this firm in bristol gave me my first lorry driving job, back in 1966,with no exprience, except driving a pick up truck doing local deliveries for the company that they did most of their work for,a real family firm,when i changed jobs about 4 years later and moved to london,i saw their motors on the m25 now and again,but not for quite a while now,anybody out there know if they are still around? 
I am sure that someone will correct me on this but W. Smiths, with their old ERFs and Big Js finished, must be all of 20 years ago.
thanks for that wessexman,when i started on smiths it was TKs,KMs,and my old LAD Dodge all pulling single axle or 4 in line trailers,and working from the old colour works at wick (lovely job) but it paid well for the time. 
Hi Trunkera 1,
Here is a photo of your old yard that I took this morning. The old house has been replaced by the new one and the transport yard is also houses. The site is called Old Smiths Yard. The Blue Bowl pub is still across the road.
44 years on tankers what is a rope.
many thanks for the brilliant picture,the house to the left of the new one is where one of the bosses,rex lived,nice bloke,and the old cottage is where charlie used to be,and also a small rest room /office where we used to do our paperwork.
the yard at the back looks bigger than i remember,especially on a saturday morning,filling up and trying to get parked in some sort of order to get out again!! we didnt use this entrance back then it was just to park your car, with no access to yard for wagons,the entrance was off a turning a couple of doors to the left of your pic,very tight turn in between the houses with only about 2ft each side! thinking back i bet the neighbors loved us at 4 in the morning!! 
thanks again i just remembered there was also room in the yard for a workshop and storage area for coal,cause they did house coal as well…trunkera1
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
ps,were they still there with the erf,s and 40" trailers,that must have been a nightmare!! 
I think they were there to the end. Here is a picture of one of the old warhorses.
thanks for the photo, numbum, 40 odd years since i left smiths and i still remember the phone no, 673582,it must be all those transfer charge calls,still at least they hadnt turned your cab into a phone box back then!
the piccy of the big j reminds me of the one i had on gl bakers at oldland common, just after i left smihs,when their yard was at THE CLAMP ,kgf946k with a ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ i feel a bad back coming on! just thinking about that motor! 
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots.
Hi Trunkera1
I used to work for Smithys … 181 High Street Hanham Bristol. opposit the Blue Bowl…
Rex is still about as far as i know but is in poor health think he has dementia now… I saw his son Jeramy just befor xmas this year he was telling me all this.
Charles passed away some time ago and Jerry was left the house he lived in. Jerry now lives in it
Terry the fitter died a few years back he was in his 50’s. He had the big C when they closed he went and worked at the testing station down at AshtonGate So i doubt if you knew him.
Dont know what happend to Gordon Or Taffy but Dennis died before I left some 20yrs ago again he suffered with Cancer, when they found out he was only given 6 months an i’m sure he did ony last that amount of time.
They moved from the GUY to ERF they had 2 A series an then had B series. thats what I had XEX567S as you went in the yard a work shop was built in the top right courner with a pit.
The office hadnt changed one bit. as you walked past the front of the old cottage you trned left to go in the back door where you had the drivers tea room and loos with a shower yeah we had a shower put in lol,
As you entered the tea room turned left and down the step into the office… Behind Rex’s desk was a door that took you to the old bedroom that was used to store all sorts of stuff…
Alan Couzens joined from Bryan Brothers i think. He became transport manager, when they shut up shop he went and worked for Chris Baber who as far as i know are still going running out of Iron Mould Lan just outside Keynsham, Alan retiered last year might have to go see if Chris is still going as I know his boy Hartly was running the show with him.
I had a picture of me infront of the truck but since I’ve got divorced etc it been lost
be nice if anyone else has any pictures I’ll go see Jerry and ask if he has any that i can post he was working on Maritime out of Avonmouth just before Xmas
Keep in touch fella
Nick
hi nick2008,your the first person ive spoke to who worked for smiths since i left in about1970,i really enjoyed my time there, and often wished id stayed,but you know how it is when your 25ish,you think the grass is always greener!
i remember taffy well,used to hate haveing nights out with him ,never got a wink of sleep,always up to something!! reeder +dennis(rip)tony cardoza,the fastest bloke i knew at the time,i took over his motor when he left,bedford tk with the 400 engine +2speed axle,GDD794D,then i found out why he was so quick! 
