I may have related this story in a much earlier post but here go’s !
When I was a mate on the Brady Octopus in the mid/later 60’s we often met some of Ridings then large Leyland fleet usually on the A6 and A74 and there was one of their Drivers who drove a very smart LAD cabbed Beaver. Now this lad wore a white “T” shirt and bib and brace overalls ( couldn’t quite see the clogs) ! Now this Lad could see us coming towards him long before we saw him but we soon knew who it was as there was mass flashing of headlights and then as we got near he was out of the window up to his waist waving at us ! My mate eric used to say " That silly ■■■■ will end up on his arse on the road if he leans out any further" !! We did come across him in the Astra Café south of Carlisle IIRC and we found out his name was John Gornal again IIRC. He thought our outfit was “the dogs” , I can’t just recall if his Beaver had the 680 Power Plus the same as the Octopus though ! Happy Days Bewick. PS there was only one other Driver that could lean out of his cab as far as the Riding lad and that was “Big Harold” Troughton who drove a Dodge four wheeler for GW Taylor of Kendal !
Bewick:
I may have related this story in a much earlier post but here go’s !
When I was a mate on the Brady Octopus in the mid/later 60’s we often met some of Ridings then large Leyland fleet usually on the A6 and A74 and there was one of their Drivers who drove a very smart LAD cabbed Beaver. Now this lad wore a white “T” shirt and bib and brace overalls ( couldn’t quite see the clogs) ! Now this Lad could see us coming towards him long before we saw him but we soon knew who it was as there was mass flashing of headlights and then as we got near he was out of the window up to his waist waving at us ! My mate eric used to say " That silly [zb] will end up on his arse on the road if he leans out any further" !! We did come across him in the Astra Café south of Carlisle IIRC and we found out his name was John Gornal again IIRC. He thought our outfit was “the dogs” , I can’t just recall if his Beaver had the 680 Power Plus the same as the Octopus though ! Happy Days Bewick. PS there was only one other Driver that could lean out of his cab as far as the Riding lad and that was “Big Harold” Troughton who drove a Dodge four wheeler for GW Taylor of Kendal !
The same John Gornall who set up on his own in Longridge with three or four motors, red with a black band? If I remember rightly, he was related to Tom Riding by marriage.
There was also Keith Gornall, who I believe drove for Riding before setting up on his own - his own fleet wore colours very similar to Riding
240 Gardner:
Bewick:
I may have related this story in a much earlier post but here go’s !
When I was a mate on the Brady Octopus in the mid/later 60’s we often met some of Ridings then large Leyland fleet usually on the A6 and A74 and there was one of their Drivers who drove a very smart LAD cabbed Beaver. Now this lad wore a white “T” shirt and bib and brace overalls ( couldn’t quite see the clogs) ! Now this Lad could see us coming towards him long before we saw him but we soon knew who it was as there was mass flashing of headlights and then as we got near he was out of the window up to his waist waving at us ! My mate eric used to say " That silly [zb] will end up on his arse on the road if he leans out any further" !! We did come across him in the Astra Café south of Carlisle IIRC and we found out his name was John Gornal again IIRC. He thought our outfit was “the dogs” , I can’t just recall if his Beaver had the 680 Power Plus the same as the Octopus though ! Happy Days Bewick. PS there was only one other Driver that could lean out of his cab as far as the Riding lad and that was “Big Harold” Troughton who drove a Dodge four wheeler for GW Taylor of Kendal !The same John Gornall who set up on his own in Longridge with three or four motors, red with a black band? If I remember rightly, he was related to Tom Riding by marriage.
There was also Keith Gornall, who I believe drove for Riding before setting up on his own - his own fleet wore colours very similar to Riding
It may have been Keith Gornall as I believe the one am talking about used to run up to Scotland with the Riding Beaver and shunt in Ravenscraig Works during the week and I believe it was the firm that used the Riding colour scheme and also ran out of the Scottish steel works. Such a long time ago though ! Cheers Dennis.
It was big Keith hanging out of the cab John Gornall never drove for RIDINGs but is still driving today for his sister 
Lance Biscomb:
It was big Keith hanging out of the cab John Gornall never drove for RIDINGs but is still driving today for his sister
John is still driving?? He subbed for Pandoro in the late 70s, which is when I knew him
Lance Biscomb:
It was big Keith hanging out of the cab John Gornall never drove for RIDINGs but is still driving today for his sister
Thanks for the info Lance Cheers Dennis.
Just a quick question since I updated Tapatalk (Trucknet) on my IPhone I can’t blow up pictures where as before I just double clicked on the picture or post to read or view any ideas why ?
Ps I don’t own a computer or a laptop
Cheers Gary
windrush:
I have been at vintage shows for the past two weekends with a lad who worked for Ridings and he was telling me how they fitted the sleeper pods over a weekend to the Atky’s for other hauliers besides Ridings themselves.Pete.
Just come off the phone with Tom Riding and he tells me that customers vehicles that came in for a sleeper cab conversion arrived at 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon with the conversion completed by 2 o’clock on the Sunday afternoon after which time the customer collected the finished vehicle.
The reason for this was that the two men who actually did the job only did it at weekends for Tom Riding because one worked full time Monday to Friday at Atkinson’s building cabs and the other man worked Monday to Friday as a full time tinsmith at the Post Office maintenance unit at Bamber Bridge.
