Back again ?
Just re-read thread – Pete Roffe was never a fitter at A.C.Biggs but if I recall correctly was a time served apprentice at Frederick Rays !!
Looked up some old diaries etc – the Turbo Stars running out of Bedford, were they run by an Italian & at one time on Isle of Man number plates…?
For anyone who cannot recall Rays they were in Stanbridge Rd next to what was to become Liptons Tea. All their work I believe was out of Vauxhalls Luton, they also had a holding depot for transfer work in Grovebury Rd and it was run by one of the hardest men you could hope to meet - Dave Warren !!
H.T.S. was that a Leighton Buzzard company ?
Going back to E.C.E. - one of the drivers there was Steve Pearce now owner along with Jenny of S&J Pearce Leighton Buzzard !!
I’ve looked back through a few old diaries & notes – whatever happened to Pool Transport in Leighton Buzzard ? Also operated Pool Van Hire I think !
I believe Kevin Pool died at a very young age (■■) but did his father (Eddie ■■) carry on with it !! Remember them when I was loading in Lipton Tea as well as Peter Roff truck !!
Big Leggy…
Bloody Hell son, slow down with the questions, i hav forgotten all about this thread…
Lets see what can answer for you…
I’ve looked back through a few old diaries & notes – whatever happened to Pool Transport in Leighton Buzzard ? Also operated Pool Van Hire I think !
I believe Kevin Pool died at a very young age (■■) but did his father (Eddie ■■) carry on with it
Pool Transport sold up to DND in about 1998, i was working for Hill Hire at the time and remember the transition quite well. Some of the staff transferred accross, but didnt last that long IIRC.
Eddie passed on a few years back, i was i Fenny Lock with Chris ■■? who was an Ex Pool driver when he got a call saying Eddie had died…
Just re-read thread – Pete Roffe was never a fitter at A.C.Biggs but if I recall correctly was a time served apprentice at Frederick Rays !!
Looked up some old diaries etc – the Turbo Stars running out of Bedford, were they run by an Italian & at one time on Isle of Man number plates…?
For anyone who cannot recall Rays they were in Stanbridge Rd next to what was to become Liptons Tea. All their work I believe was out of Vauxhalls Luton, they also had a holding depot for transfer work in Grovebury Rd and it was run by one of the hardest men you could hope to meet - Dave Warren !!
H.T.S. was that a Leighton Buzzard company ?
Going back to E.C.E. - one of the drivers there was Steve Pearce now owner along with Jenny of S&J Pearce Leighton Buzzard !!
Those TurboStars, they were purple IIRC, and used to do Bulgaria too…There is a reason i know this, but sadly for legal reasons i cannot post it, incase the story is not 100% accurate.
I didnt realise Steve peirce worked for ECE, i thought he has set up as an Owner Driver long before they were in Leighton(He started out in 1978 i believe, but i could be wrong, usually am!!)
Can remember seeing Sidney J Edwards motors a few years back, F10/12s . . . Didnt they have England - Malta written on the cab doors ?
At a risk of being picky, they Uk - Malta was written on the cab behind the drivers door(Where the window would be) It did list other European destinations too… They used to do a lot of Malta years ago, Blondie Wright used to do Malta for him regular,along with Tony Bandy a few others who’s names escape me now… Do you remember big Tony, the TM towards the end, nice bloke but bloody huge!!
Kilty Freight…
Not sure if they were in Leighton Buzzard, but when i knew of them they were in Rosedale Close, Sundon Park, Luton. They had the main contract for bringing the MAN’d back in from Munich. To name a few drivers, Steve Airies, Tony Bandy, Paul Bandy, Phil Mitchell, Jack ■■?, Graham ■■?, Vinny Lapworth, Nicky Crawley, and the TM Mike Crawley. Big boss was Tim Kilty, who used to live in Wing IIRC< so could well have run Taxis…
Tiny Lee, another name from the past, a good friend of Jeff Reynolds IIRC correctly, Tiny by name, but huge by nature!!
That will do for now, i wil have a coffee and another read and carry on… 
Back again…
The Falcon and The Eagle…
2 proper drinking mans pubs, The Eagle was right next door to where Dawsons was on Billington Road,(sadly both have now gone to be replaced by a housing estate). The Falcon is still there on the corner of Stanbridge Road though, not been in there for many years so not sure nowadays what its like…No doubt though lots of miles were drunk at the bars!!!
