Hi Johnnie,
Jim Dodd says there were 2 Milupa motors at Sheffield, one driven by Brookie and the other driven by a mate of his whose name I’ve forgotten already. Was it Mick something? J.D.only told me today and I hope he’ll call me back to tell me. He mentioned C555 SLL as one of the Milupa lorries.
I remember the names of others you’ve mentioned but I had a bloody good mate in Jeff May. He had that Stratos new, and was well pleased with it. He drove it into the Bush yard one evening with an “Old Man” latex mask over his head. Jimmy was off his arse and out into the yard saying “Who the Heck (well, almost that word) is that driving Jeffs motor??” quicker than Concorde. He called Jeff some names as he jumped down out of the unit, but we all had a great laugh. Typical of Jeff’s sense of humour that. He came on Milupa with an artic and had his own trailer with Teddy Bears on the side. (J.D. says he’ll get a pic of that on here.) Jeff and I had many a good night out together as Mick at Milupa used to try to route us that way, and if he couldn’t, he’d tell one of us where the other was and just say “go and join him”. I ran from Trafford Park to Castelford and back one night on Mck’s say so. Jeff unfortunately got the big C and was quite seriously ill for a long time. He is ok now, retired, and still living in St.Neots as he was when on Dodds.
Neil stayed on Dodds until the end apparently, but I’m not sure where he is now.
Then there was Bill Deville in Sheffield, but we didn’t always see eye to eye, so I’ll leave that there.
Ian King was in the office at the Bush, and like Jimmy and Roy Dodd, was often known to take a load out when it was needed. How many governors do that nowadays? Ian moved to Kent when Dodds opened at Strood, and then on to Sittingbourne after that. Since Dodds went, Ian has been working in the transport office at Lenham Storage, which is where I finished up. I still do Saturdays there, and Ian does a Saturday load now and then to help out and keep his hand in I think. My son Mark (also on this forum, and also a big C sufferer) worked for Dodds and Lenham too, but is now on Waitrose at Aylesford. Small world ain’t it?
Hope this is of some interest to you.
Cheers, Cliff
I noticed the name Ronnie Beckett was mentioned,a Sheffield driver at Dodds. I think it’s the same Ronnie I worked with on A E Evans tankers in Sheffield,we knew him as “Pancho”. Unfortunately I have heard he’s not well,I haven’t seen him since 1979 when I left Evans. Another driver I knew who worked for Dodds out of Swallownest depot was Pete Fox,can’t remember the exact year but would be in the 80s,and I think he was on nights regular.
I haven’t read all of this thread, so forgive me if I have repeated someone.
Symms were taken over by Dodds between 1988 and 1990.
Symms were Here Before moving to Porte Marsh. And it wasn’t long after (No more than 2 years) when they were taken over by Dodds.
I used to walk past the old Syms yard on way to school. I know they were there in 1987 and the new houses were built by 1990.
I also believe that Angels had gone around the same time as Syms. They had 8 leg bulkers up Anchor road.
Yes, Angells packed up and three of their drivers signed on for Syms, Pete Wootten, Les something and another chap who had long hair, looked abit like Catweazle. They were all sound blokes. Syms had two yards down London Road, the trailer yard which was by Blackford’s depot and the unit yard which was where the workshops and freight offices were, on the opposite side of the road. You always had to reverse in there if a trailer needed a tyre changing and it used to back up the traffic on London Road. As a newbie I remember driving straight in and then skewing a loaded tri=axle trailer round, nearly pulled the super singles off. David Syms saw me from the window and gave me a good bollocking, never did it again. Both old yards have houses on them now.
