This was one of most impressive fleets in the Country I remember in the 80’s that they were buying lots of smaller refrigerated hauliers, I read that at this time they had around 1000 vehicles (this is before they became a PLC and purchased Swift) is this correct? they were probably the largest transport fleet in Scotland at the time. Most of the vehicles had Blairgowrie or Aberdeen on the cab doors some had Easton on the cab doors.
They also had a lot of vehicles in Marks and Spencer, British Homes Stores liveries.
Can anyone remember the names of the hauliers they bought I know of Claben and Daniel B Stewart.
Heres a few of my pics when we use to sub for Salvos mostly running out of Buxton, then when they took over AltiExpress at Pontypool we did a fair bit to Europe running back mostly to Easton nr Grantham with frozen veg, in the early 90’s easton was the largest frozen store in Europe
Hi I think the guy driving the F10 is Jock Stewart.I still keep in touch with him though he has not been well of late.There was Sand Scott as well though he died a few year back.Jimmy fox was another borders lad as well as Donald and Bill Slight.Great firm to work for with loads of history also knew big Bill Mercer great character.
georgeking:
Photos thanks to Bubbleman
This was one of most impressive fleets in the Country I remember in the 80’s that they were buying lots of smaller refrigerated hauliers, I read that at this time they had around 1000 vehicles (this is before they became a PLC and purchased Swift) is this correct? they were probably the largest transport fleet in Scotland at the time. Most of the vehicles had Blairgowrie or Aberdeen on the cab doors some had Easton on the cab doors.
They also had a lot of vehicles in Marks and Spencer, British Homes Stores liveries.
Can anyone remember the names of the hauliers they bought I know of Claben and Daniel B Stewart.
I recently got chatting to an old fella at Tescos Avonmouth. He told me he had worked for Christian Salvesens for years before transfering over to Norberts at Grantham. He was telling me all sorts of interesting old stories about when he worked for Salvesens in the 70s & 80s.
After about an hour he had to go and i was left thinking what an interesting chap he was, a real old school driver who was a pleasure to talk to…in fact i could have spent all day chatting to him. I believe he said his name was Vic.
Are there any of the old original lads from the early days ■■? I think Salvesens only came into Road haulage in the late 6o,s they had been a shipping and whaling Co( I sailed on 2 of their ships)… before then I think that they were involved in cold storage prior to road transport Anyway I used to know most of the drivers from their Blairgowrie depot …names are forgotten except for an old worthie called Hamish (Hamie) Burnett I think he has gone now but what a character I first knew him from his F&F days then Alisons Freightlines Dundee where he drove an AEC Mammoth Major by golly he was only a little fella but what a man full of fun don,t suppose any one will remember him now to far back !!!
Deepinvet:
This was waiting for the ferry at Stranraer going to Belfast…1979
The Drivers name was Bill Mercer big Scots fella does anybody remember him?
Thats not him in the drivers seat thats me.
Dad used to work for Salvo’s in the mid 70’s from Easton depot, I will have a word with him.
I remember when they took over the Unicold Walls site at Risley in the 80’s. They seemed to have an awful lot of managers for what seemed to be not much work at the time (did it become a regional hq or training centre?) I think they got the Kwiksave contract later on which kept them going for a while
hayday:
I remember when they took over the Unicold Walls site at Risley in the 80’s. They seemed to have an awful lot of managers for what seemed to be not much work at the time (did it become a regional hq or training centre?) I think they got the Kwiksave contract later on which kept them going for a while
Risley site it now or was in 2007 a Farm Foods site , I,m sure the guy in charge when it was a Salvesens site was called Stewart Johnston. Also my dad worked for Fridgelink and was in Belfast loading out of Moy Park when his boss called him to come home empty ,when he got to the yard he was told that they had been bought out by Salvesen and all the unit were going back and the trailers taken to Lowerstoft I,m sure thats what happen
erfguy:
Did any of you Salvesons men ever come across Robert (Rab) Moderate he was a scotch lad who moved south and was on for Salvesons Grantham base. Eddie.
Hi Eddie
I remmber Bob from when I was on the Findus(Ney kidding) contract out of Longbenton Newcastle.
This was one of most impressive fleets in the Country I remember in the 80’s that they were buying lots of smaller refrigerated hauliers, I read that at this time they had around 1000 vehicles (this is before they became a PLC and purchased Swift) is this correct? they were probably the largest transport fleet in Scotland at the time. Most of the vehicles had Blairgowrie or Aberdeen on the cab doors some had Easton on the cab doors.
They also had a lot of vehicles in Marks and Spencer, British Homes Stores liveries.
Can anyone remember the names of the hauliers they bought I know of Claben and Daniel B Stewart.
Hi Nice photos, With regards to Hauliers they bought out, they bought Comarts out in about 82- 83, Comarts were owned by Unilever at the time I think, some of the drivers moved from Stoke to the Easton Depot at Grantham
erfguy:
Did any of you Salvesons men ever come across Robert (Rab) Moderate he was a scotch lad who moved south and was on for Salvesons Grantham base. Eddie.
Hi Eddie
I remmber Bob from when I was on the Findus(Ney kidding) contract out of Longbenton Newcastle.
Geoff thanks for your reply Rab and I drove for the Coal Board before we both went on the distance with diffrent firms and lost touch.
Eddie.
That photo must have been taken around 1983 as Salvesen’s never ran tri-axle trailers until around then. When the 38T weight increase came in they initially were going to go for 3 axle units with tandem trailers due to their policy of running trailers for 10 years and units for 5 which meant they had a high number of tandem trailers with considerable service life left when the new rules came into play.