We have quite a few Ex ECE drivers at Fastmag now in Dunstable, Simon Wright(Now the GM), Les Hobday, Ray Williams, and others whose names i cant remember for the life of me… I know they were bought out by Bayliss, who have now been bought out by Culina, but still retain the same site in Leighton Buzzard they had when they were ECE… ECE did have the Mars contract though, and did a lot of work for Lever Bros as well i think, although i may well have got that wrong…
Edwards Beers and Minerals is run by Terry Edwards, not sure if he’s any relation to Sid Edwards or not… He had a small place on Grovebury Road for years, but when this Beer from Europe malarky kicked off, he got quite big and now has 2/3 warehouse on the old Lancer Boss Site on Grovebury Road… When he forst started out distributing beer, he would rent trucks from Hill Hire on the days he needed them, to save the costs of ownig one and standing it… Had a bloke called Percey driving for him back then…
There was a bloke in Tilsworth, back in the 70’s, used to run Scania 141’s and do a lot of Italy, cant for the life of me remember his name!! Anyone know who i mean. I guy i work with now, “Continental” Bob Day worked for him for years…
Thats it again for now, although i’ll get wracking the brain some more…
Big Leggy:
Sidney Edwards rented his yard out ? Thanks for the update !
Isn’t that the same yard where the two fitters Fred Hawkins & Milan Goljar operated out of [both ex H.G.Brown] ?
Any news on Sid ? Hope he/s still healthy if not wealthy !!
Fred Hawkins??
Of FA Hawkins fame, Black ERF’s from Eaton Bray■■?
Big Leggy wrote;
Just re-read thread – Pete Roffe was never a fitter at A.C.Biggs
Last year when i was parking in peters yard, we was sitting their drinking tea and chatting about the old days, like you do 
And i was saying i used to come into this yard in the 60’s with me dad when it was A C Biggs with the magazines out of Odhams or was it the Sun can’t remember.
And he said " he used to be a fitter for Bigg’s"
Bob.
Hello BuzzardBoy,
The new Turbo Stars that were running from Bedford were a company called INTERGLOBE, a guy called Joe (you’re right Big Leggy he was Italian) and done for smuggling, he started as an O/D with a Gold/Bronze 2800 DAF parking in S. Johns yard at weekends, and would have been late 70s early 80s when he started.
I’ve just thought of a couple of names that were around the L/B area a few years ago, Freemans were out near Heath & Reach, they had two tone blue TK Bedford artics, there was another name in the same yard thats escapes me, but someone will know!
Another one was Gordon Heeps, I think they were grey, but I remember they were typical of the day and sometimes not very tidy!
If you have a morning spare go to the Bedfordshire records office and look through some old Kellys directories, they should bring up every haulage firm since horse and cart days! but it can be time consuming because if you’re like me and home in on anything that mentions a lorry you could be in there for days.
skandiahamn:
Hello BuzzardBoy,The new Turbo Stars that were running from Bedford were a company called INTERGLOBE, a guy called Joe (you’re right Big Leggy he was Italian) and done for smuggling, he started as an O/D with a Gold/Bronze 2800 DAF parking in S. Johns yard at weekends, and would have been late 70s early 80s when he started.
Yep, thats the story i heard too,didnt want to say too much in case it wasnt true…
Freemans - I dont remember the trucks, but i kind of know the gaffer there, Andy Freeman. Used to do work on his car years ago when i worked in a garage…
Gordon Heeps - I am not sure if its the same one, but i believe he’s still going, although IIRC its his son James at the helm now… They do a bit of work for us at Fastmag.
bobw:
Big Leggy wrote;Just re-read thread – Pete Roffe was never a fitter at A.C.Biggs
And i was saying i used to come into this yard in the 60’s with me dad when it was A C Biggs with the magazines out of Odhams or was it the Sun can’t remember.
And he said " he used to be a fitter for Bigg’s"Bob.
You know what Bob, the penny has only just dropped as to who you are!!! 
Just stole this off another thread…
A Bedford TM on Demo to HG Brown…
Has anyone got any pictures of any old Leighton Hauliers??
Come on Ash, where are ya!!
Buzzard Boy – many thanx for the updates on the state of play in Leighton Buzzard ! I’ll ask a few more question of you if I may (?) Bob Day - is that Curly Bob from Billington ■■ Used to be with Steve Pearce ■■ Sorry to hear about Eddie Pool another real gent !! Tiny Lee is no longer with us I’m afraid & I go back a long way with Des !!
I can remember when Leighton Buzzard depended on the transport firms in the town for being the main source of employment. Last time I passed through that way it was all weight limits & no overnight parking ! How times change ■■
Falcon Pub – in its heyday was the landlord Baz Richards ? Cannot remember the name of the landlady at the Eagle though !
Buzzard Boy – are you at Fastmag ? Don’t want to try and expose tour nomme-de-plume but if you are could you answer me a question (it’ll sove a puzzle I’ve been arguing over for years with a mate) – was Fastmag originally set up by Mortimers Transport & was Eric Ainsy (spelling ■■) M/D ■■ a bottle of Sambuca or Grappa rests on your answer !!
