Hello Dean , some times on removals you just got to get on or never get home! 200 ft carry !!! wow 
I had jobs where we could only get our dads now my sons Kangoo in , up and down the lane at least 50 times ,but we did it 
In their hey days in the 70s Mark Robertson of Haward & Robertson Darlington ran about 20 vans which included some in Cracknell’s name which he had bought out about 1975. When Mark retired he sold out to Robinsons who traded for about 3 years until they found out how hard trade was up here in North East & closed in Darlington.
JAKEY:
Hello Dean , some times on removals you just got to get on or never get home! 200 ft carry !!! wowI had jobs where we could only get our dads now my sons Kangoo in , up and down the lane at least 50 times ,but we did it
We have all had some horrendous carries over the years and you had to switch off completely and just crack on chap,as you know. 
Pickfords 1977.
Click on pages twice to read.
Hello Dean , thats a great story on Tom and his mighty TK , proper removal men ! sleep in the back etc .
And creaping in a tea chest if you got caught short. 
Spent many a nights on a settee in the back of a removal truck good times then you can’t do that anymore health and safety,
Hello Mark ,is that you in Oxford (turl st ) on Monday ? ,some one ran about us supplying two men on Monday afternoon ,we can do it if needed , i only just got back from another night away and the office is shut ,but i did leave a message , Reverse down Turl st
JAKEY:
Hello Mark ,is that you in Oxford (turl st ) on Monday ? ,some one ran about us supplying two men on Monday afternoon ,we can do it if needed , i only just got back from another night away and the office is shut ,but i did leave a message , Reverse down Turl st
Hi Steve,
No thats not going to be me…they are sending one of the 7.5s up …they are tipping a small job first on the way up then picking this job up in the afternoon…to what i know they are picking up big glass display cabinets by all accounts …not sure which way they are playing it but two are going up and i think another two may be meeting them there who are going to Cheltenham to tip a job also…so they may call on you mate…i did give Our man Paul your details a while back.
Lovely line up here Steve…that jib and access looked a right mare mate !
Dean…lovely article once again great little read…Tom is the old school type that taught me the game…kipping in the back of the van…God brings back memories of the cold
To think back running out on the continent with a Bedford TK not the best of comfort in those cabs…takes me back also on those Longwell Green bodies as on this one here…the ramps use to stand up behind the back doors on a spring type mechanism…many times those heavy old ramps would come undone …they were bloody dangerous lovely article Dean thanks for posting.
smallcoal:
Swansea depot Thursday
Hi John ,
Nice pics mate…mine in the yard because i was out in France
How you doing mate ?
Dean…Abels vehicles were a sight fore sore eyes back in the day…they had a fantastic fleet …still are but not so big as they were.
If my memory serves me well when the Townsend Thoresen disaster the Herald Of Free Enterprise turned over Abels had one of these DAF draw bars on board…obviously it was lost…always remember the driver being interviewed on the BBC news.
Once again nice little clip from the past.
Carl Williams:
In their hey days in the 70s Mark Robertson of Haward & Robertson Darlington ran about 20 vans which included some in Cracknell’s name which he had bought out about 1975. When Mark retired he sold out to Robinsons who traded for about 3 years until they found out how hard trade was up here in North East & closed in Darlington.
Hi Carl,
I also remember Howard & Robertson vehicles on the road…have had the odd thought over the last couple of years or so wether they were still trading…ran a lot of Bedfords Marsden bodied vans like yourself …Thats what a lot of these big National companies do buy a good household local company name then snuff it out…but get your point about the North East like South Wales…they are not your rich money area’s like the South of England.
hi mark im ok thanks everything good mate how you and the family keeping you busy mate we up and down in work they just took a 26 tonner of us cutting the fleet down
Steve, had the same problem with access to this week…brought this job back from France…mostly paintings is late father was an artist .
He built a temperature controlled shed at the top of is garden in Lincoln
When I got to the Lincoln address this week…he didnt want me to put the van on is drive !
The distance from the road to the shed was ridiculous…you were talking 200yards + so I told him it was not going to happen and he would have to pay for a tranship vehicle…he soon changed is mind and instructed me to come up drive
But the walk to the top of the garden was still a fair way…to store over 200 painting I picked up in Bergerac…glad to see the end of it to be honest.
marktaff:
Carl Williams:
In their hey days in the 70s Mark Robertson of Haward & Robertson Darlington ran about 20 vans which included some in Cracknell’s name which he had bought out about 1975. When Mark retired he sold out to Robinsons who traded for about 3 years until they found out how hard trade was up here in North East & closed in Darlington.Hi Carl,
I also remember Howard & Robertson vehicles on the road…have had the odd thought over the last couple of years or so wether they were still trading…ran a lot of Bedfords Marsden bodied vans like yourself …Thats what a lot of these big National companies do buy a good household local company name then snuff it out…but get your point about the North East like South Wales…they are not your rich money area’s like the South of England.
Yes Mark, It was handy as they ran big vans like us. We often hired them, as we also did Cracknells both before H & R bought them out and afterwards and transhipped loads from our vans onto theirs, mostly Thorn domestic appliances (Tricity fridges & cookers) or Courtaulds yarn when we were too busy to cope. Here is one of Cracknells which I suspect had originally been in H & R livery.
I would imagine the economy in South Wales is similar to NE & because of the low average wages profit margins would be very tight.
Carl Williams:
marktaff:
Carl Williams:
In their hey days in the 70s Mark Robertson of Haward & Robertson Darlington ran about 20 vans which included some in Cracknell’s name which he had bought out about 1975. When Mark retired he sold out to Robinsons who traded for about 3 years until they found out how hard trade was up here in North East & closed in Darlington.Hi Carl,
I also remember Howard & Robertson vehicles on the road…have had the odd thought over the last couple of years or so wether they were still trading…ran a lot of Bedfords Marsden bodied vans like yourself …Thats what a lot of these big National companies do buy a good household local company name then snuff it out…but get your point about the North East like South Wales…they are not your rich money area’s like the South of England.Yes Mark, It was handy as they ran big vans like us. We often hired them, as we also did Cracknells both before H & R bought them out and afterwards and transhipped loads from our vans onto theirs, mostly Thorn domestic appliances (Tricity fridges & cookers) or Courtaulds yarn when we were too busy to cope. Here is one of Cracknells which I suspect had originally been in H & R livery.
I would imagine the economy in South Wales is similar to NE & because of the low average wages profit margins would be very tight.
Lovely looking integral Carl…i have seen a pic of a Seddon belonging to Cracknells with a ribbed ally Marsden body…i think you may have posted it on one of the other sites a while back.
Always was the way Carl you could rely on other movers with decent sized van to help you out when needed in busy times…Yes the economies of the North East and South Wales are very similar Carl…Brexit and the Genral Election sought of showed this people felt left behind with lack of investment in both area’s…and its not only recently its been for many decades…lets hope things change for the beter…not holding out much hope though
Hope you are recovering well Carl.