compared to the lad dodge i had before!
shame about rex,he s a really nice bloke, i remember charlies dad,he used to come round the yard ,we asked him one day if we could have indicaters fitted,he looked shocked and said “youll be like bloody xmas trees going up the road”,we did get them in the end! 
still they were good times…trunkera1
Yeah was a real small outfit , your right it was Gordy Reed … Taff would come in on a monday with a tupperwear box about 10in square full to the brim with welsh cakes his Mrs would make on the weekend, she found out and would send extra for the rest of us
Pulling waste paper out of severnside waste paper was the usual work and then Steel from Pring and St hill in Bedminster now gone 
…
Rope and sheet was the majority of the work even till the end with only about 4 curtainsiders. We had a 30ft flat with twist locks and a few 40’s with them too
Loading 2 up pallets of mt glass Bottles out of Savilles in Brislington was fun 16ft in the air pushing ur sheets out then gettin the fork lift to lift you down again H&S would have a hissy fit today
Always a pleasure to work for them I was never asked or expected to run bent but as you dd what you did to get the job done not that you were ever pushed to get anywhere if you were gonna be late that was it you were late …
Many a night in the Riverside just outside Colnbrook or in the layby just outside Sittingbourne heading into Kemsly mill…
Ray had a ERF s we all did but he had the Jennings sleeper cab as did Dennis. When they had the newer old x reg’s they turned them down and stayed with the low roof’ed cabs well what I had was luxury even better when I got hold of a second bunk to go in we made up a shelf that fitted inline with the sun visor so we could fit the CB there also had the gas bottle mounted over the spare wheel with a pipe running up through the front of the cab to my cooker and real Luxury was when we had night heaters fitted we were the dogs nuts
hi nick,is my memory correct,? was it dennis(rip) who had blocks on his pedals! or was it just the KM he needed them for?
when o/night in liverpool,which was usually twice a week we used to lodge in the inglewood hotel,i remember taffy was up to his usual tricks one night,and fell on his bed,which promptly collapsed,and got the lot of us barred for the night!!, we had to spend the night in the motors, all was forgiven after we offered to pay for the bed
talking of gordon,he had the only albion in the yard,the lad cab with the long doors,i took it out once when he was off,after the TK it was like looking through a letter-box !
like i said ,back then all our work was from the colour works at wick,smihs had a shunter there, but i cant remember his name 
and we all found our own work back,usually silver roadways,j+h ,or smiths of eccles,but i tried to avoid them if i could,cause it was allways about 10 drops and rope +sheet each time! 
…trunkera1
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
talking of the colour works at wick,smithys wouldnt do scotch at that time,so all the work was put to clearing house,i got a feeling it might have been western frieghts,but im not sure,i remember seeing quite a few scotch 8 wheelers there,so any of you scotch boys from the 60s remember the place? put it this way,once youd been there you never forgot the experience!
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
Hello all, would love to say I was a real driver but 5 years multidrop with TNT and Lynx probably rules me out!! Came across this site accidentally while trying to find some old transport pics from Bristol. I live and work in France renovating houses for a living and currently have my parents here with me. My dad is Gordon (mad Gordon) reid who worked for W Smith and Son for over 40 years. Retired now obviously he still loves to talk about and remember the old days so anyone out there from that era please get in touch I will be glad to act as a messenger as my dad has no computer access and still thinks the old days are the best, he might be right!! I used to love being in the cab as a kid and still have fond and vivid memories of those times and certain places, like the cafe on the bomb site opposite St Mary Redcliffe, the ochre works at Wick and the butter factory at Whitby Road,surely I must only be 12 not 52? Regards to all Steve Reid.
Hello Steve,
Welcome to the site.The cafe opposite the church was Lews. I used to work near it when I first left school and had the daily job of going round there with a cardboard box to collect the chips for my workmates. At dinner time the place was full of the women who worked at Edwards Ringer & Biggs ■■■ factory that was just down the road, a bit scary at that age.
When I started on transport in 1965 the first stop was always the cafe in Midland Road, I think it was John,s. Ask your father what he can remember of the Bristol transport scene and let us locals know as well.
Cheers Phil.