JAKEY:
Here Carl , cut this out of “the mover” mag , this firm was taken over by Camp hopson Newbury .Note the demount body what some companies are now buying, they will not be that strong or the weight would be to high for this job .
In the seventies Coachskill, our body building side, built a number of 27ft demountabe boxvans which we used with Bedford and Leyland Redline chassis cabs lengthened to accomodate these bodies.
At the time we had thought we would standardise our rigids in this format and an artice was written in ‘Motor Transport’ sumerising our thoughts.
The advantage was that we could build bodies on stands and save a chassis cab sitting underneath about a month whilst it was buit and painted and lettered. Also the vehicle Excise Licences in those days were based on the unladen weight and the law allowed that the vehicle could be weighed with the demountable equipment fitted without the body which was classed as part of the load, saving about £100 in taxation costs each year.
The problems were that the Leylands were useless and the Bedfords were subject to cab rot. You can aso imagine that our best drivers didn’t want them prefering to keep their comfortable integral Marsdens.
Also when our van were loaded they needed to be straight away, not on a box waiting for a chassis cab to return, and where our customers wanted us to leave trailers the demountables were not as adaptable so artics won the day.
Here is a photo of a Bedford and BMC with Coachskill 27ft demountables (If I can load them onto the site)
Carl
I guess it’s horses for courses. If you had a contract where the client had a lot of runs and could be trusted to load the wagons themselves, then a fleet of demounts would make sense (say on contract to Thorn lighting) and you could make more efficient use of your own lorries to move them about. Conversely, most smaller domestic removals companies (I’m going back a bit so maybe things have changed), while they may subby to larger distribution centres or get the odd backload, need to be able to put a wagon where they need it when they need it and demounts aren’t going to work.
ParkRoyal2100:
suedehead & jdc thanks for the stories chaps. Interesting to see a few people popping up who did a lot of continental work, something I never got the chance to do. Was there much backload work or was it mostly UK → Europe? @ jdc were the 45’ trailers rigged out for furniture work or were you packing crates inside the trailers?
The mob I was with had just started with furniture crates when customers were just putting stuff in storage - after years of packing lorries I found it difficult to get the hang of packing big crates, and not long after I left anyway.
BTW feel free to post pics of wagons you worked with - good and bad.
A starter for ten:0
Bedford TK860, Turner 5-speed box. Aerodynamics? Pah!
Steve
Was this photo taken in harrow just outside london?
You’re obviously a local. More or less Harrow, Sudbury Court Drive in North Wembley, some time in 1981.
foam man:
Anybody remember a removal firm out of Trafford called Maxteds my father in law was a driver/foreman for them
hi Foam man
Was it THOMAS MAXTED & SONS LIMITED ? I have faint recolections in the back of my head of them, as they were well known, in the trade. If that is the case I will look through all my photos to see if there is one of their vans.
Steve
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Was this photo taken in harrow just outside london?
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You’re obviously a local. More or less Harrow, Sudbury Court Drive in North Wembley, some time in 1981.
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Yes haha, lived in Sudbury hill most of my life, although this pic was taken a few years before I was born!
You’re not wrong Steve, crazy busy at the moment, though we are having a lot of jobs postpone at the last minute which is becoming annoying. I always tend to overbook knowing that I can go out of the office and help cover the work should everything come in so still managing to keep everyone gainfully employed
Have taken on another couple of guys to see us through the summer rush so we now have 18 guys to keep busy but we are doing ok. Getting prices for another 7.5 tonner as we really need to replace one which has had a hard life so need to make some money to invest in vehicles. Will hopefully have a new 18t and a 7.5t at the end of the year but we will have to wait and see!!
Long may the market stay buoyant, I much prefer to have too little time to do anything than sitting in the office with time on my hands
What would be the going rate for a minimal pack(couple of tea chests and half a dozen mod 30s) for 500 cu ft (ish) from W9 1QS ground floor to Swindon 1st floor?
Serious question btw,used to do a bit years ago ,the mil wants to move nearer .
Was thinking of hiring a van but i feel a “Bernard Cribbins” moment beckoning!!
Suedehead:
What would be the going rate for a minimal pack(couple of tea chests and half a dozen mod 30s) for 500 cu ft (ish) from W9 1QS ground floor to Swindon 1st floor?
Serious question btw,used to do a bit years ago ,the mil wants to move nearer .
Was thinking of hiring a van but i feel a “Bernard Cribbins” moment beckoning!!
I’m probably not the best person to speak to as our travelling is not exactly en route. For me to do that I would be wanting about £750 + VAT not including parking suspension. Jakey is probably better positioned as he is closer to both London and Swindon, failing that, GB Liners are worth a call as they have depots in both Southall and Ciren.
As its for the MIL do you want me to hike the price even further and propose that its far too expensive to move closer to you …just an idea!!
Carl Williams:
Here is a good one from Clockwork.
Until recently I never had heard of them, they don’t seem to have been around long. Where did they come from?
Not had anything to do with them but have heard they were set up by someone who wanted to rival Pickfords size in about a decade. They have grown quite quickly and taken over quite a few smaller companies. We don’t come across them much at all but they do seem to be growing. I doubt they will rival Pickfords size, but I suppose stranger things have happened!!
