kent transport

Spot on tyreman…guess who wrote that article?.Yes it was me & the old man. The original tippers were actually dark blue not black, and most of the work was out of Thurrock power station. I think they lost the contract in the end to someone like G Webbs hence the move to general haulage. Regarding the two Volvos, the F10 was second hand ( on a V ) and the F12 was brand new X reg. The last new lorry they bought was a Mercedes 2033 on a C plate. Happy days.

Bev was always popping not the sales office at Sparshatts Mercedes telling tales of his exploits, one of the good guys, word was his bond and that was good enough. Happy days indeed.

I worked opposite Ash Supplies for a good number of years. Bev was a good man to know, not only because he knew what was going on in the haulage world, but also what was going on in Sittingbourne. He often came over to talk to us. God knows what he would say about the current state of Crown Quay Lane, and the demoloition of the industrial estate.

We used to keep terms cards for each customer to price invoices in the days before computers. On the back of these cards. we would keep a note of the vehicles at certain customers, so if we had a breakdown call from elsewhere in the country we could make sure it was one of their vehicles. Luckily I still have these. We did this for Ash Supplies. When this was started the fleet consisted of a P reg Foden, T & V reg ERF tippers, the Roadtrain and 2 Scammells, plus the two Volvos. The V reg Volvo was an F1017 and the X reg a F1217. An M reg Leyland Reiver came over from Essex as well, then came the Mercedes, which they bought to the end. There was also a Seddon Atkinson ex WJ Blythe, and a couple of Bedford TK box vans ex Fraikin. Bev’s son then took over four vehicles, which were X, C &D reg Mercs and a V reg Leyland Boxer. These later ran with Bournecrete written on them.

As for the vehicles in the advert, both Scammels had Wilcox bodies. The Roadtrain was repainted white by 11/86 and was towed away on the 10/2/87. The V reg Scammell had gone by 2/87.
According to DVLA JKK929V was taxed until 30/9/86.
JKK935V lasted until 1/3/89, and LKN350W changed colour to yellow and was last taxed 1/5/88.

The Roadtrain was launched in March 1980, so this was an early order, and the last rigid tippers supplied. I don’t recall seeing many Kent registered Roadtrain/Constructors during this time. Even R Swain kept buying Marathons for a few years.

I hope this is of interest.

Thanks Tyreman. When my dad started with Ash Suppliers they only had 6 wheelers but he had the first eight wheeler, a Scammell Routeman reg LKR 72P. That was soon followed by two M reg ERFs and two ex William Hampton Guy Big J8s. The Foden you refur to was a P reg S80 that was previously owned by Alfred Hymas from Yorkshire and by all accounts was a complete disaster. Do you remember any of their drivers, a friendly bunch if i remember rightly, Hank, Kenny & Jim to name but 3. I wish i could get hold of a photo of some of the old tippers they had. The Mercs were all second hand except the 2033 which was brand new.
Heres a photo of the 2033 & the ex A Woods Mercs which were Operated by ’ young ’ Bev Moore after Ash Suppliers ceased trading.

As well as Ash Suppliers, dad drove a tipper for Alan Hirst. Does anyone else remember A & J Hirst, or even Hirst & Phelps?.

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Can’t remember the drivers names from Ash Supplies, but I came across Brian from the workshop when we dealt with Biffa.

I have never dealt with AJ Hirst, but they ran MAN’s (E reg L reg and P reg) Mercedes (B & C reg) and had a couple of Scania Torpedo’s. Last vehicles I saw were 3 plain white 03 Volvos.

Talking of A Wood, here is TKJ762R. By the time I started working at Sittingbourne, A Wood was already at Deting (and RJ Wood at Teynham). I’m told they used to run from what is now St. Michaels trade sales yard opposite the BP Garage.

This truck still has the ful A&RJ Wood name, and the Sittingbourne phone number on the doors.

Mid 1970s between around 1am and 4am there would be a line of Kent lorries parked beside the tea stall on the south side of Chelsea Bridge. There would likely be a Henley, a Mitchell and Robertson, an A&RJ Wood, sometimes an Alan Firmin, a Louis Reece, or a Bennetts,and maybe one or two others. The drivers would all be partaking of a quick cuppa before heading off for…exactly the same places - Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea wholesale fruit markets. Even when the Transfesa terminal at Paddock Wood really got into the swing of things there never seemed to be much sorting out of who went where. Bristol and back was possible, so was Cardiff sometimes and occasionally both, but so often many of the vehicles were going to all three.

Thats a good picture of the A&RJ Wood Mercedes. Yes they were at St Michaels trade sales yard in Milton after moving from Thomas Road Sittingbourne ( later to become A2 tyres ). The first Mercs they had were 1418s, after previously having Fodens & AECs. We have an album full of photos of all the lorries we had going back to the 60s.

another kent transport company that stopped running lorries only 2 or 3 years back g.g.tomkinson of marden.
p758 lkl the companys first mercedes actros 1831 with chris fuller behind the wheel.
mercedes were the main choice of vehicles from the mid late 70s through to the end,the first ones being two flat fronted 2419 6 wheeler flats being pkl 884r and pkl 885r although from this period there was 4 erf b series ( 1 x 6 wheeler and three tractor units) a couple of e series erfs came into the fleet in the 1990s along with a seddon atkinson strato,anyone got any pics of these at all?

G.G. Tomkinson ran AECs and ERFs before the Mercs. Like Henley’s, they also had an ERF 4 wheeler with a Gardner 6LW20. At that time I think many of their loads came out of ICI Plant Protection at Yalding.

I dont remember Tomkinsons ever having a Seddon Atkinson…However, i do know the last Actros to go into service with them is now owned by Neville Crowhurst, one of our subbies. He ran it green for a while but has painted it white now.

Hi cav551,
Thats an ex Colin Ashby curtain trailer any ideas of the fleet number? Paul

And an ex Postman Seddon Atki if i’m not mistaken Paul…

Does anyone have pictures of Coulling Brothers, Mercedes Benz Powerliners or Actros, they used to get all their lorries from Sparshatts in Sittingbourne Kent. My dad and myself worked for Coulling Brothers i remember them running curtainsiders and flatbeds, my dad worked for them 14 years and i worked for them for 1 year before they shut down.

i found these pictures earlier the 7.5t Merc with Coulling Brothers on it and the 7.5t Daf with silver curtains (Brian Yeardleys when they was based at lenham) where mine, the transcotti belonged to owner driver called Lou Thurgood, the Lenham Storage and Coulling Brothers lorries where my dads and the breakdown was my grandads when he was a fitter at Lenham Storage. hope the pictures stir a few memories.

Hi Mark,
Yeah and what a piece of crap it looks too, but I bet it had a good driver at some point LOL it was defo not me.

Another from the A Wood fleet. The fleet was about to be painted in a new blue livery. As a temprary measure, a sticker was applied to cover the old A&RJ Wood name. The phone number on the door now gives a Maidstone number. The new logo can clearly be seen on the trailers.

ANY MORE WOOD PHOTOS

Got a few more to put up

brady2033:
ANY MORE WOOD PHOTOS

Like the Woods photo. Do you remember the 1625s they had with the tag axle fitted. Dear oh dear the tractor unit was nearly as long as the trailer!! apparently they did’nt like going round corners either, or up hills!!. I did,nt think they looked anywhere near as nice after they were repainted. I always thought the Teynham fleet ( RJ Wood ) looked much smarter in their light blue & white livery.