thanks for that boyse some lovely old scanias there
where abouts in reading are U ■■ pm me in need be
Hi Boyse, good photo’s of Sayers, I remember many years ago Pip Sayer having to send an empty tank down to Southampton Ferry terminal as H.M.Customs wanted to blow one of the tanks arriving on the Le Havre boat across to another tank, due to the amount of Duty free goods hidden inside it,
I think a lot of lads got the sack, as they were supplying most of Newbury !!
scaniaman2006.
I live in Lower Earley now mate and im the fleet manager at Terranova Group Ltd.
MaggieD.
I remember that happening when the drivers were all being pulled by customs… The clever ones were putting them in bin liners and tipping the tanks so they could place them on a board by the trailer axles. Rumour has it that they started checking the tanks because one of the drivers wasnt just bringing in ■■■■ but ■■■■ as well!!! Only rumours though.
Nipper.
Did you get them photos of the same Mick Prior who`s old man used to work with me at A.L. Benhams at three mile cross?
I know the yard was in Olmar Wharf off the Old Kent Road London, but this old Trader was based at the old Reading Brewery and driven by Terry Westwood R.I.P from Woodley.
Thames Trader unloading at Englefield Estates
in Theale… Loading and Tipping done by hand, trailer
first then drive the lorry in…
James & Son first tipping artics. The famous Ford D-Series.
Heater, indicators and radio…
Leaving Ovaltine in Kings Langley with another load.
My old F10 and my brothers FL7 at the first Truck & Track show
at Silverstone. Both A.L.Benhams and Meakins were based in
Spencers Wood.
Beedon Haulage. This firm had a fleet of
tippers that ran out of Padworth.
Hell Driver Bedfords!!!
My Late father used to drive one of the Fodens in the above photo for Thermalite on Shepherds House Lane in Reading, I travelled miles in that! The Comets are artic units and I also rode in those, one burned out at Brownhills! The Foden ran to Fort William regularly, 20 mph remember, dad left on monday morning and arrived back saturday lunch time, a quick grease round, load for monday again, and have sunday at home when he usually nodded off!
He later drove for Laws Transport on Whitley Wood Lane, they had Seddons and Bedfords painted Brown and carried animal feed in sacks and bulk. He had an old MK 7 Seddon, (JMO 1,) with a wooden bulk body and I used to go with him to Spillers at Silvertown, Fisons at Barking and Silcocks at Avonmouth. At Fisons you could wait nearly all day to get loaded! He had a newer Seddon with a Leyland Comet engine, ex Christopher Hill for a while as well, that had a Tamplin tank and auger.
I recall Filbees Transport from Tilehurst with their Commers, A H Rumble of ■■■■■■■■■■ Road with trailing axle Commers, R L Nash of Upper Basildon who had Dennis lorries, Ayres of Wallingford (in Berkshire in those days) who had BMC’s, Woodley Haulage of Newtown who I think had one of everything!!
Jack Dance’s lovely tipper fleet at the Wee Waif cafe on the A4, Sonning Haulage who had Scammell’s, Mastiff’s and Super Mastiff’s, I worked on these when I was employed as an HGV fitter at Morris Garages, Castle Street Reading. Sayers of Newbury who had some old Albion 4 wheelers with the cast vertical radiator, they were fitted with Tamplin tanks. Plus many more, too many to mention here.
When I moved to Derbyshire in 1975 I repaired and drove Foden’s for 27 years but still have fond memories of Berkshire. Sorry for the long post (my first).
Pete.
What a wonderful first post, no need to apologize for lengh, fantastic content throughout and a photo too. You obviously have a wonderful memory. I remember riding with my dad in one of those early Bedfords (like the ones in the foreground) in Oxfordshire, then going on to drive the A series myself. Oh and that van, as a schoolboy, I rode in one like that on saturday mornings belonging to Grimley Hughes of Oxford, delivering groceries to the posh people up ■■■■■■ and Boars Hill. 
