eric the judge:
If i remember correctly the Bedford depot was in Ampthill Rd on the left as you headed out of town. Dont know whats there now but as a kid i used to bike there from home [ 7 miles ] to collect the fleet numbers. In 1970 i drove a Noddy van on parcels for a few months then long distance work beckoned. The parcels depot was on the left as you had passed Wilmers Corner but i cant remember the street name. Wasnt the National Freight Corporation which was the successor to BRS based in St Peters Sreet?
Hi Eric the pensions office is still there " The Merton Centre 45 St. Peters Street Bedford " though it is DHL which send me money now and I never worked for them but they have since they took over Exel.
cheers Johnnie
eric the judge:
If i remember correctly the Bedford depot was in Ampthill Rd on the left as you headed out of town. Dont know whats there now but as a kid i used to bike there from home [ 7 miles ] to collect the fleet numbers. In 1970 i drove a Noddy van on parcels for a few months then long distance work beckoned. The parcels depot was on the left as you had passed Wilmers Corner but i cant remember the street name. Wasnt the National Freight Corporation which was the successor to BRS based in St Peters Sreet?
Hi Eric the pensions office is still there " The Merton Centre 45 St. Peters Street Bedford " though it is DHL which send me money now and I never worked for them but they have since they took over Exel.
cheers Johnnie
Yes Johnnie and I’m still working hard for them to keep your pension topped up !
Hermit:
A few pics taken at West Thurrock, late 1950’s I think.
blimey some good pics there. i worked out of there in the 80’s when A.C.T containers were in there, it was still owned by BRS then but i think it was only truck hire. mind you it didnt look like that it was all concreted over by then.
I recall parking at Brs Beccles in the late 80s , not much there but i remember aftewr the staff went home i used there wash as the truck was minging , also recall the steel building roof was banging about all night ,and I was kept awake .
Retired Old ■■■■:
While we’re in that geographical area, does anyone remember the folding-side, part time sugar beet trailers operated by BRS Stowmarket?
That’s the one, matey! Did a fair few miles with one of those, back in the day. We had a couple transferred to us when things were slack at Stowmarket. Used them to run coal Eastwards from South Wales, then folded the sides down & backloaded general freight. Looked a bit “foreign” to some BRS traffic clerks, with a folding-side tipping trailer pulled by a light blue Guy Big J recently returned from a contract with Walls’ Ice Cream, no BRS lettering apart from fleet numbers on the front corners of the cab. “Are you SURE that’s one of ours, Drive?”
Retired Old ■■■■:
That’s the one, matey! Did a fair few miles with one of those, back in the day. We had a couple transferred to us when things were slack at Stowmarket. Used them to run coal Eastwards from South Wales, then folded the sides down & backloaded general freight. Looked a bit “foreign” to some BRS traffic clerks, with a folding-side tipping trailer pulled by a light blue Guy Big J recently returned from a contract with Walls’ Ice Cream, no BRS lettering apart from fleet numbers on the front corners of the cab. “Are you SURE that’s one of ours, Drive?”
No we had three of them from new,we used them on ICI fert, and paper back loads
We had 6 of them at BRS Wolverhampton, folded down we took copper billets from Walsall to IMI at Kirkby, the sides were then folded out and we back loaded scrap copper pipe. The sides had to have chains across the top to stop the sides bowing out when the scrap settled going down the road, one guy did get pulled without the chains on and it looked more like a boat than a tipper, it was about 12ft wide in the middle ! They were also a nightmare to tip up, they had a side mounted Lister donkey with the hydraulic controls on the side which meant you had to stand alongside it while it tipped, of course if the scrap jammed in the body the twin tipper rams would go out of sync and the whole thing took on a horrible lean with you stood next to it . I think the ones we had came second hand from John s. Evans from South Wales and were designed to carry pallets and grain so the scrap job soon took it’s toll on the lightweight aluminium and shortened their life.
