Fonzie and Digby got there nicknames when working for Barrio`s in the 70s/80s/ and have always been known by them right upto this day. I think Digby is working for someone in Dover, not seen the fonz for a good few years
Flocko ex Barrio driver
Fonzie has recently retired and I believe Digby is driving for Bywaters. I know Fonz quite well but never met Digby personally.
robert1952:
10
How dare you post pictures of that lot of tossers!!! 
Only decent things are the trailers.
cav551:
robert1952:
10How dare you post pictures of that lot of tossers!!!
Only decent things are the trailers.
I knew that logo would wind someone up (I rather thought Bewick would bite first!). 
Robert
robert1952:
cav551:
robert1952:
10How dare you post pictures of that lot of tossers!!!
Only decent things are the trailers.
I knew that logo would wind someone up (I rather thought Bewick would bite first!).
Good job you didn’t post them on the Henley thread!
robert1952:
10
This complete and utter shower of crap screwed up what was a good company which had ran for many decades and nearly jeopardised a lot of peoples jobs !!!
robert1952:
cav551:
robert1952:
10How dare you post pictures of that lot of tossers!!!
Only decent things are the trailers.
I knew that logo would wind someone up (I rather thought Bewick would bite first!).
I just put my head in a bucket and retched ! 
But it reminds me of a “get together” at Penny Hill Park when we first joined WRM and Jack was at the bar ordering himself a “large one” and I ( being me) said Oi! Jack while your in the “Chair” mines a large G & T and Jack says " Great ! Ive sold out to these buggers and now I am relegated to a bloody barman ! It was priceless!! as Jack did not rate the three W , R & M individuals one bit, why should he as he owned half of Kent and his Wife owned the other half ! 
Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
[
I knew that logo would wind someone up (I rather thought Bewick would bite first!).
I just put my head in a bucket and retched ! But it reminds me of a “get together” at Penny Hill Park when we first joined WRM and Jack was at the bar ordering himself a “large one” and I ( being me) said Oi! Jack while your in the “Chair” mines a large G & T and Jack says " Great ! Ive sold out to these buggers and now I am relegated to a bloody barman ! It was priceless!! as Jack did not rate the three W , R & M individuals one bit, why should he as he owned half of Kent and his Wife owned the other half ! Cheers Bewick.
[/quote]
Around 1970 I was in need of a job. I had been in the building trade but didn’t fancy returning to it. I was 25. I quite liked the idea of travelling and thought driving a lorry would help me fulfil my ambitions. But I had no experience! Then one day I saw a small ad in the local rag advertising for drivers. It was one I would see a number of times in the next few years. It read something like “Drivers wanted. Experience of Fruit Markets an Advantage but not essential. Contact Mitchell & Robertson, Branden Farm, Staplehurst”. Well I thought, I was brought up on a fruit farm. I knew my apples from my pears and I liked eating cherries, lets give it a try. So I rang and spoke to Malcolm Robertson. An appointment was made and a couple of days later I was sitting in their office. I soon realised driving experience was not top of the agenda. Brawn and the ability to stay awake all night whilst putting up with hassle and doing 5 or 10 or maybe 15 drops around the London Fruit Markets was more important. The old Covent Garden was the main market but Borough Market, Spitalfields and Brentford all featured strongly. I sailed through the interview, maybe because I was the only person to apply. I then went out for a driving test as Malcolm no doubt thought it would also help if I could handle a lorry. John Norley, the yard foreman came with me and I drove a TK Bedford (I think) a couple of miles up the road to the Stile Bridge Inn and back. I passed that also and Malcolm said the job was mine and when can I start. 3 days later I received a phone call to say they had a 10 ton load of oranges to be delivered to Tesco, Romsey that night. It needed to be there about 2 in the morning. No problem I said thinking this sounds a lot better than multiple drops around London. I duly turned up at Brandon Farm late evening. Nobody was in the yard. I found the old round fronted AEC Mercury, a lorry I would get to know well over the next couple of years and set off for Romsey. I was at last a lorry driver. Mitchell & Robertson, Alan Butcher Transport and Promotor International were three Kent Transport businesses that would keep me busy for the next 20 years in one form or another.
