he never was one for bling and wanted all vans to be as identical as possible
Registered in 1948 JUP was also in error painted the wrong colour by the body builders (Youngs Ford dealers at their Sunderland body shop) Our orriginal colours were stone & brown but in 1935 my dad then 14 got them changed to cream & brown, & my Grandfather who was colour blind got it painted Stone & brown in error
The engine side cover is removed as they appear to be dipping the oil & checking the battery which was located under the passenger seat I seem to remember
Orriginally JUP was built with a straight through floor which proved high at the rear, Ramps hadn’t been thought of those days so in about 1952 it had a major refit with the body dropped & wheel boxes put in. Dad wanted a drop well but this was going to be too expensive. The luton which was dropping due to Young’s poor body building was re enforced and it was re painted cream & brown. It looked a nice van then I remember. Our last Bedford again an OB (LPT 1950 reg) was replaced by a SB in 1961
The Bedford ‘OB’ was the first passenger chassis that became very popular for pantechnicon bodies because of the chassis length & led the way for the massively popular SB
As I said we had 6 O models 2 OBs First ) model was a 3 tonner in 1946 then this one then an artic with a trailer built by Eagle (with coachbuilt box drop frame box van body). In those days Bedford had no tractor unit chassis as such & so short wheelbase 5 ton tipper chassis was used . Two standard 5 tonners first new 1948 and exhintted in 1948 Commercial Motor show This had a ‘Livestock body’ which had rear adapted so livestock tailboard could be removed and tailboard & doors substituted so it couuld be used as a van (Which it was for 99% of its life with us) The reason for livestock was as a means of overiding supply of new vehicles as in 1947-8 a form of rationing was sill in place and livestock use was prioritised.
The final two were a 5 tonner with a cattle truck container which was used 100% on cattle and finally a 1950 OB panechnicon with integral cab.
Its interesting in these pre plating and testing days that Bedford had always said their vehicles were suitable for 50% overload and as the OBs were based on the 5 tonner chassis we had no hesitation to load the with 7 to 8 ton loads. So in 1952 when we got our first new SB, as it was based on what was then described as ‘The Big Bedford’ 7 tonner we often loaded it and its later sisters with 8 to 9 ton loads.
When we took the first of quite a few SBs we were operating for plating & testing we found they would be plated at 8.9 ton gvw. With true unladen weight of 4.2 ton that would have given a max load of just over 4 and half ton. By fitting four heavier duty springs (Which we did to all our SBs) got them up to 9.5 ton GVW giving us max load of 5 ad quater ton.
Had plating & testing have been about from straight after the war I can’t hep but wonder what pathetic loads our O models would have been restricted to Especially the old pre war 2 tonners we ran right through the war and well into the early 50s
DEANB:
Carl, One of yours in the background.0
Thank you so much for sending that photo, Dean. I wonder where it was taken. Perhaps someone might recognise.
Sadly I can’t make out the reg number, but it is either a Marsden or Vanplan body and has lost the rear cover of the Radcliffe tail lift ramp at the top, which no doubt would have been repaired when it arrived back at Spennymoor, as my dad would have spotted it as it passed his window. One of the ex-drivers was saying at a recent re-union, about my dad. He might have had bad sight, but if you had a scratch mark he would spot it, and want an explanation.
Full points to Frank Morgan our Yard Foreman who tried his best to catch each driver as they entered and chase them through our Wilcomatic vehicle wash, as it certainly is clean
Best wishes Carl
Just returned from quick shopping trip to Spennymoor and on the way back to Merrington the bus stopped in Middlestone Moor and driver quickly got out and ran across the road and appeared to move something. I wondered if he’d seen a dead dog or cat and moved it into the gutter, but on getting back into the bus he explained that on the way down to Spennymoor legendsoor he had dropped a pound coin out of the window & stopped to retrieve it.
I was thinking he’s got good sight & surprised it hadn’t been picked up and it reminded me of something from my past.
Way back in the late 60s or early 70s before we moved our business from Marmaduke Street to Green Lane Ind Est when everyone was paid cash and before our insurers insisted we used Securicor to collect the cash on a Friday morning from Barclays Bank I used to with the assistance of one of the girls from the office collect with my car.
As usual I would pull up at the pavement adjacent to the door of Number 16 Marmaduke Street (The house we used as our office) and carry the cash the short distance to the desk where we used to count out the cash and put it in the pay packets.
