Steevo:
Nice one, sleeper cab too! Any idea what year it was taken?
That picture was taken in the summer of 1981 on the A50. Thats appears to be the 50’ flat behind KBU - which has been restored (without that daft cab)
curnock:
Mmmmm… Wonder where I’ve seen that cab before…
WJ Riding were still running the Atki until the 80’s
marky:
Steevo:
Nice one, sleeper cab too! Any idea what year it was taken?That picture was taken in the summer of 1981 on the A50. Thats appears to be the 50’ flat behind KBU - which has been restored (without that daft cab)
KBU 371P has been restored Mark? Are you sure??
marky:
Steevo:
Nice one, sleeper cab too! Any idea what year it was taken?That picture was taken in the summer of 1981 on the A50. Thats appears to be the 50’ flat behind KBU - which has been restored (without that daft cab)
KBU 371P has been restored Mark? Are you sure??
KBU 371P last tax expired april 1991
catjenkins:
KBU 371P last tax expired april 1991
how do you get this information ?
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?
Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
curnock:
catjenkins:
KBU 371P last tax expired april 1991how do you get this information ?
If you go on the DVLA website you can go into the vehicle enquiry section and find out the basic details of registration and road tax. I was interested to see the other day that a 1978 Honda 750 that I wrote off in 1990 appears to be taxed and presumably back on the road!
thanks for that steevo. 
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
It was probably the rates on the job as steel is renown for being one of the poorest rates in the haulage business.
dafdave:
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
It was probably the rates on the job as steel is renown for being one of the poorest rates in the haulage business.
If that’s the case then he should’ve told the steel people where to shove it, if nobody would do the work they would’ve had no choice to put the rates up to a sustainable level, just a thought 
newmercman:
dafdave:
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
It was probably the rates on the job as steel is renown for being one of the poorest rates in the haulage business.
If that’s the case then he should’ve told the steel people where to shove it, if nobody would do the work they would’ve had no choice to put the rates up to a sustainable level, just a thought
Dont know how long you have been doing this job but it wasn,t as easy as that. You still got trouble today getting increases in rates.
There was a story in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, published in probably 2000, soon after John called it a day. It revealed that whilst winding up, the accountants found a long since forgotten bank account in the channel islands which had been John Killingbecks fathers, it contained well into seven figures, completely forgotton about. I don’t think couldn’t afford to run better came into it. He just preferred to run what he knew.
dafdave:
newmercman:
dafdave:
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
It was probably the rates on the job as steel is renown for being one of the poorest rates in the haulage business.
If that’s the case then he should’ve told the steel people where to shove it, if nobody would do the work they would’ve had no choice to put the rates up to a sustainable level, just a thought
Dont know how long you have been doing this job but it wasn,t as easy as that. You still got trouble today getting increases in rates.
How long, well my first licence was a hard back so I reckon I’m qualified to wear the T shirt 
I’ve also been a haulier myself, I say have been, as you’re right rates are crap, having 1/4 mill ■■■■■■■ in plant for a 5% return on your £ is not my idea of fun 
If & that’s a big IF, Killingbeck was running old crap around so that he could work for low rates then him & people like him are responsible for the rate situation today, not me though, costs went up, rates stayed the same so I pulled the pin, only this time it was the eastern europeans carving up the job 
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
As Marky says, a book would tell all!
Nonetheless, John Killingbeck is a skilled engineer, and who carried out some very radical conversions to many of his motors,
all done in his own workshops.
In the early days of 38 tonne operation, new 6-wheel tractors were
very expensive, and John chose to go down the route of running 6x4 Atkinsons with 8-cylinder 240 bhp Gardner engines,
reckoning to get a 6-wheel, 38 tonne unit on the road for £3,000.
The fleet wasn’t only about Mk.2 Atkinsons of course but, at that time, Mk.2 Atkinsons were still common on the road,
and the rest of his fleet was made up of Borderers with 180 Gardners.
He DID buy some brand new units too, starting with a C Series ERF in 1985, fitted with a 16-litre Gardner. He also had
some brand new SA Stratos later on, with both the Cabtech and the Iveco cabs.
You refer to more powerful vehicles, but John could tune a 240 Gardner so that it would walk away from an
F12 Volvo with 304 bhp.
He set about a programme of “modernising” some of his Atkinsons by fitting them with SA 400 Series sleeper cabs,
in an effort to improve driver comfort and to make the fleet look more modern. This was actually a major rebuild of the lorry,
and took about 6 weeks to complete.
There were also 6x4 Seddon Atkinsons, a Chinese 6 Atkinson Borderer conversion and a Chinese 6 ERF B Series
amongst his creations.
By the time that Killingbeck finished in 1999, the Atkinsons were long since gone (although the myth lasted much, much longer!),
and the fleet was largely made up of ERFs (C & E Series) plus a few Seddon Atkinsons, both 301 and 401 models.
John chose to wrap up because he couldn’t get the rate increases that he needed to warrant investment in his fleet,
and so the business was closed down in an orderly way.
By that time, Walkersteel had becom a part of British Steel, and Exel had won the contract to carve up the job, subbing the
work back to people like Killingbeck at lower rates than before.
They didn’t only carry steel, although Walkersteel were a major customer of very long standing, but had also worked
for Whitbread for many years. In the early As you can imagine, both these customers were keen to exploit the weight increase
in 1983, and Killingbeck were required to step up to the plate and supply the motors, which they did.
I believe that his drivers were on money comparable to other major hauliers in town (I dimly recall discussing wage comparisons
with him) - maybe it was a choice of driving an Atki for the market rate, or a flash motor for a smaller haulier for rather less.
In any case, Killingbeck had a number of long serving drivers, so it can’t have been all bad.
Wheel Nut:
WJ Riding were still running the Atki until the 80’s
Lots of people were - the last Atki wasn’t made until 1975.
Thanks 240, that’s the sort of answer I was looking for.
newmercman:
dafdave:
newmercman:
dafdave:
newmercman:
Can somebody shed some more light on the Killingbecks of this world for me please?Why did they continue running these old motors when they were well past their best?
I’m not slagging them off for the sake of it & I have no doubt that they were all legal & that the fitters knew them inside out & did a very good job of keeping them on the road competing with newer more powerful lorries.
But why continue to run them? If they couldn’t afford to run decent plant on the rates they were getting then they should’nt have been doing the work full stop.
Or was old man Killingbeck earning an absolute fortune out of his drivers by keeping his costs down to a minimum?
It was probably the rates on the job as steel is renown for being one of the poorest rates in the haulage business.
If that’s the case then he should’ve told the steel people where to shove it, if nobody would do the work they would’ve had no choice to put the rates up to a sustainable level, just a thought
Dont know how long you have been doing this job but it wasn,t as easy as that. You still got trouble today getting increases in rates.
How long, well my first licence was a hard back so I reckon I’m qualified to wear the T shirt
If & that’s a big IF, Killingbeck was running old crap around so that he could work for low rates then him & people like him are responsible for the rate situation today, not me though, costs went up, rates stayed the same so I pulled the pin, only this time it was the eastern europeans carving up the job
I hope that you didn,t think i was insulting you by enquiring how long you have been doing the job.I myself did 30+yrs although never as an owner driver.As you rightly say the rates are crap now as they were then and its the eastern bloc thats cutting them now.Any wrong impressions i gave you i appologize for.
No offence taken, that’s why a threw a in, just trying to justify my original question & the responses to it 