Hopefully will post more later.
Apart from Louis Reece and Mitchell & Robertson, I am struggling to recall who else in Kent ran Leyland Comet 4 wheelers? The only possibility I can think of is EH Nicholls. The AEC Mercury was almost the choice of most.
cav551:
Apart from Louis Reece and Mitchell & Robertson, I am struggling to recall who else in Kent ran Leyland Comet 4 wheelers? The only possibility I can think of is EH Nicholls. The AEC Mercury was almost the choice of most.
Robert Brett did (Brett’s Quarries)! I remember their green, bonneted short-wheelbase high-sided tippers back in the '60s. Robert
Follow up to my post on 14th Aug.
I joined Mitchell & Robertson in 1970 as I wanted to be a lorry driver to see the world! OK, I know I should have joined the navy. However, I did more lugging of boxes and pulling of barrows around Covent Garden than I did driving. One thing I will always remember is reversing the old round fronted AEC Mercury into the bays at the end of Central Avenue in the Garden. The steering was so heavy I had to have someone else to help pull on the steering wheel to get her to turn as I reversed in. This happened often. I also drove a small Bedford box lorry around the markets. That was more manageable. I should also point out that I was paid trip money and not on the books.
At this time the company had 2 AEC Marshalls 15 ton payload 6 wheelers with Ergomatic cabs driven by Norman Horsford and Trevor ?. An Albion Reiver 6 wheeler which could carry 12 tons and just about manage 38 mph going downhill. A Leyland Comet with Ergomatic cab driven by Long John, a TK Bedford, and a Albion Clydesdale also Ergomatic cab all 10 ton payload 4 wheelers. There were a couple of other small vans as well. John Mitchell and Malcolm Robertson ran the business but John’s father was also involved and he owned the farm. There was a lady who worked in the small office with John and Malcolm. If a driver was called into the office for any reason they had to stand as there was no room for another chair. John Norley was yard foreman and John “Cheyanne” Spicer and another chap were loaders. You knew if Cheyanne had loaded your lorry the load would never move. He was so strong you had a job to undo the ropes especially if it rained. This was before those horrible nylon ones of course.
After 18 months or so I must have completed my apprenticeship because I was asked if I would like to go on the books which I did. I was given the Clydesdale and although I still did some London markets most of my work was away from there. Bristol, Cardiff, Hull and Liverpool featured regularly. It was not to long after this that Trevor left and his Marshall was driverless. Now, if an opportunity shows itself I don’t like to see it go begging so straight away I approached John Mitchell and asked if I could take it over. After John had picked himself up from the floor and the colour returned to his face he said he would discuss it with Malcolm. A week later I was a 6 wheeler lorry driver. Word soon got around, after all it was a small company, that the upstart was now the number 2 driver. A lot of people looked upon those who drove the largest vehicles to be the top drivers. One day Norman came up to me and said something like “so Mr ----- you want to be a 6 wheeler driver do you” (he often used the Mr and surname for some reason). I think he was getting worried. There was no need as over the next 4 years Norman and I formed a very good working relationship. We ran together a lot especially on the Frank Idiens contract to Evesham and Wisbech. We often stayed in digs together. Chris’s at Stokenchurch featured often. Norman had kidney problems in those days and had to drink a lot of water. I use to look on in amazement as he gulped down pints of the stuff. I thought Norman you’re going to drown if you don’t stop.
In 1973? Norman got the first artic to be bought. A Scammel Crusader non sleeper with 220 Rolls Royce engine. He also had a taut liner trailer. Later in the year John managed to get hold of a 6 wheel Scammel Routeman demonstrator which was given to me until my new truck came home.
Will add more later.