You say there are many more copanies you remember, too many to post on here. I say not so, please post again, with photos if poss. I am looking forward to it already. P.S. I am a newby too so I will leave it to a senior member to welcome you on board. 
Thank’s for the kind words BigG-unit! As an added piece of info regarding the photograph one of the Bedford O types broke it’s back and was sold as scrap to a farmer with the idea of making a trailer from it. Imagine my dads surprise when he started at Laws Transport, his first truck was the very same Bedford! It had been flitched and did several more years service.
When I was working as a fitter in Reading there was a coal merchant who’s yard was just off of Castle Street, W J Lawrence. He had a 4 ton Morris FG and a small TK for local work but he used to collect his coal from the Welsh pits with a BMC FHK chinese six tipper with a Primrose second steer. This had the FFK cab but with an underfloor 6 potter like the later FJ’s and Laird. To get the cylinder head off you had to remove the n/s front wheel, undo the cab mountings and raise the cab a couple of inches and then you could JUST squeeze the head between the bottom of the cab and the chassis rail after removing all the manifold studs etc! Getting cylinder liners out was a nightmare. At least it was fairly reliable. It helped out with the Aberfan disaster, the only chap who could master driving the thing was a Welshman who sadly drowned, he was fishing from a dinghy but fell into the water, his waders filled up and dragged him down. It was sold soon after. I remember Mr Lawrence running into our garage one day, the TK’s pneumatic govenor had split and the engine was running flat out! He had taken a hammer to the injector pump and smashed it to bits but of course the engine was now running on oil being splashed up from the sump! A fitter ran up to the yard and bunged the air inlet up, that stopped it! Didn’t do the thing a lot of good though, engine wrecked. Happy days.
Rambling on again!!!
Pete.
Windrush.
Thats a great photo of the old Thermalite wagons. I do recall seeing them about but i was only young back then. Can you remember where abouts the yard used to be? Laws Transport, didnt they used to pull sacks out of Pingewood Mill along with the Alan Hadley of Shinfield Lorries or was it from B.B.O farmers mill in Twyford? Filbee Transport soldiered on till the late eighties and on selling up had an eight wheeler Leyland Constructer and was still running a tidy couple of Leyland Clydesdales, one flat and the other fitted with a curtainsider. AH Rumble i cant recall or RL Nash at the moment. Ayres Removals are still in business if thats the same company. Woodley Haulage i cant recall and can you remember the colour of Jack Dances tippers? The Wee Waif Cafe is still there but is disguised as a pub now!! Sonning Haulage was the same as Filbee and managed to stay working with an eight wheeler tipper Daf 85 and a four wheeler tipper Daf 75 into 2000 but have sadly gone now.
The plus many more that you can remember put on here and i will try my best to tell you if they are still about.
All the best
Boyze…
Boyze:
Windrush.
Thats a great photo of the old Thermalite wagons. I do recall seeing them about but i was only young back then. Can you remember where abouts the yard used to be? Laws Transport, didnt they used to pull sacks out of Pingewood Mill along with the Alan Hadley of Shinfield Lorries or was it from B.B.O farmers mill in Twyford? Filbee Transport soldiered on till the late eighties and on selling up had an eight wheeler Leyland Constructer and was still running a tidy couple of Leyland Clydesdales, one flat and the other fitted with a curtainsider. AH Rumble i cant recall or RL Nash at the moment. Ayres Removals are still in business if thats the same company. Woodley Haulage i cant recall and can you remember the colour of Jack Dances tippers? The Wee Waif Cafe is still there but is disguised as a pub now!! Sonning Haulage was the same as Filbee and managed to stay working with an eight wheeler tipper Daf 85 and a four wheeler tipper Daf 75 into 2000 but have sadly gone now.
The plus many more that you can remember put on here and i will try my best to tell you if they are still about.