I have just read this all again!! brings back memories, i have posted on here before, re Rugby depot, i dont live in Rugby any more, but ime led to believe that the depot is gone all buildings have gone and its a car park? the depot manager was Dennis Jones, a great chap, yard man was Walter Noaks, I still have my brs folder, but no op’s 6!! any body know were i could get one for old times sake? Regards Truncker08
HI ya,Harry long retired, thank you fore reply, must admit i enjoyed the brs, wont go into how i ended up at brs long story, i did my first trip, back m/t, shop stewd got me, were you been son!! told him, he had a sharp intake of breath, we went to mess room, and i was told the facts of brs life!!! ie, no b----- y galloping about!! i ad mit i found it hard to adjust, but i did, and found a new way of life, as you brs lads will understand??
I left brs for a better job after 4 1/2 yr— so i thought, but brs days stayed with me, i rarely started be fore 6am and was parked up by 6pm, none of this 15hr day nonsence■■? ime well passed retirement, and yes i miss it a bit, but i think the job has gone to pot■■? i miss the matey-ness off the job, were another driver helped you fold the sheets, etc,any way , thank you fore your time, and your amussing bits on here, cheers
p.s, i started in late 68, till 72 pluss.
Those were the days, Trunker! Extra money for starting before 0600, so we all used to slink out of the yard at 0530! And I’d forgotten about the Op.6- come Saturday morning it was covered in other depots’ stamps. Looked like a drug runner’s passport! And there were more works of fiction created on an Op.6 than Will Shakespeare could have dreamed up! And the dodgy lorry park tickets sold to the drivers by one of us who had got access to a printing machine.
hi ya retired old ■■■■, We was a bit lucky at our depot, think 7am was early start!!! we did long distance and nights out, but not as many as most, think my longest run was to Invergordan, to the smelting works, (long gone) re load at Dundee, i left on a Sunday, got back Friday. i was soon on the fish trunk, nobody wanted it---- i was told, i was lucky, suppose to be long serveing driver to get that!!! cheers trunker 08
trunker08:
HI ya,Harry long retired, thank you fore reply, must admit i enjoyed the brs, wont go into how i ended up at brs long story, i did my first trip, back m/t, shop stewd got me, were you been son!! told him, he had a sharp intake of breath, we went to mess room, and i was told the facts of brs life!!! ie, no b----- y galloping about!! i ad mit i found it hard to adjust, but i did, and found a new way of life, as you brs lads will understand??
I left brs for a better job after 4 1/2 yr— so i thought, but brs days stayed with me, i rarely started be fore 6am and was parked up by 6pm, none of this 15hr day nonsence■■? ime well passed retirement, and yes i miss it a bit, but i think the job has gone to pot■■? i miss the matey-ness off the job, were another driver helped you fold the sheets, etc,any way , thank you fore your time, and your amussing bits on here, cheers
p.s, i started in late 68, till 72 pluss.
Similar thing happened to me, told in no uncertain terms that you run at 22 miles an hour which I did for the first couple
of day`s, then I realised!!
i was poodleing up the A49 out of ludlow in my leyland beaver argo nice hot day windows open wind blowing in . out blows my ops6 out the window . stopped dead ran down the road found ops6 in the headge lucky . if that happend today .
otto194242:
i was poodleing up the A49 out of ludlow in my leyland beaver argo nice hot day windows open wind blowing in . out blows my ops6 out the window . stopped dead ran down the road found ops6 in the headge lucky . if that happend today .
hiya,
I never lost my Ops6 but what would have happened if you did?
on the day I started in 1958 I was told to “look after it” as if it
was a member of your family, I never did find out what would
have happened, I did knock a cup of tea over it once but there
was nothing said as it was still readable after the heater blew
it dry, one depot did send the office boy out to check if I was
driving a BRS vehicle.
thanks harry, long retired.
and I never worked for them 
but they have since they took over Exel.