In those days my dad didnt deal in silver or copper but paid to the nearest 10 shillings (10 shilling notes still used) and the bank made up the money to our request which we had to give them by 2.PM the Thurs afternoon. £20 pound notes were in £2500 lots in sealed perspex envelopes and so on , and give to us in the large blue bank bags.
As we were counting the money out we ran out of £20 notes and checking we found we were £2500 short. I rang the bank and the assured me they had given us the right amount and said if we took all the money back up to them we could check together.
I was just going out of the door when I saw in the gutter a perspex envelope containing £2500 in £20 notes. I had accidently dropped it out of the blue bank bag as I was getting out of the car.
What a fool I felt telling the bank I had found it and how lucky I had been. Marmaduke Street was not a busy street and I think in those days nearly everyone was honest, but seeing £2500 in the gutter would have tempted a saint.
We learnt our lesson and after that we always counted the full amount of money first before allocating it.
TK by Bedford probably if not the best selling & most produced commercial vehicle ever certainly up in the top ten. We had them in all shapes and sizes Box vans Luton vans Flats,breakdown and even a tipper and of course umpteen pantechnicons mostly built by Marsden’s of Warrington like the one in the photo below. based on the TK chassis scuttle, including a few (about 20 built by Vanplan)
We had 4 cylinder 220, 300, 330, 380, 466 & 500 cu in engines. All apart from 220 & 380 were a success with all the TK pantechnicons we ran lasting 13-14 year lives with 700,000 mile plus on the clocks before we sold them into second lives. Most engines achieved 300,000 miles and we then fitted new factory supplied short motors that usually achieved similar mileages. And the drivers loved the TK pantechnicons which did not suffer from the cramped TK cabs.
The breakdown in the photo was a new Bedford short wheelbase tipper chassis with body built & lifting gear as a purpose built breakdown by Robsons of Consett in 1964. It towed everything including on more than one occasion artics fully loaded with 20 ton on their back. Not bad for a humble 330 cu in diesel engine. If we had a breakdown which was loaded we sent it to tow including multi drop loads until they were empty & then back home. It had a new short motor fitted at just over 300,000 miles, & when you imagine what it had pulled home it was probably the hardest of all miles. It also had a new cab fitted when it was about 18 years old. As I said it never was registered taxed or tested running its whole life on trade plates, but like all our vehicles it was well maintained. However I don’t think today we would have got away with such a light weight breakdown. Pulling AEC Leyland BMC Ford Dodge Guy Atkinson Mercedes Magnius, DAF Seddon & of course Bedfords. But the little Bedfords favourites which it pulled more than any others were Leyland Lynx, Boxer, Laird and of Course Dodge.
Carl Williams:
TK by Bedford probably if not the best selling & most produced commercial vehicle ever certainly up in the top ten. We had them in all shapes and sizes Box vans Luton vans Flats,breakdown and even a tipper and of course umpteen pantechnicons mostly built by Marsden’s of Warrington like the one in the photo below. based on the TK chassis scuttle, including a few (about 20 built by Vanplan)
We had 4 cylinder 220, 300, 330, 380, 466 & 500 cu in engines. All apart from 220 & 380 were a success with all the TK pantechnicons we ran lasting 13-14 year lives with 700,000 mile plus on the clocks before we sold them into second lives. Most engines achieved 300,000 miles and we then fitted new factory supplied short motors that usually achieved similar mileages. And the drivers loved the TK pantechnicons which did not suffer from the cramped TK cabs.
The breakdown in the photo was a new Bedford short wheelbase tipper chassis with body built & lifting gear as a purpose built breakdown by Robsons of Consett in 1964. It towed everything including on more than one occasion artics fully loaded with 20 ton on their back. Not bad for a humble 330 cu in diesel engine. If we had a breakdown which was loaded we sent it to tow including multi drop loads until they were empty & then back home. It had a new short motor fitted at just over 300,000 miles, & when you imagine what it had pulled home it was probably the hardest of all miles. It also had a new cab fitted when it was about 18 years old. As I said it never was registered taxed or tested running its whole life on trade plates, but like all our vehicles it was well maintained. However I don’t think today we would have got away with such a light weight breakdown. Pulling AEC Leyland BMC Ford Dodge Guy Atkinson Mercedes Magnius, DAF Seddon & of course Bedfords. But the little Bedfords favourites which it pulled more than any others were Leyland Lynx, Boxer, Laird and of Course Dodge.
Wasnt above 300 6 cylinder engines?