The names Bandy rings a bell – Wing men ?
Big Leggy:
Buzzard Boy – many thanx for the updates on the state of play in Leighton Buzzard ! I’ll ask a few more question of you if I may (?) Bob Day - is that Curly Bob from Billington ■■ Used to be with Steve Pearce ■■ Sorry to hear about Eddie Pool another real gent !! Tiny Lee is no longer with us I’m afraid & I go back a long way with Des !!
I can remember when Leighton Buzzard depended on the transport firms in the town for being the main source of employment. Last time I passed through that way it was all weight limits & no overnight parking ! How times change ■■
Falcon Pub – in its heyday was the landlord Baz Richards ? Cannot remember the name of the landlady at the Eagle though !
Right…
No, the Bob your thinking of i believe is Bob McKay, lived just behind the Fiat Garage(D&J) with Carole from the SJP Office…Funny story about Bob now, years ago when SJP first got the FH16’s off of Kelberg Bob had one, and they asked him to do holiday relief in the office, but not wanting to have someone else drive his truck, he refused. They ended up letting him use and FH16 520 as a company car to do a 3 mile round trip each day to work for a week or so, so he could be in the office, and no one but him got to drive his truck!.. LOL!!
Buzzard Boy – are you at Fastmag ? Don’t want to try and expose tour nomme-de-plume but if you are could you answer me a question (it’ll sove a puzzle I’ve been arguing over for years with a mate) – was Fastmag originally set up by Mortimers Transport & was Eric Ainsy (spelling ■■) M/D ■■ a bottle of Sambuca or Grappa rests on your answer !!
The names Bandy rings a bell – Wing men ?
I’ll start with The Bandy’s… Yes they were Wing men, Paul, Christine and The kids lived on te main road thru Wing, then latterly moved to Aylesbury, not too sure what they are at now… Tony lives in Wingrave and is on for RPL out of Milton Keynes doing containers…
Fastmag…
Bear with me as this may get confusing, and to be honest, it depends whcih one of 2 companies you worked for as to which company held most responsibility…
Basically in about 2000(+/-), a Magazine contract came up that required National Coverage, So Downtons, Macfarlances and i am pretty sure R+R(Now Magspeed) got together to do, and they formed Fastmag… R+R very quickly were pushed out from what i know, which left just Downtons and Mac’s doing the work, which went perfectly well until Mac’s went pop this year, when Downton’s took over 100% of Fastmag and the Magazine contract…
The Fastmag name still lives on, and in Dunstable they still answer the phones “Hello Fastmag” but we all have Downton Trucks, Uniforms, Payslips, etc, so i am not entirely sure what goes on TBH!! LOL
So No, Mortimers had nothing to do with it, they were doing the IPC work from Watford i think… I read something about them somewhere on TruckNet today actually…
Thanx for the prompt info Buzzard Boy even if it has cost me a litre of Sambuca or Grappa lol !!
Bob McKay was he not on HG Brown (as I believe Steve Pearce was) ?
To answer a query – yes Fred Hawkins (fitter) is related to the Eaton Bray company (but not sure how – Father & son ■■)…
Big Leggy:
Thanx for the prompt info Buzzard Boy even if it has cost me a litre of Sambuca or Grappa lol !!
Bob McKay was he not on HG Brown (as I believe Steve Pearce was) ?
To answer a query – yes Fred Hawkins (fitter) is related to the Eaton Bray company (but not sure how – Father & son ■■)…
I dont know about where Bob and Steve used to work prior to that, a bit before my time!! LOL
Here’s one of Freemans Dodge’s Two tone Blue, and there was another firm in the same yard with the same colours but can’t remember their name 
Michael Burley sells 2nd hand lorries in their old yard and has done for years possibly from shortly after Freemans packed up.
HI…BUZZARDBOY.
The Company In TILSWORTH Was …PETER >COOK TRANSPORT…Peter Lived In TRING.He Died Some Years Ago…Belive He Had Some Connection With THE HIGHLANDLINE At Dover At Some Time…Permits ETC…Brian Lambert Was The Fitter…Also Lived At Tring.
Cheers Webby!!
Thats it, Peter Cook…Bob Day used to rave about it, reckons its the best job he ever had, Always tellng us how Peter Cook was a gentlemen and never swore at anyone!!
Peter Cook – there is a name from the past ! As for Highland Line I might be mistaken but wasn’t that Mick Murfitt (or something to do with him) ? I can recall running to Italy over 30yrs ago with some of the Cook drivers – Terry Tapp, Martin Kempster & others I cannot now name !
I believe Peter Cook was a big charity money raiser as I recall he had two handicapped sons !!