The materials that were used for the conversions were assembled in a kit form at Longridge and were always on site ready to be fitted.
The kit included the base metal frame work, a complete one piece roof, four new windows, bed and curtains.
moomooland:
windrush:
I have been at vintage shows for the past two weekends with a lad who worked for Ridings and he was telling me how they fitted the ‘dog kennel’ sleeper pods over a weekend to the Atky’s for other hauliers besides Ridings themselves.Pete.
Just come off the phone with Tom Riding and he tells me that customers vehicles that came in for a sleepier cab conversion arrived at 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon with the conversion completed by 2 o’clock on the Sunday afternoon after which time the customer collected the finished vehicle.
The reason for this was that the two men who actually did the job only did it at weekends for Tom Riding’ because one worked full time Monday to Friday at Atkinson’s building cabs and the other man worked Monday to Friday as a full time tinsmith at the Post Office maintenance unit at Bamber Bridge.
The materials that were used for the conversions were assembled in a kit form at Longridge and were always on site ready to fit this included a base metal frame work complete one piece roof, four new windows, bed and curtains.
I definitely remember collecting the Pandoro Venturer on a Sunday afternoon in 1981, but I’d mistakenly remembered it as having been there for 9/10 days. They had a little more work to do on that one, repositioning the vertical exhaust. I didn’t know that they were built by moonlighters!
240 Gardner:
moomooland:
windrush:
I have been at vintage shows for the past two weekends with a lad who worked for Ridings and he was telling me how they fitted the ‘dog kennel’ sleeper pods over a weekend to the Atky’s for other hauliers besides Ridings themselves.Pete.
Just come off the phone with Tom Riding and he tells me that customers vehicles that came in for a sleepier cab conversion arrived at 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon with the conversion completed by 2 o’clock on the Sunday afternoon after which time the customer collected the finished vehicle.
The reason for this was that the two men who actually did the job only did it at weekends for Tom Riding’ because one worked full time Monday to Friday at Atkinson’s building cabs and the other man worked Monday to Friday as a full time tinsmith at the Post Office maintenance unit at Bamber Bridge.
The materials that were used for the conversions were assembled in a kit form at Longridge and were always on site ready to fit this included a base metal frame work complete one piece roof, four new windows, bed and curtains.
I definitely remember collecting the Pandoro Venturer on a Sunday afternoon in 1981, but I’d mistakenly remembered it as having been there for 9/10 days. They had a little more work to do on that one, repositioning the vertical exhaust. I didn’t know that they were built by moonlighters!
I often wondered why Tom walked with a slight limp Chris ! It was all the “readies” in his righthand arse pocket !!! Cheers Dennis. 
That is exactly what the chap (John Wightman) told me Moomooland, he was involved in the dismantling and reassembling of items before and after the ‘cab men’ started and finished.
Pete.
pete smith:
Hi Paul,
Both took by Roger near Junction 12 M6, Pete
Great stuff Pete many thanks always good to see some never seen before on the road shots of Ridings motors. 
The top picture shows Seddon Atkinson 401 Series 4x2 tractor unit Reg No D100 XHG Fleet No 69 ‘Hotspur II’.
Powered by a Gardner 6LXDT 290 engine it registered new on the 1st of March 1987.
Loaded with steel plate from the British Steel Corporation plant at Motherwell it looks like the driver is rejoining the M6 South at Junction 12 after probably having his break at either the Sunset Cafe in Penkridge on the A449 or the Hollies on the A5.
The second picture is Iveco 4x2 tractor unit Reg No B723 CTU which was registered new in June 1985.
This was in fact a sub contract vehicle painted in full W & J Riding livery and owned by Tony Lee.
Loaded with steel plate from the British Steel Corporation plant at Motherwell it was driven by Mick Maudsley, who was married to the sister of Tony Lee at the time.
TONY LEA
HI, LANCE , CAN YOU SHED SOME LIGHT ,MANY YEARS AGO WE BOUGHT A ERF DAY CAB UNIT 240 GARDNER DAY CAB IN RIDINGS COULORS WITH A CROME BUMPER REG NO IIRC FFW /// K AS I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY ERFS ON THERE PICTURES , WE BOUGHT IT FROM BILL RATCLIFF , CHEERS BARRY
barrywaddy:
I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY ERFS ON THERE PICTUREs CHEERS BARRY
The ERF you are referring to Barry was not a Riding motor.
Apart from one solitary eight wheeler, back in 1954, the first ERF’s did not arrive in numbers until 1988.
There is an ERF section with plenty of pictures taken after 1988 on the Riding web site just click HERE
moomooland:
barrywaddy:
I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY ERFS ON THERE PICTUREs CHEERS BARRYThe ERF you are referring to Barry was not a Riding motor.
Apart from one solitary eight wheeler, back in 1954, the first ERF’s did not arrive in numbers until 1998.There is an ERF section with plenty of pictures taken after 1988 on the Riding web site just click HERE
Possibly from Norman Parker? His ERFs wore colours similar to Riding’s older dark blue. This was one of his newer ones:
A575LRE by chris.farnah, on Flickr
The ERF was Norman Parkers owner driver from Longridge he bought it of Keith Gornall do not know who had it from new I take it your taking about the A series if its the B series Norman had 3 from new 