The move up to Portmarsh was I think around 1987-8, room to spread out at last but it didn’t last for long. Syms went bust in 1991, we all lost our jobs although after Dodds took over, a few of us carried on working on an ad hoc basis. At least with all the Wendy Houses having gone back to Avonmouth, I had a decent motor to drive for those few months until I left for good.
sammyopisite:
Hi Cliff I did not see to many of the day drivers as I only did nights in my time with Dodds as it was convenient as at that time my wife needed taking to hospital 3 days a week for physiotherapy the day drivers at Sheffield which I can recall were the 2 Eddies, Ronnie Beckett , Les Needham Neal and Peter and 2 London night drivers Vic and Jeff May who had Strato’s at the time as I had one for a week as we kept missing each other to change back it was not done on purpose honest but the Strato was a lovely wagon. I did recognise Jim Dodd but he seems to have filled out a bit since I last saw over 20 years ago but my memories are of a very good firm to work fore and was it Ian King who was in the office at the bush as I did a bit of shunting with in Quakers a couple of times when the shunter was off sick
cheers Johnnie
howdo Johnnie - just to put my 2d worth in: I did a stint on Dodds out of Aston about 87-88?time on nights with Neil Hays(really nice fella from Goldthorpe IIRC) I can remember from time to time using the ‘screaming Seddon Atki’ 300 with the Int Harvester engine and twin splitter ,but we mainly had B413/B414 MLY=4x2 Leyland roadtrains with Spicer box… remember well being rung up by Bill DeVille every afternoon at r house with the job for that night… Butlers / Quaker Oats>shunting till about 2am then fly back to yard,for day man to tip at South Kirkby? etc Can remember Scotch Eddie in the yard when Neil and mself turned up for work every night lol chrs dave m
sammyopisite:
Hi Cliff I did not see to many of the day drivers as I only did nights in my time with Dodds as it was convenient as at that time my wife needed taking to hospital 3 days a week for physiotherapy the day drivers at Sheffield which I can recall were the 2 Eddies, Ronnie Beckett , Les Needham Neal and Peter and 2 London night drivers Vic and Jeff May who had Strato’s at the time as I had one for a week as we kept missing each other to change back it was not done on purpose honest but the Strato was a lovely wagon. I did recognise Jim Dodd but he seems to have filled out a bit since I last saw over 20 years ago but my memories are of a very good firm to work fore and was it Ian King who was in the office at the bush as I did a bit of shunting with in Quakers a couple of times when the shunter was off sick
cheers Johnnie
howdo Johnnie - just to put my 2d worth in: I did a stint on Dodds out of Aston about 87-88?time on nights with Neil Hays(really nice fella from Goldthorpe IIRC) I can remember from time to time using the ‘screaming Seddon Atki’ 300 with the Int Harvester engine and twin splitter ,but we mainly had B413/B414 MLY=4x2 Leyland roadtrains with Spicer box… remember well being rung up by Bill DeVille every afternoon at r house with the job for that night… Butlers / Quaker Oats>shunting till about 2am then fly back to yard,for day man to tip at South Kirkby? etc Can remember Scotch Eddie in the yard when Neil and mself turned up for work every night lol chrs dave m
Dave I must have started just after you then as I started with Neil and then he went onto days Eddie Buchannan had the 95 daf which I had on nights most nights or the roadtrains either the 4x2 or 6x2 except when I got Jeff’s or Vics Strato’s which I always seem to miss to change back
Regret to inform the passing of MARK BOULTON…RIP
Ex Dodds Transport driver.Based in London who worked many years on the Hitachi contract.
Mark will be missed by all his family and ex work mates and friends.
My condolences go out to his father Cliff also an ex Dodds driver of many years standing.
God Bless Mick
I have just stumbled across this forum, I see this thread started quite a while ago. Really sad to hear of the passing of Mark Boulton, he and I became quite good friends during my time at Hitachi. Dodds was probably the happiest time in my working life, so many memories and stories. It has been interesting reading and seeing the names of so many people I worked with quite a lot of them were friends, some were acquaintances but the thing I remember most about Dodds is that there was hardly anyone I didn’t get along with.
Steve Allison
Hi Steve nice to see you on here I too was sorry to hear about mark Cliffs son very sad I rember both well I did hear you came back to uk and was at asda for a while is that right Tonka told me where you living now me I’m in same place how is Rhiannon and children well adults now Get in touch if you want all best alan ( spanners ) bye
Good to hear from you and it would be good to get together and catch up. As it happens I am in South Africa at the moment but I should be back in August. I’ll stop in for a cup of tea. I can fin my way into your street but I’m not sure I’ll remember which house it is (It’s an age thing). I had wondered if the thread had gone dead, I see it started a couple of years ago. I have to say, my time with Dodds was probably the best time of my life.I was feeling nostalgic and stumbled across this forum. I know most people complain about the job these days but I only seem to be happy when I’m driving lorries.
