Aka, British Road Services.
I worked for them until 1992 and took volantary redundancy. Like so many old jobs, when you leave you lose touch with alot of good guys and wonder where they went!
Used to have a depot in Cardiff road, Reading but the former workshop and yard is now occupied by QTR Transport.
As there was no UK lorry manufacturing left a front company that existed purely as a repository for the crap they produced became obsolete.
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members… 
BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
i did a bit for them at Melton too, lovely Volvo F86!
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
I think the rental side has something to do with Renault now. Most BRS depots are located within Renault dealers. I know they used to be located in Volvo dealers though.
damoq:
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
I think the rental side has something to do with Renault now. Most BRS depots are located within Renault dealers. I know they used to be located in Volvo dealers though.
Who owns Renault■■?
Wheel Nut:
damoq:
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
I think the rental side has something to do with Renault now. Most BRS depots are located within Renault dealers. I know they used to be located in Volvo dealers though.
Who owns Renault■■?
I know Volvo own Renault Trucks. But its the Renault side of things which BRS are more involved in now.
brs.co.uk/renault-trucksvolvo-group.aspx
I worked at bromford lane Birmingham on the ford contract early 90’s nice job really And then various contracts with (zb) motors till exel took most work
I started with BRS in 77,it later changed to Exel, then DHL, 35 yrs service next month. Sounds boring doing a job that long but in fact as its all contract work it has been varied, driving tauts ,tippers ,tankers , draw bars, box’s etc. Money ain’t brilliant but then the work ain’t hard (no one phoning up or pushing) holidays and pension is good , It will see me out !
Against union advice I bought shares in it when the goverment sold it off, it paid for my house and a decent car,so all in all I’ve been lucky and have no regrets sticking with it, I’ll have to think about hanging my boots up soon though as the job gets more and more tangled up with stupid laws , reg’s and big brother hounding you for trying to earn a living.
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
Ive seen a one or two Pickfords wagons about fairly recently.
I remember that BRS used to be part of the NFC as did Lynx (what a shower they were 
) and Excel. We used to know the latter as ‘Excell Logistics’. Ive read the Wiki pages on all this but it seems abit confusing from what i gleaned from it.
Apart from the truck rental side of which we (ironicly) had very little to do with, we worked on loads of differant companys motors and trailers back then. Everyone seemed to get on really well right across the board, non of the back stabbing and sniping you get now, was a great laugh back in those days. You could even crack a joke with the VOSA test station guys, imagine that! How things have changed.
Trev_H:
I started with BRS in 77,it later changed to Exel, then DHL, 35 yrs service next month. Sounds boring doing a job that long but in fact as its all contract work it has been varied, driving tauts ,tippers ,tankers , draw bars, box’s etc. Money ain’t brilliant but then the work ain’t hard (no one phoning up or pushing) holidays and pension is good , It will see me out !
Against union advice I bought shares in it when the goverment sold it off, it paid for my house and a decent car,so all in all I’ve been lucky and have no regrets sticking with it, I’ll have to think about hanging my boots up soon though as the job gets more and more tangled up with stupid laws , reg’s and big brother hounding you for trying to earn a living.
Congrats on the long service, Trev! You must have seen some changes over the years.
Theres a guy where i work now who started in 74 (rail industry) but he’s slowly going off his trolley (unbeknown to him)
He’s a ■■■■■■■ fruit cake.
Gembo:
gnasty gnome:
OP will know most of this, but for the benefit of younger members…BRS Truck Rental still exists, ISTR it’s owned by Volvo. Couple of our bulkers are leased from them.
Pickfords is still going; they were sold off in 2002.
BRS itself was re-named NFC (National Freight Consortium) and privatised by way of employee shareholdings in 1982. Subsequently re-named Exel and now owned by DHL. The only recognisable sub-division name still in general use from BRS/Exel days is Trade Team.
I used to do a fair bit for BRS back in the 80’s when I lived in Nottingham, both at Carrington Street depot and at Langley Mill. Mainly on the Guinness contract; proper old-fashioned handball job that was, especially if you drew the short straw and did Home Brewery in the morning and Shipstone’s in the afternoon. On a busy day that meant handballing 1200 Guinness barrels, 600 full and 600 returned empties. Spent a couple of months at Melton Mowbray as well, when BRS ran the Pedigree Petfoods contract. Good firm to work for in those days
Ive seen a one or two Pickfords wagons about fairly recently.
I remember that BRS used to be part of the NFC as did Lynx (what a shower they were
Apart from the truck rental side of which we (ironicly) had very little to do with, we worked on loads of differant companys motors and trailers back then. Everyone seemed to get on really well right across the board, non of the back stabbing and sniping you get now, was a great laugh back in those days. You could even crack a joke with the VOSA test station guys, imagine that!
Indeed they were, but I actually enjoyed working for them. Sometimes wish they were still on the go! 
I started with them in 74 as well Went to Nottingham depot where they had the training school,spent two weeks there to get my little black book with HGV 1 ticket in it then eturned to Wisbech to start work.
Started with BRS In the early 70’s , learned some of the ropes back then, good job, on a rigid then a scarab , what a great invention then. Nobody chasing you up, just get on with the job, nowadays the exact opposite
There was also BRS Taskforce, which was basically their own in house agency. You where provided with uniform, holidays etc, and just placed about on various Exel contracts, often for years almost like a permanent employee. Most if not all of the Lynx delivery vans/lorries upto 7.5 tonne where operated by franchisees from what i can remember. Also BRS truck rental had a wierd set up, apart from truck rentals they where also a logistics provider. They did at one time provide the vehicles and drivers for B&Q on the home delivery /site delivery side. And amongst others they ran the distribution for the now defunct TJ Hughes.
BRS LIMITED
HOUGHTON HALL BUSINESS PARK
PORZ AVENUE
DUNSTABLE
BEDFORDSHIRE
LU5 5FT
Company No. 03491731
limeyphil:
BRS LIMITED
HOUGHTON HALL BUSINESS PARK
PORZ AVENUE
DUNSTABLE
BEDFORDSHIRE
LU5 5FT
Company No. 03491731
Thats not British Road Services referred to in the OP’s post. Your company seems to have been incorporated in 1998, formerley known as ASSURIS LIMITED.
Mike-C:
limeyphil:
BRS LIMITED
HOUGHTON HALL BUSINESS PARK
PORZ AVENUE
DUNSTABLE
BEDFORDSHIRE
LU5 5FT
Company No. 03491731Thats not British Road Services referred to in the OP’s post. Your company seems to have been incorporated in 1998, formerley known as ASSURIS LIMITED.
Coincidently the headquarters of Renault trucks in the UK ! Owned by Volvo? who bought the rights to the BRS name and logo !