Lash Transport Mercedes - photo found on e-bay today. I like the bolted on tag axle, doesn’t look like there’s much clearance with the trailer legs.
tyreman:
Lash Transport Mercedes - photo found on e-bay today. I like the bolted on tag axle, doesn’t look like there’s much clearance with the trailer legs.
I used to drive that one. It was a 1626 with a ZF 'box. robert
robert1952:
tyreman:
Lash Transport Mercedes - photo found on e-bay today. I like the bolted on tag axle, doesn’t look like there’s much clearance with the trailer legs.I used to drive that one. It was a 1626 with a ZF 'box. robert
What happened to Lash? I know they hung in there for a long time when many others shut down. Anyone know? 
tyreman:
Lash Transport Mercedes - photo found on e-bay today. I like the bolted on tag axle, doesn’t look like there’s much clearance with the trailer legs.
To answer your question, here’s another picture of it. Back in the early days of 38-tonne upgrades using tag-axles, it was commonplace to use old 12-metre (40-foot) trailers with a short pin and perch them on the back of the unit (never mind the aerodynamics!); thus ensuring that the trailer legs didn’t foul on the tag-axle. Robert
Follow up to my post on 19th Aug.
In 1973 I was handed the keys to JKL 495L. A brand new Scammell Crusader sleeper cab unit with a Rolls 220 engine. I had worked for Mitchell & Robertson for almost 4 years. My first job was to load Norman Horsford’s trailer for him and thats shown in the attached photo. I had a flat bed trailer until my Tautliner came home. That was the only time I hitched up to his trailer. As there were only 2 artics on the company we kept our own trailers. After a couple of months my Tautliner arrived at Brandon Farm. It was longer and higher than Normans. Because of its height (it was originally ordered by another company but they didn’t complete the purchase) I had to watch out for low bridges etc. On my very first trip I was going down to the Blackwall Tunnel when the warning signs came on saying “Overheight Vehicle - Divert” and arrows flashing. I thought, hello someone down here who should’nt be here!! Oh B hell its me!! I swung off onto the slip road just before the tunnel. After that it was Blackfriars or Vauxhall bridge depending where I was going. We did a lot of work for Frank Idiens taking Bramley apples for processing as well as loading fruit from the ports. When the Company got the T J Poupart Cape Fruit contract we became very busy. We also did work for Woods, Henlys, L Reece and others. Because of the nature of the work I was associated with I had a lot of freedom to run to my own timescale and choose my loads and destinations. I remember once ending up at Rowe of Redruth’s depot in Cornwall. After I had tipped I approached the transport manager for a return load but all he had was Avonmouth. I thought thats ok its on my way home. The load turned out to be wet fish from Looe and it had to be in Avonmouth for 0700hrs next morning. I arrived at the carpark in Looe and was told to sit there until the fishing boats came in. They arrived about 1930hrs and one of the fishermen took me to the adjacent pub. He sat me down and said he would come back when they had loaded my trailer. He said it wouldn’t be to long as it had been a bad days fishing. At this news alarm bells started to ring. We were to be paid £3-50 a pallet and I had assumed I would have a full load of 20 pallets. I explained this to the fisherman who said don’t worry “I’ll see what I can do”. Sure enough he sorted it ok. The boxes of fish were spread out down the trailer 2 high and the company got paid for a 20 pallet load. Biggest problem was the smell of fish. It hung around for weeks. I must admit I found the Crusader underpowered and the accelerator very uncomfortable to use. In the end John Mitchell got fed up with my moaning and had a Bostrum seat fitted. This helped a little but the most useful item was a lump of wood I used to jam the accelerator down. I can’t remember the names of other drivers who joined the company accept Peter Capon and his brother Ray. Peter came on the books and Ray was a part timer. Peter was one of the funniest men I have ever met. He would tell jokes nonstop. How he remembered them all I will never now. I went with Peter to Canterbury in the Scammell Routemen demo unit we had early on to take his HGV test. Well, I went with him twice. He forgot his licence the first time.
More to follow later.
