mat man:
good bloke john mann .do any thing for you. stil doing europe not many from the mat day still doing it.
I went to Mannys Christmas party about 3 years ago. I parked the truck in Platform One and stayed the night then we went up to the Sportsman top room. If the devil could have cast his net that night 
Is this the John Mann with the firm of the same name ?
Archie, do you or can anybody remember the Irish fellow who did the goods inward at M.A.T. shed 2 ( or was it 3 ? ) M.I.F.T. Trafford Park ?. In the late eighties, he always seemed a bit arrogant when he was taking to drivers. The young fellow was alright, I remember that he was big Wigan Rugby league fan.
harry:
Is this the John Mann with the firm of the same name ?
Not him Harry, this is John Mann from Hull, originally MAT and now Kneeling Down 
mushroomman:
Archie, do you or can anybody remember the Irish fellow who did the goods inward at M.A.T. shed 2 ( or was it 3 ? ) M.I.F.T. Trafford Park ?. In the late eighties, he always seemed a bit arrogant when he was taking to drivers. The young fellow was alright, I remember that he was big Wigan Rugby league fan.
i can rememer there first names. but not there surnames. john and dillon
Hi ,mat man asked me to stick this pic on here.
Cheers Bubbs,
mat man:
mushroomman:
Archie, do you or can anybody remember the Irish fellow who did the goods inward at M.A.T. shed 2 ( or was it 3 ? ) M.I.F.T. Trafford Park ?. In the late eighties, he always seemed a bit arrogant when he was taking to drivers. The young fellow was alright, I remember that he was big Wigan Rugby league fan.i can rememer there first names. but not there surnames. john and dillon
Hullo Steve & “mat man”,
John Birtles was an Irish lad in the office in M.I.F.T. The lad that was into Rugby, as far as I can recall was Gordon … ?, but he was the yard man there. I just can’t think of the Manager there at that time. I do believe he was Irish too.
Cheers, Archie.
Back to 1964…
I believe this was a double-deck trailer - for carrying engine castings, or something like that? Any more info?
great pics lads. if you have got anymore put them on . any pics of the 80s and 90s.
240 Gardner:
Back to 1964…
I believe this was a double-deck trailer - for carrying engine castings, or something like that? Any more info?
hiya,
Yes 240 i’ve given this old girl a bit of welly in my time, but she would’nt go as good as Bowker 38.
thanks harry long retired.
Bubbleman, thanks for the pic of the Scania 110 DLU 863J
This was almost new at MAT Barking when I started for them as a 16 year old in 1972.
The picture shows it in its 3rd livery.
Originally fully blue with MAT signwritten in white and a red chassis, it would have been changed
mid seventies to something like the pic shows but with the name ‘matdamar services ltd’
signwritten in lower case.
That stood for MAT Distribution And Maintenance And Repair when a subsidiary company of
that name was set up to run the trucks and perform the maintenance function - the name didn’t
last for more than a couple of years as everyone thought it sounded like an Indian curry house!
Subsequently the name was changed to MAT Fleet Services Ltd and the trucks liveried for the
third time.
The funny thing was, as I mentioned in an earlier post, MAT would never allow stickers
anywhere on the trucks, but they kept those old 110’s for so long that when the doors went
rotten at the bottom they put stickers over the rust to cover it. K
harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes 240 i’ve given this old girl a bit of welly in my time, but she would’nt go as good as Bowker 38.
thanks harry long retired.
[/quote]
But it’d still get there faster, on account of not having to keep stopping for fuel
I believe this was Jerry Johnson’s motor, Harry - he also had Borderer no.34 many years later:
hiya,
Yes 240 remember Jerry very well i seem to remember using his motor when he was holidaying and 38 was being tidied up, have always been a Gardner fan but Bowker 38 was a bit of a beast in those days and although i was a Newbie when i first got hold of her there was a bit of jealousy in the camp because i’d been gifted “the pride of the fleet”, their words not mine, but as you said she was a bit partial to the juice and was “lumbered” later with Bowker’s first brand new Scania 80 which is featured on Northwest Trucks site and that was the biggest pile of rubbish i’ve ever driven after the first trip i asked Bill if i could have the old Atki back without success, and left soon afterwards for pastures anew, very easy in those days.
thanks harry long retired.
Hello,good info on DLU Knowall…do you remember this one.
Cheers Bubbs.
Hello Harry, that is the same Tony Blackmore that was at Mat Harwich. I knew a Vic Jeffries who worked for Visbeen as a HGV driver, on the Severalls Industrial Park, when Tony was there. I first knew Vic when he worked at Mortons BRS in the early 70s, and still bump into him now and again. He is still driving trucks, even though he must be in his 70s. He told me the pension that he was supposed get when he retired was crap. I knew another guy that worked there, and still does. I cant remember his name, he used to work for Colchester Transport (Pertwees)
Big Leggy:
Does any “old time” MAT driver remember a Bill Elliot ? I remember he spoke fluent French & Italian – met him a few times at Carisio approx 20 to 25 yrs ago ! Pretty sure he was on for MAT at Milton Keynes or Hull !
I know Bill Elliott he is now long retired but keeps his class 1 licence up to date!!!
Eugene:
Hello Harry, that is the same Tony Blackmore that was at Mat Harwich. I knew a Vic Jeffries who worked for Visbeen as a HGV driver, on the Severalls Industrial Park, when Tony was there. I first knew Vic when he worked at Mortons BRS in the early 70s, and still bump into him now and again. He is still driving trucks, even though he must be in his 70s. He told me the pension that he was supposed get when he retired was crap. I knew another guy that worked there, and still does. I cant remember his name, he used to work for Colchester Transport (Pertwees)
Was it Ian?
Yes it was Ian, I think is surname is Buckley, I have known him for years, I have so many memories, but I need someone to unlock my brain.
I think he’s still with Dailyfresh ,based in Holland /or just Dutch plates ?
Anyone here remember the short-lived MAT Scotland operation?
Around 73-74 MAT set up an office, based in Stamper’s Glasgow yard. Stamper’s did a fair amount of work on MAT containers, to and from the railhead, and sometimes trunked to Hull. Since the Scottish traffic was building up, they employed a Sales Manager (Ian ?) and a couple of drivers, originally with a RR Guy Big J on contract hire from Road Services Forth, and then a couple of 111s.
Loaded mainly whisky from Haig’s and Dewars, textiles from the Borders (Pringles I think) and trunked the containers (and then tilts) down to Hull. The operation was managed by Hull/Cliff Leader and the two Brians. Went well for a couple of years and then it was closed down.
There was never really any contact between Glasgow and the Harwich fleet - we used to see MAT wagons running about Glasgow that we knew nothing about and would have to phone up to let them know we had back-loads for them.