Hi Steve,Glad you came across the T/N site.Nice to hear from you.
I started the thread,I,m Mick Kirton.I worked at Hitachi in Hayes and did the East Anglian work.
I live in Spain now and am retired.
I came to UK 2 years ago and had a reunion with Tony Clark,he aint changed a bit,I glad to say.
Tony and I did manage to contact Mark Boulton on the telephone when I was in the UK.At that time he was ill but was undergoing treatment.
We were all saddened by his untimely death.
Anyway good to hear from you.
Stay Lucky Mick.
Hi Mick
Yes, I remember you. It makes me feel really old when so many of my ex colleagues have retired. It didn’t think you were that much older than me. I went to see Alan Denton today, I haven’t seen him for over 20 years. It was really good to catch up with him. I’m sorry I didn’t find this thread when it was more active, so many stories to tell and pictures too. I would like to catch up with more of the boys, Tony Clark in particular. He used to have me take him home from the pub with a 40 footer in a 7.5 ton weight limit.
Hi Steve nice to here from you…Please put up what you have…stories and pics.You will be surprised how things on this forum can reactivate.
I do recall you taking Tony home in the artic.As I say,I did manage to meet up with Tony a couple of years back.
Some of my happiest days on the driving was at Dodds/Hitachi.A nice job with some real characters to boot!!!
Always had a laugh with Alan Denton.
Stay Lucky Mick
mickthebrush:
Hi Steve nice to here from you…Please put up what you have…stories and pics.You will be surprised how things on this forum can reactivate.
I do recall you taking Tony home in the artic.As I say,I did manage to meet up with Tony a couple of years back.
Some of my happiest days on the driving was at Dodds/Hitachi.A nice job with some real characters to boot!!!
Always had a laugh with Alan Denton.
Stay Lucky Mick
Okay, let’s see if we can revive the thread.
One night parked up at the Bush, a group of us were discussing, over dinner weather or not the cards left in phone boxes by ladies of the night were genuine or not. Walking back to the yard, Peter Brooks, who was known for his appreciation of the female form, walked into a phone box and randomly grabbed a card. He said, “we’ll give her a ring when we get back and see for ourselves.” I think he actually wanted to find out for future reference cause Peter whilst being quite partial to crumpet was by no means a connoisseur.
On our return to the yard we all trooped into the garage and Brookie picked up the phone. He asked what was on offer and what the price was. It all seemed genuine enough and she told him she could give him a booking for “the works” at 10.
Not convinced he got Cliff Boulton to give her a ring. I he went through the the whole thing with her and said she had a booking at 10:15. With the phone still in his had and the call still connected, Cliff looked at Peter and said in a loud voice," F**k me Brookie, she wasn’t going to give you Long!"
One morning at Hitachi a new driver turned to drive the Sherpa van. We got into respective vehicles and set about our days work. When we got back we would all congregate in the drivers room for a coffee and a ■■■. I think by then smoking had been banned on the site but there was always a cup of water in the bin so you could put your ■■■ out if anyone from management came in. Well certain managers anyway, we were often joined around the bin by Bill West who also enjoyed a breath of fresh smoke but I digress.
On this particular afternoon we were sitting around when Trevor Stacey walked in. Someone asked him how the new boy had done to which Trevor answered, “I fking sacked him." There were several comments about Trevor being a cruel ■■■■■■■■ it was his first day after all.
Trevor’s response was, "He came in and told me he was fing going home at 4 o’clock, so I sacked him. My blokes don’t Fing tell me they’re going home at 4. If my blokes want something and they always get it but they don’t fing tell me!”
Tony Clark looked at Stacy and said, “Is that right, we always get what we ask for?”
Trevor, nodded his head and said, yeah"
Tony looked at him and said, “give us a ■■■■■■■■ Trev.”
Any of you that remember Trevor Stacey will appreciate he wasn’t best pleased. The incident ended with him trying to flush Tony’s head down the toilet.
but my memories are of a very good firm to work fore and was it Ian King who was in the office at the bush as I did a bit of shunting with in Quakers a couple of times when the shunter was off sick