All the best
Boyze…
Right Boyze, thank’s for the reply! Thermalite’s works was on Shepherds House Lane, on the A4 London Road go under the railway bridge and past Suttons Seeds and take the next left. Straight down under the rail bridge and the works was round a right hand bend near Earley Power Station. Thermalite use crushed ash in the blocks, hence why the works were always near Power Stations! They had an old Thorneycroft tipper which ran back and forth collecting the ash. The trucks had a sign on the tailboard stating that “This wagon is not on fire” or similar as the blocks were usually warm from the kiln and when sheeted would be steaming, they used to get pulled up by folk thinking that it was burning!!!
Laws pulled out of a few local mills, Sindlesham, Sonning, Sandford plus BB&O as well as Avonmouth and the London Dockland. The Ayres that you mean is C & G Ayres who were railway carriers with 3 wheel Scammells, the one I meant was in Wallingford itself, probably long gone. A H (Jack) Rumble used to haul for Ideal Casements, rumour has it that the trucks were insured on a monthly basis! Woodley Haulage’s lorries were maroon dropsiders, they had a large fleet with a second yard on Crockhamwell Road in Woodley but I have no idea what they carted. Jack Dance’s lorries were light brown (similar to James’s Brewers lorries in a previous posting) with red lettering.
Dock and General, AH Povey, Donkin and Primmer, Mr Absolom from Caversham with an Albion Claymore which I worked on a few times were other firms that spring to my (befuddled) mind! No doubt more will arise.
Pete.
I remember Thermalites being there now, you wouldnt reconise the place now as it has all been built on.. There must be a bit of an age gap because a fair few are before my time!! I remember wagons coming out of BB&O in Twyford as that shut about 10 years ago and has been built on. I worked for Alan Hadley and have seen pictures of the old wagons leaving Pingewood mill and Sindlesham.. I do remember Woodley Haulage but couldnt tell you what happened to them. Always remember there wagons were smart and used to pass there yard when out with my dad when he was driving for Harry Coff at the Colemansmoor Road Gravel Pit.
I will see if the old man can shed any light on all the others.
Hello All.
Seeing that photo of Benhams FL7 at Silverstone, made me wonder if anyone knew Dave Wilson ( Bulky ) who worked for them for a while Is he still about■■? He used to live in Cricklade near Swindon. I worked with him for a while, then he left to go on for Benhams.
Windrush you don’t remember Albie Lavender that used to drive for Lawes Transport - he had a Dodge Commando one of the first that came out.He lived at the other end of Whitley wood lane by the Engineers pub.
The Absoloms that ran Caversham Haulage lived in the same street as my Nan - South Street Caversham and they had a small yard in North Street.
They used to park the bigger lorries ay the block plant at Sonning eye.
My Dad worked for Claude Fenton Plant and i worked at Reading Garage which became part of the Penta Group as did Morris Garages.
Did you know Roy Asher,Vic Plank or Harold Ayres ?
Steve
Well Steve, to start at the beginning! No, I didn’t know Albie or any of the other drivers, my dad left Laws around the mid '60’s to drive for Alder Valley.
When I knew Mr Absolom he only had an Albion Claymore, we used to service it as it had BMC axles and brakes, that would have been around the late 1960’s.
Harold (Arthur) Ayres was the chap that I was apprenticed to from 1966 until I finished my “time”, Roy Asher was commercial shop foreman and lived in a flat over the Castle Street showroom, and Vic Plank I knew very well. He used to live on Burghfield Road in those days.
I went for an interview at Reading Garage on Berkeley Avenue before I left school but failed! I went to Hewens and got a job, they weren’t so fussy!
I went to school wtth Roger Scott who worked at Reading Garage, I went to AC Barnes at Wokingham in 1974 and then moved to Derbyshire in '75 so lost touch with all the changes, you have certainly stirred the grey matter and I have often wondered what became of everyone. Thanks Steve,
Pete.