The demise of the B R S was when they started to bring graduates into management to replace the old school transport manages and routeing clerks who had been brought up in transport and knew the job and then the educated idiots who thought they knew the job were able to cause mayhem with their new ideas.
Staniforth Road Sheffield used to have a lot of owner drivers and small hauliers working out of the depot on a regular basis but the whiz kids soon stopped that as they knew best.
Pickfords was the same as our depot was the top earning depot and most profitable while I was there but I could see the change and I left a job which I really enjoyed as the writing was on the wall
I recently found a 1960 copy of my local paper, The Citizen, twopence halfpenny, a third as big as now, more news on it’s front page than in the whole of the paper now. Anyway I digress, tucked away towards the back was an advertisement feature on B.R.S. showing how wonderfully efficient they could be when they put their minds to it.
A wool mill in Bradford discovered on a Friday morning that they had a consignment of wool in bales which needed to be on board ship and sailing from Hull Saturday. Totally inefficient if you ask me and no doubt why all the wool mills closed down. Did they panic? Of course they did! Then did what any shipping manager would do trying to cover his ass, he put a call into his local haulier who happened to be BRS.
“I know it’s cutting it a bit fine but can you just…?” Fear not, here comes super BRS stand back! The load was collected, no doubt after a 2 hour wait, rushed all the way from Bradford to Hull docks, and loaded directly onto the ship. How much the dockers required to work on a Saturday morning is not mentioned.
Yet another foul and unfounded slur on an honest, hard working lorry driver!
Good old 2477- leylandlover will remember her with fondness. At one time she was piloted by an ex-army man whom we called, “Sarge”. I followed him home from Reading one evening- before the M4 was open- and, if memory serves me correctly, he managed to get her up to 40mph on a couple of occasions. EMPTY!
TIDDERSON:
Hi R.O.F.
Didn’t know you picked up young girls in your old days!
Hi ROF , would that Octopus be ex JamesSmith ,or may be delivered new to BRS ? with that reg it could have been one of the last to be built with the mouth organ cab as it was known . regards Keith .
Retired Old ■■■■:
And there’s folks who insist that I know nothing! I had an idea it was one of theirs.
Hiya,
From one oldie to another be very careful Good Buddy it isn’t always wise to
become too knowledgeable you’ll be expected to remember birthdays and
wedding anniversaries next and that can become expensive, be very aware.
thanks harry, long retired.
for the good of your health you really should invest in a diary . i only forgot her birthday once and it was like the wrath of the gods descending , there was no letup until the year after when i remembered it , and even then there were sly comments passed . nothing surpasses the wrath of a woman scorned . i should have known better as there are only two days between her birthday and our wedding anniversary . that’s another no no , don’t try to get away with one present for the two occasions , dave
Lawrence Dunbar:
0I was given this photo from a friend, Regards Larry.
Anyone any info on this ,looking at the registration it could be a Bradford motor?
Hi Ramone, there’s some information on this on page 95 of this thread.
Regards. John.
Thanks , ive just read the info im not sure where that depot was
Ovenden depot was about 2 miles out of Halifax on the Keighley road. I used to live a mile further up in Illingworth in the 50s. As a little lad I used to go down to the yard and they would let me sit in the old Maudsleys rocking the steering wheel and making lorry noises ! Who knows I may even have " driven " the one in the picture
Regards. John.
